Tom McCamus

Last updated
Tom McCamus
Born (1955-07-25) July 25, 1955 (age 70)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active1982–present

Tom McCamus (born July 25, 1955 [1] ) is a Canadian film and theatre actor. He is most widely known for his works on the television show Mutant X and drama film Room . [2]

Contents

Early life, family and education

McCamus was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, [1] the eldest son of a Labatt executive and a library science professor. [3] He was raised in London, Ontario, beginning at age ten.

Originally planning to be a writer or a teacher, he found an interest in theatre when he took a drama class at Oakridge Secondary School. He subsequently landed a small role in a version of Antigone staged by the local Theatre London's Young Company and subsequently attended the University of Windsor's school of dramatic art. [1] [4]

Career

Theatre

McCamus moved to Toronto in 1980 and settled into a steady theatre career, spending his winters there while transplanting to Niagara-on-the-Lake in the summer, as a member of the famed Shaw Festival troupe. He became one of the country's more in-demand stage players, earning particular notice for his leading role in a complex staging of Peter Pan , which debuted in 1987 and returned by popular demand for the 1988 season. [3] [4] He is also known for his performance in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night , one of the Stratford Festival's historic plays. [5] He received further praise when he performed triple duty during the 1998 edition of the festival, acting as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing , and one of the tramps in Waiting for Godot . [6] He has performed multiple role in several other seasons, [7] such as 2010, when he returned to Peter Pan—this time as Captain Hook—and played Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons . [8]

In 1994, McCamus won what was then Canada's top theatre accolade, the Dora Award for Best Leading Actor, for his performance in Abundance, [9] earning additional nominations on prior and later occasions, including 1992 when he was nominated alongside his wife Chick Reid. [7] [10]

Film and television

Following a few TV appearances beginning in 1985, McCamus made his film debut in director Paul Donovan's time-travel comedy A Switch in Time (1989). [4] He garnered positive reviews for his role as a mental patient in the historical drama Beautiful Dreamers , before earning wide acclaim as struggling actor Henry Adler in David Wellington's 1993 film I Love a Man in Uniform . For his performance, he won the Genie Award for Best Actor, [11] and earned more positive reviews from the international press when the film was shown at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. [10] McCamus has been nominated for the Genie Award on two occasions since, for Wellington's Long Day's Journey into Night (1996), in which he reprised his stage role, [6] and for the Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter (1997), directed by Atom Egoyan. [12]

McCamus came to the attention of a wider audience playing the villainous Mason Eckhart in the Marvel TV series Mutant X . Although McCamus proved sufficiently popular that he appeared in every episode of the first season, something that was not originally planned, he quit the show to star as Richard III and Mack the Knife at the Stratford Festival. He only returned to Mutant X to make occasional appearances in the second and third seasons. [13]

In 2005, McCamus starred in the CBC film Waking Up Walter: The Walter Gretzky Story as famous hockey dad Walter Gretzky, for which he won Best Actor honors at both the ACTRA Awards and the Gemini Awards. [7] Other notable screen appearances include Shake Hands with the Devil (2007), and the Ken Finkleman miniseries At the Hotel (2006). He appeared in the 2019 season of CBC's Street Legal in a supporting role. [14]

Personal life

McCamus is married to theatre and occasional TV actress Chick Reid, [15] a fellow alumn of the Shaw Festival troupe. [3] They reside in Warkworth, Ontario. [8]

Filmography

Year(s)TitleRoleNotes
1987 And Then You Die Jimmy
1988 A Switch in Time NormanAlso known as Norman's Awesome Experience
1988–89 Friday the 13th: The Series Atticus Rook / Frank EdwardsTV series; 2 episodes
1990 Beautiful Dreamers Leonard Thomas
1993 I Love a Man in Uniform Henry Adler
1993 Guilty as Sin Ray Schiff
1994 The Circle Game Frank
1996 Great Performances Edmund TyroneEpisode: "Long Day's Journey into Night"
1997 The Sweet Hereafter Sam
1997Bach Cello Suite #6: Six Gestures J.S. Bach
1998 Last Night Radio D.J.Voice
1999 The Passion of Ayn Rand RichardTV movie
2000 The Spreading Ground Johnny Gault
2000 Possible Worlds George Barber
2000 The Claim Burn
2000 Foreign Objects TV series
2001 Century Hotel Nicholas
2001–04 Mutant X Mason EckhartTV series; 26 episodes
2002 Steal Jerry
2002 The Nature of Nicholas Father
2002 Perfect Pie Don Rayford
2003TrinityDr. Clerval
2003 The Newsroom Bob DanielsTV series; Episode: "Death 1, George 0"
2004 Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen Calum
2004 Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning Wallace Rowlands
2004SiblingsMr. Phillips
2005 Black Widow Detective Pressman
2007 Shake Hands with the Devil Phil Lancaster
2008 Killshot Paul Scallen / FBI Chief
2009 Cairo Time Mark
2009–10 Spliced Lord Wingus EternumTV series
2012 The Samaritan Deacon
2014–15 Orphan Black Dr. NealonTV series; 7 episodes
2015 King John King John
2015Antony and CleopatraEnobarbus
2015 Room Leo
2019The TempestStephano
2019CoriolanusMenenius Agrippa

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Tom McCamus". northernstars.ca.
  2. ↑ Wloszczyna, Susan (October 16, 2015). "Room" (Review). rogerebert.com. Retrieved December 16, 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Crook, Barbara (January 2, 1988). "For this actor, variety's the spice of his profession" . The Ottawa Citizen. p. C1–C6 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. 1 2 3 Currie, Rod (May 3, 1987). "Peter Pan is real fly guy". The Winnipeg Sun. Canadian Press. p. 29.
  5. ↑ "Long Day's Journey into Night". britishtheatreguide.info.
  6. 1 2 Portman, Jamie (May 14, 1998). "An assassin, a trickster and a tramp" . The Ottawa Citizen. p. F2 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. 1 2 3 Garebian, Keith. "Tom McCamus". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  8. 1 2 Ouzounian, Richard (2010-07-30). "Stratford star McCamus shines when it's dark". Toronto Star .
  9. ↑ "Tom McCamus". ggaagency.ca. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  10. 1 2 MacInnis, Craig (May 23, 1993). "Cannes loves our man in a uniform" . The Toronto Star. p. C1–C4 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ↑ "Genies broadcast". playbackonline.ca. 1994-01-03.
  12. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (November 28, 1997). "The Sweet Hereafter" (Review). Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved 2025-12-16.
  13. ↑ Taylor, Kate (March 30, 2002). "He's one busy line-learner". The Globe and Mail . Stratford, Ontario. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
  14. ↑ "Street Legal". Radio Times .
  15. ↑ "Tom McCamus shines in Madness of King George III at Shaw Festival" (Review). Toronto Star. 2017-05-27. Retrieved 2025-12-16.
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