PERFORMANCE

The acting bug bit me when I was a kid, and I've always loved acting of all kinds. I love to watch and dissect the actors' performances, and how they affected me.  I try to absorb all the characterizations I admire then re-deploy them when I see an opportunity.

I'm reminded of a paraphrased t.s. eliot quote:  "Immature actors imitate; mature actors steal."

So what have I done you could see me in?

Click here for my current acting resume

Set Pix...

RESTAURANT Etiquette

Directed: Bruce Clement, Director of Photography: Greg Jacobsen

The lovely Kelly-Marie Murtha serves me up a glass of Cognac - That's right, banana cognac, you detail-oriented sod.

CRASHING PLATE SERIES

On the table on the right is a stack of breakaway plates.  At $25 a pop one doesn't want to waste any!  I wasted one in a bad rehearsal, where I popped Robert Nolan a little too hard.  Sorry Bruce!

With Robert strangling me, I adopt my best Arnold Schwarzenegger look and proceed to grab a plate a smash him over the head with it.

Robert gets clobbered with the plate, pieces flying everywhere, notice the reaction of our background actor.  Ouch!   That hurt!

What really hurt was kneeling on the plate pieces.

When I was strangling Robert, he had a choice of weapons to find and make a choice from by feel only.  Guess what?  He chose the wooden spoon.  The look of confusion Robert gave when he made the choice and realized it was so funny I lost my character laughing.

KA-CHING - The Mortgage Solution Show

David Yuzpe, AMP the Mortgage Broker, from Real Mortgage Associates, sits and chats with Sandy Duncan, AMP host of the show KA-CHING - The Mortgage Solutions Show.  I played Gordon, the self-employed mechanic unsure of how I could get a mortgage and buy a house.  Dave gave me the answers!

Ahhh, my kitchen from the KA-CHING shoot, where the deal got done!

DISMANTLED

How often do you get to play cowboys with a friend when you're my age?  Only when Vicenzo Bertillo hires you to play "The Villain" in DISMANTLED.  This is a fun and interesting 16mm picture combining 3 different film genres: film noire, horror and ending in western to tell the story of a good guy chasing down a bad guy and bringing him to "justice".  Here, after a day of getting shot, Robert Nolan and I kibitz around.

At the end of the Wild Wing shoot, the cast and crew of the movie gather around bad guy Paul as he holds a gun to Wild Wing Bolton owner Bonnie's head.  Notice how no-one comes to her aid?

From left: Paul Nicholls, Bonnie, Scott McLean, Vinnie Bertillo, Robert Nolan, Claudio Poldi, Kyle Lastoria and Bonnie's son

Here I am at my most evil...staring down Robert Nolan at the end of my store, saying, "C'mon little buddy...let's see what you got."  The thorns on the Rose are a metaphor for the prick I really am in the movie.

Where Do White People Go When The Long Weekend Comes?

The Wondrous Journey of Delroy Kincaid

I love working with director Powys Dewhurst.  He writes wonderful wholesome and relevant stories.  In DELROY KINCAID, I was asked to play a happy-go-lucky dad.  I actually wore shorts and this floral shirt shirt outside in the frigid cold.  Beside me is Kai, his real-life sister Sierra, me and my "wife" Dulce Felix.  This short ended up being totally awesome and has been submitted to a number of film festivals.

Powys Dewhurst studies the shot plan.

Director of Photography, Rhett Morita points the way.

EVERYTHING IN IT'S RIGHT PLACE

The leads of the project, written by Courtney Hicks and directed by Julia Sturge: Paul Nicholls as George, Emma Wardle as Sophia, Chris Lang as Adrien, and Kristina Visele as Sarah.

Jim Gerrity the make-up effects wizard was complaining of a headache the day we took this picture.  ~Ahem~!  Um Jim, perhaps it's the pencil stuck in your cranium??!!

Director Julia Sturge watches the action on the monitor.  Julia gave us a new piece of directorial stage direction now known industry-wide as "the Sturge".

