Molly Parker fends not to go unnoticed.  Sipping beer in a trendy bistro on the Main, she draws the attention of hot Quebec film and TV star David LaHaye, who saunters over to remind her they met last year at a Canadian film party on the beach during the Cannes Film Festival.
    Parker, 25, was hanging out on the Croisette last May thanks to her starring role in Kissed, which was screening at the world's most famous film fest.  Former Montrealer Lynne Stopkewich's evocative, poetic film about a young woman obsessed with cadavers turned Parker into a sensation.
    Kissed had it's world premiere at the Toronto festival in the fall of 1996 and, within days of its first showings, the young Vancouver-born actress was fielding offers from scads of Hollywood agents.
    Early last year, she signed with the powerful William Morris Agency in Los Angeles, just days after her highly photogenic mug appeared smack in the middle of a full-page ad for Kissed on the cover of Hollywood bible Variety.  Then in December, Parker won the Genie Award as best actress for Kissed.
    Parker's luminous performance in Kissed also attracted the attention of Egg Pictures, Jodie Foster's L.A.-based production outfit, and it's thanks to Foster's company that Parker is working here in Montreal.  She is one of the leads in Waking the Dead, which Foster is executive-producing.  The dramatic love story from writer-director Keith Gordon (Mother Night) is currently shooting in Montreal with co-stars Billy Crudup, Jennifer Connelly and Janet McTeer.
    In Waking the Dead, Parker plays the girlfriend of a congressional candidate (Crudup) who begins seeing visions of his former lover Sarah (Connelly), who was killed a decade earlier.
    Parker is well aware of the irony of going from the necrophilia of Kissed to a film called Waking the Dead, and she's hoping she doesn't end up typecast playing characters obsessed with dead people.
    "I certainly got a lot of scripts when (Kissed) first came out, either from people who didn't see the movie or didn't quite get it," said Parker.  "It was like - 'Come be naked in my horror film.' That's obviously not what I want to do, But anybody that actually watched Kissed and understood it at all or even stayed awake, hopefully saw something beyond that."
    These days, Parker is just well-known for Twitch City, the quirky sitcom spoof that just wrapped its six-episode run on the CBC.  The satirical show, created by hip Toronto writer-actor Don McKellar, has generated a tremendous amount of buzz.  Parker plays Hope, an oddly endearing figure who has to come to grips with a boyfriend arrested for murder and a roommate, played by McKellar, who is neurotic, with gusts up to stark raving mad.
    The off-kilter comedy of Twitch City is light years removed from the dark, ethereal tone of Kissed.  But both are unabashedly indie projects and that's what drew Parker to them.
    The mature-beyond-her-years Parker is wise enough to say she wouldn't turn down a mega-budget Hollywood blockbuster on principle, but she wants to focus on smaller, script-driven material like Waking the Dead.  Last year, she starred in Under Heaven, a U.S. indie flick from writer-director Meg Richmond that premiered at the Sundance festival in January.
    "The majority of things I'm interested in are independent films," said Parker.  "That's really where I think the roles for women are.  More and more, women are writing and directing films, but most of them are working in an independent situation.  I'm committed to trying to play interesting women and not so much the girlfriend or daughter or wife.  It just feels like those parts are more available in the independent world.
    "But I'm also trying not to be the knee-jerk reactionary indie kid, because that's ridiculous.  You close yourself off to some good stuff."
    Parker's next two projects are both being made by femme directors.  The first, to shoot next month in Montreal, is a Quebec production titled Ladies Room, a feature comprised of three short films.
    Her segment, directed by Nadine Schwartz, is the tale of three actresses about to go onstage for the premiere of an off-Broadway show.  Parker said "it's very much about women aging and not trusting each other."
    Parker then heads back to Toronto to appear in Jesus Freaks, the first feature from Lori Lansens.  It is the story of a devout young Catholic woman who mistakes a squeegee punk for Jesus.
    Parker moved east from Vancouver mostly for personal reasons.  She made the trek to Toronto to move in with her boyfriend, an ex-Montrealer who is trying to break into the screenwriting racket there.
    "Long-distance relationships suck.  They don't work, especially for me, I travel so much now." To try to do that and have a relationship with somebody when you don't live in the same city is totally ridiculous."
    Like every other actor in Canada, Parker is under pressure to desert her homeland and high-tail it down to Los Angeles.  But she doesn't see why she has to spend all her time schmoozing in Beverly Hills.
    Back when she was a struggling young actress doing generic American TV work in Vancouver, she used to see many of her acting pals migrate down the coast to L.A., and it was a disheartening experience for many of them.  Parker didn't move back then and, with credits like Kissed and Twitch City on her resumé, she figures it gives her even more leverage to stay in Canada and do the kinds of films she wants to, whether they're Canadian or American.
    "Certainly you miss things if you're not there.  I know you can get jobs just by going to parties.  But you don't have to do it.
    "My hope is that if you do enough good work and have enough people working for you there, then people will hire you for your body of work..and not for your body."