Gabriel Gosselin is getting in touch with his romantic side.

The 26-year-old Franco-Manitoban actor is doing so while making his debut in Winnipeg's English theatre community with a role in the comedy Having Hope at Home, which opens at Prairie Theatre Exchange this week.

"I'm sort of jumping the symbolic river," laughs Gosselin. "I've done English stuff, but on the French side of the river."

The busy Winnipeg performer, who balanced finishing a run in 12 Angry Men at Le Circle Moliere with rehearsals at PTE, has found this leap has lead to both personal and professional discovery, especially when it comes to his passionate nature.  

In the play, Gosselin plays Michel, a Quebecois farmer whose girlfriend Carolyn is about to give birth to their first child at home - much to the chagrin of her gynecologist father and WASP-y mother. This parental disapproval also applies to Carolyn's choice of life partner, Michel. But Michel remains strong in the midst of all this family tension in order to support his love.

In the role and its conflicts, Gosselin has been able to get in touch with a part of himself he had previously disregarded.

"I think I've learned to cherish my romantic side," Gosselin says. "I don't want to use the word stereotype, but Michel has some characteristics that are associated with the French. He has a very strong romantic side and he has a lot of that Latin fire, where one minute he may be enraged and the next he's laughing or gushing about his child that's coming. So I think I've learned to embrace that in myself, because I certainly resemble his character in that respect. Although in appearance I have a gruff exterior, I'm very much a hopeless romantic."

This "gruff exterior" has often led Gosselin to roles that are the polar opposite of a romantic lead. Having Hope at Home has not only opened the door to English theatre for the actor, but has also provided the opportunity to play the good guy.

"It's a really interesting role, because on the French side, because I'm a bigger guy with a big voice, I tend to fall into the villain role, which I love," Gosselin says. "But it's really interesting for me to start exploring that side of my personality, which I think is one of my nicest qualities, too.

"I consider myself to have a big heart and that's where Michel comes in. He's really a rock and gives Carolyn a lot of courage through giving her unconditional love and being romantic and believing in the dream they share."