MAURY CHAYKIN - Biography

M aury Chaykin was born in Canada on July 27, 1949. The son of a Canadian mother and American father, Mr. Chaykin grew up in Brooklyn, New York and started acting in high school. He later attended the University of Buffalo where he majored in theatre. His theatre work in college included being a founding member of the Swamp Fox Theater Group Koshare. An avant-garde troupe, "Swamp Fox" crashed Toronto’s 1970 Festival of Underground Theatre, and became the talk of the festival and was voted most original group at the later Yale Drama Festival. Mr. Chaykin’s college performances were so powerful that they clearly marked him as someone who was destined to be a professional actor.

After graduation, and the dissolution of "Swamp Fox", Mr. Chaykin spent two years as a member of the American Contemporary Theatre in North Buffalo, working with talents including playwright Samuel Beckett. He then tried his hand at New York theater for a few years, before settling into the experimental theater scene in Toronto, where he has lived ever since.
Mr. Chaykin, who holds a dual Canadian-American citizenship, began his television acting career in CBC-TV dramas and entered films in the late 1970s with small roles, and has since become widely recognized from his roles in both lead and supporting parts in a great number of film and television productions, making him a familiar face with both American and Canadian audiences.

With his ability to bring the most out of small roles, Mr. Chaykin's performances are marked by an attention to detail that is completely integrated into the overall performance and a deep humanity that has earned him praises from both critics and fellow actors. Some of Mr. Chaykin's most memorable roles include his first starring role in Donald Brittain's television movie CANADA'S SWEETHEART: THE SAGA OF HAL C. BANKS (1985), which propelled him into the public eye and won him the first of many awards and nominations, which he received the 1986 Nellie Award for Best Actor in his performance in the film's title role - Harold Chamberlain Banks.
In 1989, he was nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in the Genie Award for his role in the film IRON EAGLE II (1988). In the same year, he had a memorable role in Vic Sarin's COLD COMFORT (1989), as a twisted tow-truck driver who imprisoned a young salesman as a birthday gift to his teenage daughter, and was this time around a nominee for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in the 1990 Genie Award.
He then turned in a scene-stealing role in Kevin Costner's DANCES WITH WOLVES (1990), winner of 7 Academy Awards, in his widely recognized spellbinding performances as a psychotic, suicidal U.S. cavalry major.

P erhaps one of Mr. Chaykin most memorable performance was his starring role in Richard J. Lewis's WHALE MUSIC (1994). His portrayal of "Desmond Howl," an ex-rock 'n' roll superstar who has become a drug-addled recluse, obsessed with composing a symphony for the whales in his gigantic mansion overlooking the sea; received resounding critical acclaimed in Canada and garnered him the 1994 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role.
Most recently, he was seen as an endearingly offbeat, slightly mentally "slow" uncle, in Diane Keaton's feature film directorial debut UNSTRUNG HEROES (1995). Mr. Chaykin also starred in one of the most critically acclaimed film in recent years: the Oscar-nominated THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), winner of 7 Genie Awards, directed by renown Canadian director Atom Egoyan, and was also in Egoyan's earlier film THE ADJUSTER (1991), as a wealthy eccentric lost soul.

Mr. Chaykin's other impressive list of film credits includes: WARGAMES (1983), MRS. SOFFEL (1984), DEF-CON 4 (1985), TWINS (1988), MY COUSIN VINNY (1992), BURIED ON SUNDAY (1992), LEAVING NORMAL (1992), HERO (1992), SOMMERSBY (1993), BEETHOVEN'S 2ND (1993), CAMILLA (1995), DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995), CUTTHROAT ISLAND (1995), MOUSEHUNT (1997), THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998), ENTRAPMENT (1999), MYSTERY, ALASKA (1999), WHAT'S COOKING? (2000), THE ART OF WAR (2000), to list a few.

O n the small screen, he played Sir Robert de Baudricourt in Christian Duguay's mini-series "Joan of Arc" and was a regular on the popular series "Oz" and "Emily of New Moon." In 1998, he won a Gemini Award for Best Actor in a Guest Role for his performance in "La Femme Nikita."
More recently, he has been starring in A&E new tv series "Nero Wolfe," based on the detective novels of Rex Stout, as none other than the series' title role - Nero Wolfe himself. His other television credits include the mini-series "Conspiracy of Silence," "Race for the Bomb," Disney Channel film "Northern Lights," the HBO movie "Sugartime" and guest appearances in "Due South."

[for a complete filmography of Maury Chaykin - click here!]

Mr. Chaykin also has extensive stage credits in Toronto, Montreal, New York and California. His stage work includes A Man's Man, Gimme Shelter (1978), the musical Leave It to Beaver Is Dead (1979), Fat Fell Down, Diary of a Scoundrel and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Among the notable productions in which he has performed are the premieres of Ken Gass' Hurray For Johnny Canuck (1974) and of George F. Walker's Gossip (1977).

Showbiz-wise, with a solid career on television and in film as well as on stage, MAURY CHAYKIN is undoubtedly one of the finest "character" actor around and an unsung hero of filmdom.

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