What's Wrong With Freddy?

The cast of "What's Wrong With Freddy?".  From left, me (as Ricky's Dad), Mandy played Wendy, the young man who played my son Ricky, and the awesome Rebecca Carney who played Wendy's Mom.

THIS MOVIE SUCKS!

From February 16, shoot:

Erast Mryc punches me in the arm which causes me to react somewhat stupidly by adopting this pose and saying "Awk!"

The calm before the storm: Michael Long and beautiful Sandy Duarte.

Sandy Duarte gives Robert Nolan a piece of her mind for dropping a line from the script without telling her.  As one can tell, Robert is some kind of worried {not}.

Director John Durno takes issue with Sandy Duarte dropping a line from the script.  Lou Israel add his two cents work just because he felt motivated to do so, and by the fact he had been waiting so long to actually say something. The rest of the cast (from left: Michael Long, Erast Mryc, Karen Elstone and myself) stay in character for the dress-down.

John Durno and Lou Israel react with abject horror as the "awkward body language" scene unfolds and Michael Long refuses to stay put.  Clockwise from left: Michael Long, Erast Mryc, Lou Israel, John Durno, myself and Sandy Duarte.

From January 31, shoot:

Left: Robert Nolan stars as Jeremy Buckingham, Barbara de la Fuente plays Stephanie the wannabe director, who pisses Jeremy off.

Right: Lou Israel plays Larry, Jeremy's buddy.  Larry always manages to piss off Jeremy, but pulls double duty by keeping Jeremy in check.

I'm playing Ian, the somewhat dim-witted and slightly gay set assistant. 

Say it together!   "Everybody loves a musical!"

Suffice it to say, I piss Jeremy off too.

Michael Long plays Enriqué from Chu Jork (New York).  He loves green rooms, can't get enough of them.  He pisses off Jeremy by asking him about them.

Erast Mryc plays Rusty

Ian:        The Rust Man, the Rustinator, Rustafarian, Rust-oleum, Rust Never Sleeps, Rust-aholic,

Rusty:     Stop it.

Come to think about it, Rusty is about the only person who doesn't piss off Jeremy.

ABATTOIR

This is me in my vintage Cadillac Seville - the model with the slashed trunk style.  Actually the car belongs to Producer/Director Kal Szegvary, but it was cool to drive anyway.

Notwithstanding this 'happy' picture of him, Mark Nidsgorski plays "Ray", the guy who kills my character and starts off the who bunch of fun in "Abattoir."

Me as John Stanley, dead as a doornail, lying in a pool of my own blood.

MANNEQUIN

This is a film that, for me anyway, was a completely dark one.  I played the role of "The Stranger", a feckless miscreant that attacks and rapes the innocent and guileless character Hayley, played to excellence by Nina Pikula, who is standing to my right in the picture.   The movie was written and directed by Amanda Mongeon, who did an awesome job.  Also in the picture is Ashley McColeman, Amanda's film-making peer who assisted us in just about everything that needed to get done.

WHO ARE YOU WEARIN'?

Francisco Chacin as Carl Dangleben, and Sara Miller as Salome Etienne greet "the stars" and their adopted Third World babies.  The story was written and directed by Powys Dewhurst.

Jules Keren Ross did an amazing turn as Renee, the wanna-be up-and-coming/washed-out starlet who happens to be wearing a passé Ugandan.  Here she is in full meltdown, gnawing on her hapless manager on her cell.

Never far from the pretty ladies, I played several roles in the movie.  Here I am as Buck Mason gathering my two lovely co-hosts, Kelly Harrigan and Marika Schwant close in for a promo photo.  Nice hair Paul - are you the next president on The West Wing with that updo?

As I said, I'm never too far from the pretty ladies, and this is no exception!  To be fair, I played the role of the loser red-carpet show director, just about ready to chew on the business end of a Beretta.

