Robin Givens has been through it all. This New Yorker is tough, strikingly beautiful and doesn’t spend any time worrying about what other people think of her. She’s been under every media spotlight there is, and these days she’s comfortable calling the stage her home.

On June 15 she returns to her favourite Canadian city, Toronto in the new stage play Deranged.

It will be a homecoming of sorts for Robin, who got her first big break in Canada. “My first role in a major film project was for a series made for HBO. It was filmed in Toronto and so I have great memories of walking into downtown stores and it being freezing cold. I light up smiling every time I come back because I have such great memories whenever I think of Canada,” says Robin.

A childhood love of the bright lights started when a young Robin was introduced to Broadway shows such as Beauty and The Beast and The Wiz. “I’m a New Yorker, Broadway is part of who I am,” says Givens.

Apart from her long list of film credits, Givens has been burning up the stage with a successful run as Roxie Hart in Chicago on Broadway in 2006 and in the Off-Broadway production of The Vagina Monologues. In 2009 she appeared in A Mother’s Prayer alongside Johnny Gill and Shirley Murdoch. And last year, played a madam in the touring musical, Church Girl. That was Canada’s first taste of Robin on stage, and now she returns this June in Deranged, a contemporary take on The Hand That Rocks The Cradle.

“I love this role, because it’s really fun. This nanny is just…disturbed,” laughs Givens. “You see her transformation from a nerdy, unassuming woman to this crazed person who sees a family and wants to be a part of it. It’s really fun to take the audience on that ride. I’m really excited to perform it in Canada.”

And Canadian fans are looking forward to welcoming her back. After a stellar and wildly popular performance in Church Girl, fans are ready for more Robin. Profile Entertainment’s Michael Charles, one of the show’s producers, says Robin Givens is perfect for this role. “I have always enjoyed Robin’s character as she does bad so well. She is one of the more talented actors in Hollywood. She leaves it all on stage or on film as she does a lot of preparation to really understand her characters. A good actor entertains you but a great actor makes you believe. Robin Givens makes you a believer,” says Charles.

Charles predicts Toronto will love this play. “It offers a great storyline, lots of suspense, plot twists and nonstop comic relief. The cast is great and has wonderful chemistry together.”

Joining Robin Givens on stage is R&B singer and Grammy nominated artist Keith Washington along with comedic actor Carl Payne, best known for his roles as Theo Huxtable’s best friend Cockroach on The Cosby Show and the dimwitted Cole Brown on Martin. The play is written by Angela Barrow-Dunlap, the most successful woman in urban play history and rising star playwright Vanessa Lynn.