Andy Thompson (born 1970) is a Canadian actor, theatre artist, filmmaker and teacher. Thompson was born and raised in

Chilliwack Chilliwack ( )( hur, Ts'elxwéyeqw) is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Chilliwack is surrounded by mountains and home to recreational areas such as Cultus Lake and Chilliwack Lake Provincial Parks. There are numerous outdo ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. He received his theatre arts diploma in acting from

Studio 58 Studio 58 is the professional theatre training school at Langara College in Vancouver, British Columbia. The school offers a three-year diploma program for acting students and a three-year diploma program for production students. A Bachelor o ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Canada in 1993. He is the founder of the

multi-media Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

company The Virtual Stage. As a theatre and film producer, director and writer, Thompson has won several awards. The Virtual Stage and Electric Company Theatre's 2008 production of ''No Exit'', which Thompson co-produced and performed in, garnered rave reviews and won

Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards The Jessie Richardson Theatre Award (commonly known as the Jessie Awards) is given to recognize achievement in professional theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Jessies are presented by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award Society, at an annu ...

for Outstanding Production as well as the Critics' Choice Innovation Award before touring across North America. He co-produced, co-wrote and performed in the

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''The Provider'', which won the 2010 Bloodshots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Competition before going to the 2011

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

, where it was given a "Coup de Coeur" distinction as one of the best short films from Canada. Also in 2011, his entry into the international Film Racing Grand Prix short film competition, the super-hero spoof ''Repair Man'', won 3rd place overall, and was the top-ranking Canadian film of the contest. In 2013, Thompson's

sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

musical

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

''Broken Sex Doll'' was hailed in the press and described as the biggest hit of the

theatre season "and maybe the Next Big Thing in Canadian theatre." The show went on to garner seven Jessie Richardson Theatre Award nominations, including Outstanding Production and Outstanding Direction for Thompson. Thompson is the creator of ''The Zombie Syndrome'', an acclaimed annual, site-specific, interactive, theatrical event in Vancouver in which audience members with smartphones are endowed as elite agents on a mission to save the world from a deadly zombie plague. The event, produced by The Virtual Stage, began in 2012 under the original title ''The Zombie Syndrome''. It went on to be nominated for two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards: "Critics' Choice Innovation Award" and "Significant Artistic Achievement: Outstanding Logistical and Technical Innovation". In 2013, a sequel called ''The Zombie Syndrome: On Death Island'' took place on

Granville Island Granville Island is a peninsula and shopping district in the Fairview neighbourhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is located across False Creek from Downtown Vancouver under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge. The peninsu ...

and was praised by critics.

Early life

After graduating from high school with honours in physics and math, Thompson chose to study arts in college before committing to a career in engineering. This led to his decision to become an actor.

Filmography

Feature films

Television

Short films

Recognition

;Jessie Award Nominations *Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Small Theatre (1998/9) - ''Reading Hebron'' *Outstanding Performance by an Actor In a Supporting Role: Small Theatre (2002/3) - ''The Fall''The 21st Annual Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Monday, June 16, 2003 The Commodore Ballroom
, The Jessies. Retrieved 2013-03-25. *Outstanding Original Play or Musical: Small Theatre (2002/3) - ''The Birth of Freedom'' *Sydney Risk Award for Outstanding original Script by an Emerging Playwright (2002/3) - ''The Birth of Freedom'' *Significant Artistic Achievements, Small Theatre, Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble (2006/7, with 12 other cast members) - ''The Shoes That Were Danced to Pieces''
, The Jessies. Retrieved 2013-03-25. *Significant Artistic Achievements, Small Theatre, Outstanding Technical Design (2006/7, with 6 other people) - ''Spank!'' *Significant Achievement Award, Small Theatre, Video Design & Editing (2008/9, with Bojan Bodruzic) - ''No Exit'' *Outstanding Direction: Small Theatre (2012/13) - ''Broken Sex Doll'' Film Awards *Bloodshots 48-Hour Horror Filmmaking Contest (2010) Best Film, Best Costume Design & Cannes Short Film Corner (2011) Coup de Coeur distinction (co-producer, co-writer, actor) - ''The Provider'' *Vancouver Film Race (2010) Best Writing, Best Costume Design, Best Set Design, 4th Runner Up (co-writer, co-producer, director, editor) - ''Mayor Mulligan'' *International Film Racing Grand Prix (2011), 3rd Place Overall & top-ranking Canadian film (co-writer, director, producer) - ''Repair Man''

Plays

* ''The Birth of Freedom'' (2002) * ''SPANK!'' (2006) * ''1984'' (2011) (multi-media stage adaptation of

Nineteen Eighty-Four ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' (also stylised as ''1984'') is a dystopian social science fiction novel and cautionary tale written by the English writer George Orwell. It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and fina ...

by George Orwell) * ''The Zombie Syndrome'' (2012) * ''Broken Sex Doll'' (2013) * ''The Zombie Syndrome: On Death Island'' (2013)Derdeyn, Stuart. (October 8, 2013). "Zombie Syndrome gets grimmer
The Province
Retrieved 2013-10-18

References

External links

official website

The Virtual Stage
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Andy 1970 births Living people Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Male actors from British Columbia People from Chilliwack Writers from British Columbia 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male writers