Don McKellar

Don McKellar
McKellar at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	August 17, 1963 (1963-08-17) (age 48) Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alma mater	Victoria College, Toronto
Spouse	Tracy Wright (-2010) (her death)

Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, and filmmaker.

Personal life

McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario to a lawyer father and teacher mother.^[1] He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College. After beginning his career in the theatre, McKellar was lured into the realm of Canadian cinema, where he has since become a ubiquitous presence.

McKellar was married to Canadian actress Tracy Wright on January 3, 2010. Wright died from cancer on June 22, 2010.^[2]

Career

McKellar made his first screen appearance in 1989 in Bruce McDonald's film Roadkill, for which he also wrote the screenplay. McKellar's work on Roadkill earned him Genie Award nominations for best supporting actor and best screenwriter, attracting the attention of many in Canada. Roadkill also won the Toronto-Citytv Award for best Canadian feature.

McKellar collaborated again with McDonald for his 1991 film Highway 61, writing the screenplay and playing the starring role as the barber Pokey Jones. Again McKellar's work solicited wide praise, earning him a second Genie nomination for best screenwriter and a nomination for best actor. McKellar's most recent collaboration with McDonald spawned the cult classic television series Twitch City, in which McKellar played the starring role of Curtis, a television addict and shut-in.

Since his entry into Canadian cinema, McKellar has also been involved in numerous projects. He appeared in Atom Egoyan's films The Adjuster (1991) and Exotica (1994), the latter of which earned him the Genie for best supporting actor. McKellar collaborated with François Girard, authoring the screenplays for his films Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (1992), and the Academy Award winning (Best Original Score) The Red Violin (1998), in which McKellar starred alongside Samuel L. Jackson. He also appeared alongside Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh in David Cronenberg's 1999 film eXistenZ.

McKellar has emerged as a filmmaker in his own right; his directorial debut, Last Night (1998), garnered impressive critical acclaim, winning the Prix de la Jeunesse at the Cannes Film Festival and the Claude Jutra Award at the Genies. In 2001 he played the role of Oliver Tapscrew in the TV children's drama series I Was a Rat, whilst in 2004, his second film, Childstar, opened at the Toronto International Film Festival to enthusiastic reviews.

McKellar also stars in the animated sitcom Odd Job Jack as the titular hero, Jack Ryder. As of 2006 the show is in production of its fourth season on The Comedy Network.

McKellar has appeared in all three seasons of television's Slings & Arrows, as Darren Nichols, a pretentious theatre director. The show is co-written by Bob Martin, who collaborated with McKellar on the musical The Drowsy Chaperone. Martin and McKellar also cocreated the Canadian television sitcom Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, scheduled to debut on CBC Television in fall 2011.^[3]

In 2006, he appeared in Ken Finkleman's miniseries At The Hotel. In June 2006 he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical for The Drowsy Chaperone. He received a Gemini Award nomination for his role as socialist politician Clarence Fines in Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story.

McKellar hosted the CBC Radio One series High Definition. He co-starred in and wrote the 2008 screen adaptation of José Saramago's 1995 novel Blindness.

References

1. ^ http://www.filmreferencelibrary.ca/index.asp?layid=46&csid1=46&navid=46
2. ^ http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/Deaths.20100623.93235468/BDAStory/BDA/deaths
3. ^ "Camelot & cover songs: Inside CBC’s new fall lineup". National Post, June 8, 2011.

External links

• Don McKellar at the Internet Movie Database
• Don McKellar at the Internet Broadway Database
• Bravo!FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent): shorts starring and directed by Don McKellar available for viewing online
• Production: The Drowsy Chaperone - Working in the Theatre Seminar video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2006
• Canadian Film Encyclopedia
• Unofficial Don McKellar Site
• Official Alliance Atlantis trailer for Blindness

Persondata
Name	Mackellar, Don
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	August 17, 1963
Place of birth	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Date of death
Place of death