bio

The Nutshell

Vital Statistics (according to Tom)

Height: 5'10 or 5'11
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Weight: No idea. Didn't think to take along any scales to Stratford.

Biography

John Thomas McCamus was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, on July 25th 1955, and brought up in London, Ontario from the age of 10. He has an older brother called Steve. Tom attended Oakridge Secondary School in London, and is a graduate of the University of Windsor's School Of Dramatic Art, making him a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA). Tom currently lives on his 54-acre farm outside of Warkworth, North East of Toronto, with his wife and fellow Stratford festival perennial, actor Chick Reid. Oh, and Chick's dogs Joey and Lucy.

Chick and Tom have appeared on stage together quite a bit, most recently doing productions of Love Letters and The Passion Of Narcisse Mondoux in Warkworth. The only times they've been on film together are in Sarah Polley's short film Don't Think Twice where they're not actually physically in the same place, and in the Mutant X episode "Blood Ties", where Chick plays the only person in the series to have given Eckhart a right good ear bashing and survived. Chick is a very accomplished theatrical actor, and if I started writing down everything she's been in my keyboard would probably break down. You can find out more about Chick here.

Tom made his big screen debut in 1989's time-travel comedy A Switch In Time or, on video, Norman's Awesome Experience. Watching the film, it's not entirely unclear why it's never mentioned in the various bios of him littered around film sites. Although he never quite made it as a teen idol, Tom and the Canadian film industry, no doubt agreeing on collective amnesia, restored credibility with 1991's Beautiful Dreamers, and 1993's award-winning I Love A Man In Uniform, directed by David Wellington, for which Tom picked up the Best Actor award at the Genies (Canadian Oscars for those of us going down the Aladdin route).

After a lengthy stint at Stratford in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night, David Wellington phoned Tom up to find out what on earth he'd been doing. Tom obviously passed on the "I've been making this really dire movie with Rob Lowe" explanation (actually in my opinion not that dire at all, see the First Degree review), and the two of them, together with the other members of the Stratford cast, set about making what would be one of the most critically acclaimed Canadian movies of the year. Tom picked up a Best Actor nomination at the Genies but lost out to his co-star, William Hutt.

And then on to the Oscars... sadly not with Journey, but in Atom Egoyan's adaptation of The Sweet Hereafter, which garnered itself Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay nominations. Tom was honoured with another Genie nomination, this time for Supporting Actor, for his role as an abusive father.

Tom followed up these award-winning films with some equally acclaimed performances. Amongst others are the Genie-winning Possible Worlds with Tilda Swinton, Richard III and The Threepenny Opera at the Stratford Festival, and his starring role in syndicated TV series Mutant X.

Today, Tom is dividing his time between the theatre (Hedda Gabler), film (Waking Up Wally), television (The Eleventh Hour), and his farm in Ontario. Watch this space for upcoming projects.

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