Sugith Varughese

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Sugith Varughese
Born (1957-04-25) 25 April 1957 (age 68)
Cochin, Kerala, India
NationalityCanadian
Occupations
  • Writer
  • Director
  • Actor
Years active1983–Present

Sugith Varughese (born 25 April 1957) is an Indian-born Canadian writer, director and actor.

Contents

Early life and education

Varughese was born in Cochin, Kerala, India, into a Syriac Saint Thomas Christian family. [a] His family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, when he was a child, when his neurosurgeon father obtained a professional appointment there. [1]

Varughese began university studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon with a double major in pre-medicine and drama. [2] He continued on to an undergraduate degree in drama at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and a Master of Fine Arts at York University in Toronto. [1] He went on to write, act in and direct film and television productions in Canada and the United States, and was accepted to attend the Canadian Film Centre as a writer-director. As a director, he has been nominated for and won several Canadian film and television and international film festival awards. He also holds a black belt in karate. [2]

Career

Actor

Television

Varughese made his screen debut on television in 1983, and was nominated for an ACTRA Award for his first role in the CBC-TV movie, Best of Both Worlds. [3] Some of his other television movie roles include the Transcorp Reporter in Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (1984), [4] and Patal in Solar Attack (2006). [5]

In television series, Varughese was a regular as Aftab in the CBC-TV comedy An American in Canada (aka Frostbite in Australia) for which he received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Ensemble Performance. Other recurring roles include Palash on OMNI TV's nighttime soap opera Metropia , Faisal on Little Mosque on the Prairie , Tariq Barr on the Starz series The Girlfriend Experience , [6] Mr. Mehta on Kim's Convenience , David Paster for three episodes of The Expanse (2021), and Aajay Singh on the CTV series Transplant . [6] His television guest appearances include the crime-fighting series Counterstrike (1992), the action/crime drama Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1993),[ citation needed ] the film-based thriller F/X: The Series (1996),[ citation needed ] the adventure series Veritas: The Quest (2003),[ citation needed ] and a role as the informant on 72 Hours: True Crime (2004).[ citation needed ]

Film

Some of his theatrical film appearances include the psychological slasher Orphan (2009), [5] and the science fiction film Mission to Mars (2000). [7]

Theatre

Varughese's stage roles and venues include the following. [8]

  • Estelle Singerman (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company)
  • The Wrong Bashir (Crow’s Theatre)
  • The Men in White (Factory Theatre)
  • Animal Farm (Soulpepper Theatre)
  • Little Pretty and the Exceptional (Factory Theatre) for which he was nominated a Dora award for Outstanding Performance-male
  • The Postman (Panamania) (also co-writer)
  • The Container (Summerworks)
  • The Post Office (Pleiades Theatre)
  • Tideline (Factory Theatre)
  • Bhopal (Cahoots Theatre)
  • Indian Ink (CanStage / National Arts Centre).

Writer

Theatre
Film and television

As scriptwriter he worked on animated shorts, Talespinners Collection 1, Talespinners Collection 2 (NFB); Short film, Tongue Tied; TV series The Blobheads (YTV, 1 episode); IMAX documentary Lost Worlds: Life in the Balance; TV series Blue Murder (Global TV, 2 episodes); TV series Groundling Marsh (YTV, 1 episode); TV series On My Mind (TVOntario, 1 episode); Short film Mela's Lunch (NFB); Short film Kumar and Mr. Jones (Canadian Film Centre); TV series Mount Royal (CTV, 1 episode); TV movie Best of Both Worlds (CBC); TV series Fraggle Rock (Jim Henson Company) (10 episodes); [6] TV series The Phoenix Team (CBC, 1 episode); radio drama In the Mountains (CBC Radio) based on Rohinton Mistry's novel A Fine Balance; radio drama Entry Denied (CBC Radio) which was Canada's entry in the Worldplay Festival and broadcast worldwide. [9] [ dead link ]

