Tom McCamus

Last updated
Tom McCamus
Born (1955-07-25) July 25, 1955 (age 68)
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
OccupationActor
Years active1982–present

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

Contents

Early life

McCamus was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, [1] the eldest son of a Labatt executive and a library science professor. [3] He was brought up in London, Ontario from the age of ten. Originally destining himself 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 went on to attend 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 live in Warkworth, Ontario. [8]

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1987And Then You DieJimmy
1988 A Switch in Time NormanAlso known as Norman's Awesome Experience
1988-1989 Friday the 13th: The Series Atticus Rook / Frank Edwards2 episodes
1990 Beautiful Dreamers Leonard Thomas
1993 I Love a Man in Uniform Henry Adler
1993 Guilty as Sin Ray Schiff
1994The Circle GameFrank
1996 Great Performances Edmund TyroneEpisode: "Long Day's Journey into Night"
1997 The Sweet Hereafter Sam
1997Bach Cello Suite #6: Six GesturesJ.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
2001-2004 Mutant X Mason Eckhart26 episodes
2002 Steal Jerry
2002 The Nature of Nicholas Father
2002 Perfect Pie Don Rayford
2003TrinityDr. Clerval
2003 The Newsroom Bob DanielsEpisode: "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
2012 The Samaritan Deacon
2014-2015 Orphan Black Dr. Nealon7 episodes
2015 King John King John
2015Antony and CleopatraEnobarbus
2015 Room Leo
2019The TempestStephano
2019CoriolanusMenenius Agrippa

Awards

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Tom McCamus' bio at www.northernstars.ca
  2. ↑ Room review by Susan Wloszczyna at rogerebert.com
  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 (subscription required).
  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 at www.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 (subscription required).
  7. 1 2 3 Garebian, Keith. "Tom McCamus". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved May 29, 2023.
  8. 1 2 "Stratford star McCamus shines when it’s dark" by Richard Ouzounian at www.thestar.com
  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 (subscription required).
  11. ↑ "Genies broadcast" at playbackonline.ca
  12. ↑ The Sweet Hereafter review by Owen Gleiberman at ew.com
  13. ↑ "He's one busy line-learner" by Kate Taylor at www.theglobeandmail.com
  14. ↑ Street Legal at www.radiotimes.com
  15. ↑ "Tom McCamus shines in Madness of King George III at Shaw Festival: review" at www.thestar.com
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