Canadian film and theatre actor (born 1955)
Tom McCamus (born July 25, 1955) 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".
Early life.
McCamus was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the eldest son of a Labatt executive and a library science professor. 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.
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. 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. 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". He has performed multiple role in several other seasons, such as 2010, when he returned to "Peter Pan"—this time as Captain Hook—and played Valmont in "Dangerous Liaisons".
In 1994, McCamus won what was then Canada's top theatre accolade, the Dora Award for Best Leading Actor, for his performance in "Abundance", earning additional nominations on prior and later occasions, including 1992 when he was nominated alongside his wife Chick Reid.
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). 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, and earned more positive reviews from the international press when the film was shown at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight. 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, and for the Oscar-nominated "The Sweet Hereafter" (1997), directed by Atom Egoyan.
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.
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. 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.
Personal life.
McCamus is married to theatre and occasional TV actress Chick Reid, a fellow alumn of the Shaw Festival troupe. They live in Warkworth, Ontario.
References.
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