Awards

Director

Filmography

Film

Television

Sugith Varughese television credits
YearTitleRoleNotesRef.
1983Best of Both WorldsAnilTV movie [3]
1984 Overdrawn at the Memory Bank Transcorp ReporterTV movie [4]
1992 Counterstrike TerroristEpisode: "Prize Package"
1992 Quiet Killer Sara's DoormanTV movie [5]
1993 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Mr. Cyril1 episode[ citation needed ]
1996 F/X: The Series Director1 episode[ citation needed ]
1996Toe TagsDr. Kilami, the CoronerTV movie [6]
1997PSI Factor: Chronicles of the ParanormalIan Vethamany1 episode [6]
1997Too Close to HomeHenry SingTV movie [5] [6]
1997Major CrimeJimmy ChaddhaTV movie [5]
1997 Earth: Final Conflict Dr. Basi (uncredited)Episode: "Scorpions Dream" [6]
1998 Naked City: Justice with a Bullet PrabadthTV movie [5]
1998 A Father for Brittany DoctorTV movie [5]
1998 Defenders: Taking the FirstDr CasterTV movie [5]
1999Freak CityDr. RashdiTV movie [5] [6]
1999 Lethal Vows Dr. SinghTV movie [5]
2001Criminal Instinct: A Colder Kind of DeathPaul GuptaTV movie [5]
2002 Get a Clue Homeless Man / Gary EicarTV movie [5]
2002–2003 An American in Canada Aftab6 episodes. AKA Frostbite (Australia)[ citation needed ]
2003 Veritas: The Quest Auctioneer1 episode[ citation needed ]
2003, 2004 Degrassi: The Next Generation Dr. Moragoda2 episodes[ citation needed ]
2004 72 Hours: True Crime InformantEpisode: "Burning Obsession"[ citation needed ]
2004–2005 Metropia Palash[ citation needed ]
2006"Solar Attack"PatelTV movie [5]
2007 The Gathering Male InternistTV miniseries [5]
2007–2011 Little Mosque on the Prairie Faisal19 episodes[ citation needed ]
2015 The Strain Naren Gupta4 episodes[ citation needed ]
2016 The Girlfriend Experience Tariq Barr7 episodes (Season 1) [5]
2016, 2018 Suits Judge Howard2 episodes[ citation needed ]
2016–2021 Kim's Convenience Mr. Mehta25 episodes[ citation needed ]
2018 Taken Edwin Brown1 episode [6]
2020–2024 Transplant Aajay Singh29 episodes [5]
2021 The Expanse David Paster3 episodes[ citation needed ]
2025 Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Lewis Jenkins1 episode[ citation needed ]
2025 Late Bloomer Richard Matthias1 episode[ citation needed ]

Notes

  1. ↑ "Varughese," also sometimes spelled "Varghese" and "Verghese" and variously pronounced, is Syriac-Malayalam for "George"

References

  1. 1 2 Chhabra, Aseem (18 May 2001). ""I Didn't Want To Be Invisible."". Rediff.com. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  2. 1 2 Lima, Paul. "The Writer As Warrior: Sugith Varughese". The W Files. Writers Guild of Canada. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  3. 1 2 Easterbrook, Ian K.; Waterman MacLean, Susan, eds. (1996). Canada and Canadians in Feature Films: A Filmography, 1928-1990. University of Guelph: Canadian Film Project. pp. 163, 508. ISBN   9780889554153 . Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  4. 1 2 "American Playhouse: Overdrawn at the Memory Bank (TV)". The Paley Center for Media. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "Sugith Varughese: Filmography". Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 "Sugith Varughese". Apple TV+. Apple, Inc. Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  7. 1 2 Monush, Barry; Willis, John, eds. (April 2002). Screen World. Vol. 52 (2001 ed.). Bloomsbury Academic. p. 29. ISBN   9781557834782 . Retrieved 22 July 2025.
  8. ↑ Writing at the Intersection: The Diaspora Crosswalk. Diaspora Dialogues Archived 18 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  9. ↑ Best Prices.com. Where Is Here? : A CBC Radio Drama Anthology. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
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