Sugith Varughese

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Sugith Varughese
Born (1957-04-25) 25 April 1957 (age 67)
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Writer, director, actor

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

Contents

Background

Born in Cochin, Kerala, India into a Syriac Saint Thomas Christian family ("Varughese," also sometimes spelled "Varghese" and "Verghese" and variously pronounced, is Syriac-Malayalam for "George"), [1] he immigrated to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as a child when his neurosurgeon father obtained a professional appointment there. [2] His family's native language is Malayalam; having grown up in anglophone western Canada he naturally speaks English with a Canadian accent but from time to time affects an assortment of South Asian accents when playing dramatic roles that call for them.

Sugith Varughese was raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, began university studies at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon with a double major in pre-medicine and drama, [3] and 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. [4] He went on to write, act in and direct film and television productions in Canada and the USA. He was the first visible minority 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. [5] He also holds a black belt in karate. [6]

Credits

His credits include the following.

Acting

As a film and television actor:

Other credits include Veritas: The Quest ; F/X: The Series ; Kung Fu: The Legend Continues ; Overdrawn at the Memory Bank ; The Expanse . [5] and played the role of the informant on season 1 of 72 Hours (Ep.1 Burning Obsession).

As a stage actor:

Writing

Stage

  • as playwright "The Postman" (co-writer, Panamania) and "Entitlement" (Summerworks)

Film and television

  • As scriptwriter: 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); [5] 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. [8]

Awards

  • Vaurghese has been nominated for a Writers Guild of Canada award five times and won a Writers Guild of Canada award for "Talespinners Collection 2" (NFB). He received a Gemini Award nomination for writing "The Secret Life of Goldfish". He was a finalist for an ACTRA Award for writing "Best of Both Worlds". He won the first York Trillium Award – Most Promising Writer, Television from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Directing

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References

  1. Neither the famous Dr Abraham Verghese nor the American stand-up comedian Paul Varghese, both also of Malayali Syrian Christian backgrounds, is necessarily any relation of Sugith Varughese: Malayali Syrian-Orthodox Christians do not have public family names (they have "house" names) and their putative surnames are simply their fathers' Christian names.
  2. Aseem Chhabra, "I Didn't Want To Be Invisible." Rediff.com, 18 May 2001. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  3. Paul Lima, “The Writer As Warrior: Sugith Varughese,” Writers Guild of Canada: The W Files. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  4. Chhabra.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Internet Movie Database: Sugith Varughese. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  6. Lima.
  7. Writing at the Intersection: The Diaspora Crosswalk. Diaspora Dialogues Archived 18 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine . Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  8. Best Prices.com. "Where Is Here? : A CBC Radio Drama Anthology". Retrieved 29 September 2007.