Here, I'm book-ended by lovely Mary Olchowecki on the left and stunning Claire Stollery on the right.  Mary played the redoubtable Emma, the mature and confident star, bringing with her, in her subtle way, this year's hot Third World baby, a Kenyan.  Claire was ravishing in her brown chiffon dress contrasting to her beautiful blonde hair.

Ah, lovely Mary Olchowecki.  Through serendipity, we have been cast in three projects together.  Next up for Mary and I?  Gabriele Darque's Elements.

I'm not in character here, just in wardrobe.  I played a down-in-the-dumps director, relegated to directing a red-carpet show with my nephew acting as the camera operator.

Now HERE I'm in character, giving my dopey nephew "the peeved look."  Note the sweater, artfully draped over my shoulders.  The three-day growth of beard.  The sunglasses ever-so-carefully hanging from my shirt front...Sweet!

My line was "Keep the camera straight - don't miss anything. Just follow the action."  This is me, in character and talking to my nephew (actually the cameraman Frederic Ansaldo).  I guess this is rehearsal, because the sweater is missing.

I know this is bad, and I should be shot, but we filmed Day 2 at Bravo! studios in the CHUM-CITY building.  I found a Gemini.  I couldn't resist.  How the hell else will I get one of these?  I know, I know, years of hard work, and good luck.  Grabbing this picture now seemed a little easier at the time...

Carlo Adamo and Michael Cooper are the bad guys.  Carlo, while a great guy, offed Paul as calmly and coolly as any professional good fella in the picture!

This is where things go to hell for everyone.  This scene more or less underlines the need to know everything about your opponent.  At least if you're the guys in the grey shirts.  HINT:  they didn't survive.

As you can see, the guys in grey don't look so good here.  That's Justin Dmitruk on the left and Reese Eveneshen on the right.  Ummm Reese...do you like have a bit of a headache man?

This is Paul after makeup and SFX guy Mitchell Stacey got done.  OUCH!

We wrapped two days of shooting at 2:00 AM Sunday night.  For someone usually sleeping by 9:00 PM, that took a bit out of me.  As my old friend Michael Johnston would say "It would take a Goddamn fine man to beat me...it just wouldn't take him very long."

THE BLUE SEAL

In this picture I'm playing Police Chief Ed (The Pinch) Crawley. As you can see, clearly I can be as paunchy and pouty as the real thing.  Great costuming - thanx to the Courneyas!

Much more the real me, smiling among my fellow cops and the delivery guys that drove us nuts!

How many frigging staplers does one police station need?

GEORGINA CARES TV AUCTION ON ROGERS TELEVISION

This is me in the 2007 version of the Georgina Cares auction on Rogers Television with Julia Suppa - I enjoyed working with Julia.  She was SupAH!

This is Alyssa Mariano {left} and Ashley Forde on the set of Queen of the Zombie Punks.  Ashley's the one I'm "hitting on" as the new cars salesperson in the movie, while Alyssa is the movie's lead character "Crave".  She knocks the living crap out of the "dead" me in the trailer.  Stage blood...mmmmm....good!

On the set of Love...and Other Reasons to Panic.  Who knew winter would return in the middle of the spring?  In this picture, they are setting up for the backyard play scene.  That's producer Michael Patrick bending over with his back to the camera.  I met Michael on Queen of the Zombie Punks, and so liked his style as a producer that I was eager to work on this, his next production.  Inside the little black tent thing is  director Alberto Diamante.

This is the Maximo Park Shoot.  The original video Apply Some Pressure by English band Maximo Park was a blast to make, and fascinating to watch being made.  It was a mirrored shoot with everything carefully choreographed to match back and front.  The entire thing was done in green screen so as to match things up.  Kudos to director Jaron Albertin for his creativity.  Despite hearing the song roughly 100 times that day I still like it!  The boys continue to work the concert halls and make recordings!

The non-band cast of the Apply Some Pressure video pose with Paul Smith, lead singer of the band.  Rabbit ears always make the picture special!