Andrew Younghusband

Infobox Person
name = Andrew Younghusband


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birth_date = Birth year and age|1971
birth_place = Australia
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residence = Toronto, Ontario
nationality = Canadian
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known_for = Canada's Worst Driver, Canada's Worst Handyman
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occupation = Actor, Writer, Journalist
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Andrew Younghusband (born 1971 in Australia) is a Canadian television personality, writer and journalist, best known for his most recent appearances as host of the reality shows "Canada's Worst Driver" and "Canada's Worst Handyman," as well as the documentary series "Tall Ship Chronicles".

Career

Younghusband began his career at 15 as a stage actor in St. John's, Newfoundland. He then branched out into different media and different formats, including radio and television, filling roles in both writing positions and as an on-air personality. He has worked in serious and comedic roles, as well as documentary, reality, and news productions.

One of his comedic appearances was an on-stage and television appearance at the Halifax Comedy Festival, although his delivery was more like he was reciting a story than improvised, stand-up comedy. His early television writing duties were in comedic environments, but recently he has written for the two "Canada's Worst" reality series.

Toiling in limited roles through the 90s, Younghusband made several guest appearances in television series as well as making modest film appearances, several of which placed him on the same sets "rubbing elbows" with notable Canadian (and fellow Newfoundland native) personalities like Rick Mercer, Cathy Jones and Mary Walsh.

In 1999, he was co-creator, writer and actor in the short-lived Canadian series "Dooley Gardens", playing the role of homicidical ex-con Zamboni driver Tracy. Later that year, he began hosting and co-wrote a Salter Street production called "Foodessence", which lasted 65 episodes. The Gemini award-winning "Foodessence" explored how, why, and what we eat through anthropology, social-science, history and science. The reality-based and historical aspects of the show seemed to signal the beginning of a change of direction for Younghusband's career.

In 2000, he earned critical acclaim for his role in the film "Violet", as Carlos, the brilliant, gay son of the title character played by Mary Walsh. The film, set in Newfoundland, was first screened in August 2000 at the Montreal Film Festival.

Salter Street was purchased by Alliance Atlantis, and after the completion of his work on "Foodessence", he signed up to participate in a new Life Network reality tv production called "Tall Ship Chronicles".

Departing Lunenburg, Nova Scotia in December 2000 on a 19-month, around the world voyage, Younghusband became a crew member of the barque "Picton Castle". On board were the captain and 9 other professional crew members, along with 35 trainees including Younghusband. Although he was the narrator of the program, he also had to act as bona-fide member of the crew who was required to live under 19th-century conditions. During the voyage, the footage was aired (beginning in June 2001) as a 16-part documentary on Life Network, and later on other networks like the UK incarnation of the "Travel Channel". Topsail Entertainment, which produced the series, later went on to produce the popular series Trailer Park Boys. Younghusband had made a guest appearance on the Topsail-produced series Black Harbour in 1998.

Younghusband appeared on CBC Newsworld regularly in a segment called "Inside Media", in which he shows a talent for political satire. In 2004, he hosted a national radio show on CBC 1 & 2 called "Crank It Up".

Following his experiences in the genre, Younghusband has since worked frequently in reality TV. He hosted and co-wrote the 2005 series Canada's Worst Driver and its follow up season, Canada's Worst Driver 2, as well as the "World's Worst Driver" "bonus" episode. He was host of Canada's Worst Handyman and Canada's Worst Handyman 2. He again hosted Canada's Worst Driver 3 and Canada's Worst Handyman 3.

Personal

After residing most recently in a small fishing village near St. John's, Newfoundland, Andrew Younghusband now resides in Toronto, Ontario.

Over the course of his life and career he has visited more than 40 countries.

On-screen roles

*Understanding Bliss (1990), Andrew/Father Christmas
*Secret Nation (1992), Brian Peckford #2
*Anchor Zone (1994), Brogan
*Dead Silence (1997), Reporter #1
*The Outer Limits TV series: episode "Music of the Spheres"(1997), D.J.
*Black Harbour TV series: episode "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (1998), Corporal Anderson
*Blackfly TV Series: pilot (1999), McTavish
*Dooley Gardens TV series (1999), Tracy
*Foodessence Reality TV (1999), Host
*Violet (2000), Carlos [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0259723/]
*Tall Ship Chronicles Reality TV/documentary (2001), Narrator/crew member
*Random Passage miniseries (2002), Matt Escott
*Inside Media News/satire (2004), Host
*Canada's Worst Driver Reality TV (2005), Host
*World's Worst Driver Reality TV special (2005), Host
*Canada's Worst Handyman Reality TV (2006), Host

Writing credits

*Undercurrents, writer
*Foodessence, co-writer
*Tall Ship Chronicles, writer
*, writer
*X-Quest, writer
*Inside Media, writer
*Canada's Worst Driver, co-writer
*World's Worst Driver, co-writer
*Canada's Worst Handyman, co-writer
*Blueprint for Disaster, head writer

Awards and nominations

Nominated: Gemini (1998), Best Writing in an Information Program or Series for "Undercurrents" }

External links/sources

* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0950259/ IMDB entry]
* [http://www.northernstars.ca/actorsvz/younghusband.html Northern Stars Canadian actor bio]
* [http://www.boats.com/boat-articles/General+News-121/Tall+Ship+TV+series+begins+filming/12163.html Article about Tall Ship Chronicles] Dead link|date=January 2008 wayback|http://www.boats.com/boat-articles/General+News-121/Tall+Ship+TV+series+begins+filming/12163.html
* [http://www.travelchannel.co.uk/ontv/programmeAtoZ/tallship.htm Episode summary of Tall Ship Chronicles]
* [http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows/castdetails.aspx?cid=32 Bio on Discovery channel]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/clips/rm-lo/fed04_younghusband_promises0406111.rm CBC Video clip of Younghusband from 2004 (Realmedia)]