Luke Farrell Kirby (born June 29, 1978) is a Canadian actor. In 2019, he won a
Primetime Emmy Award for his guest role as
Lenny Bruce on the television series ''
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...
''.
Early life
Kirby was born in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a Canada 2016 Census, population of 569,353, and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington, ...
, to American parents. His mother is from
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, and his father grew up "along the eastern seaboard." His parents moved from
New York City, New York
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, to Canada in 1974. Kirby studied drama at the
National Theatre School of Canada
The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, french: École nationale de théâtre du Canada) is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants ...
, a theatre conservatory which focuses on classical works, and graduated in 2000.
Career
Kirby has been performing since his teens after he was accepted at The National Theatre School of Canada. He graduated in May 2000 and after two auditions he began working on two separate projects: the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
/Alliance mini-series ''Haven'', and director
Léa Pool
Léa Pool C.M. (born 8 September 1950) is a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker who taught film at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has directed several documentaries and feature films, many of which have won significant awards including the ...
's feature ''
Lost and Delirious'' (2001).
Soon after, Kirby performed the role of Morgan in the
Factory Theatre
Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz, and it was run for almost 20 years by Dian English.
Factory was the first theatre to announce that it would e ...
's production of ''Geometry in Venice'' in Toronto, a performance that garnered him a Best Actor nomination at the
Dora Mavor Moore Awards. This was quickly followed by the role of Patroclus in Theatre for a New Audience's 2001 production of ''
Troilus and Cressida
''Troilus and Cressida'' ( or ) is a play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1602.
At Troy during the Trojan War, Troilus and Cressida begin a love affair. Cressida is forced to leave Troy to join her father in the Greek camp. Meanwh ...
'', directed by
Peter Hall in New York City.
In 2006, Kirby performed in the
Women's Project Theater WP Theater (formerly known as Women's Project Theater) is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater based in New York City. It is the nation’s oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of female-iden ...
production of ''Jump/Cut''. Other theatre credits include
Judith Thompson
Judith Clare Thompson, OC (born September 20, 1954) is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canad ...
's premiere of ''Habitat'' at
Canadian Stage
Canadian Stage is a non-profit contemporary performance arts company based in Toronto, Ontario, ''Canada''.
About Canadian Stage
Canadian Stage is one of Canada's largest not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies, based in Toronto, Ontari ...
followed by
Daniel Brooks
Daniel Brooks (born 23 June 1958) is a Canadian theatre director, actor and playwright. He is well known in the Toronto theatre scene for his innovative productions and script-writing collaborations.
Early life
Brooks was born in Toronto, Ontari ...
premiere of ''The Good Life'' at the
Tarragon Theatre
The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country. (both in Toronto). His latest theatre venture was in NYC where he performed the lead role in ''Defender of the Faith'' (
Irish Repertory Theatre
The Irish Repertory Theatre is an Off Broadway theatre founded in 1988.
History
The Irish Repertory Theatre was founded by Ciarán O'Reilly and Charlotte Moore, which opened its doors in September 1988,http://www.nyc-arts.org/organizations ...
).
Kirby's first feature film was the role of Jim in ''
Halloween: Resurrection'' (2002). Other film credits include lead roles in
Peter Wellington
Peter William Wellington (born 21 August 1957) is an Australian politician. He was the independent member for Nicklin in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2017, and served as Speaker from 2015 to 2017. Wellington has held the b ...
's feature ''Luck'' and ''
Mambo Italiano'' directed by
Émile Gaudreault. ''Mambo Italiano'' received a gala presentation at the 2003
Toronto International Film Festival
The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
to a standing ovation and earned Kirby a
Canadian Comedy Award Nomination. Kirby then performed in a part written for him in the feature film ''
Shattered Glass'' produced by
Cruise/Wagner. In 2007, he played the lead role of Ray Dokes opposite
Rachael Leigh Cook
Rachael Leigh Cook (born October 4, 1979) is an American actress and model. She has starred in the films '' The Baby-Sitters Club'' (1995), '' She's All That'' (1999), and '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), and in the television series '' Into ...
and
Keith Carradine
Keith Ian Carradine ( ; born August 8, 1949) is an American actor who has had success on stage, film, and television. He is known for his roles as Tom Frank in Robert Altman's film ''Nashville'', Wild Bill Hickok in the HBO series '' Deadwood ...
in the Canadian feature ''
All Hat''.
A 2009 film role had him opposite
Lindsay Lohan in a feature titled ''
Labor Pains''.
In television, one of Kirby's favourite roles was the
TMN/
Showcase
Showcase or vitrine may refer to:
*Cabinet (furniture)
*Display case
Music
* ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961
* ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964
* ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...
mini-series ''
Slings and Arrows'', featuring Canadian actors and directed by his friend Peter Wellington. ''
Sex Traffic
''Sex Traffic'' is a two-part British-Canadian television thriller, written by Abi Morgan and directed by David Yates, that first broadcast on Channel 4 on 14 October 2004. The series, produced by Veronica Castillo and Derek Wax, stars John S ...
'', a mini-series for
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
and
CBC that aired in the fall of 2004, had him working with British director
David Yates, for which he received a
Gemini
Gemini may refer to:
Space
* Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac
** Gemini in Chinese astronomy
* Project Gemini, the second U.S. crewed spaceflight program
* Gemini Observatory, consisting of telescopes in the Norther ...
nomination. That same year he received a second Gemini nomination for his guest starring role in the dramatic series ''
The Eleventh Hour''. In the fall of 2005, Kirby appeared as a series regular in
HBO's ''
Tell Me You Love Me'', directed by
Patricia Rozema
Patricia Rozema (born 20 August 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave.
Early life
Rozema was born in King ...
. The first season aired in HBO in September 2007. He starred as Jimmy Burns in the 2009–2010
Canwest Global television series ''
Cra$h & Burn''.
In 2017, Kirby joined the cast of the
Golden Globe winner ''
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'' is an American period comedy-drama television series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, that premiered on March 17, 2017, on Amazon Prime Video. Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it stars Rachel Brosnahan as ...
'', an original series from Amazon, as the comedian
Lenny Bruce, for which he received a
.
From December 2019 through January 2020, Kirby starred in the Off-Broadway play ''Judgment Day'' at New York's Park Avenue Armory.
Filmography
Film
Television
Awards and nominations
* Nominated:
Canadian Comedy Award for Pretty Funny Performance (2004 for ''Mambo Italiano'')
* Nominated:
Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series (2005 for ''Sex Traffic'')
* Nominated:
Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Guest Role Dramatic Series (2005 for ''The Eleventh Hour'')
* Nominated:
(2010 for ''Cra$h & Burn'')
* Won:
(2019 for ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'')
* Nominated:
(2020 for ''The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'')
References
External links
*
*
Luke Kirbyat
Yahoo! Movies
Yahoo! Movies (formerly Upcoming Movies), provided by the Yahoo! network, is home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Yaho ...
Luke Kirbyat
Flixster
Flixster is an American social-networking movie website for discovering new movies, learning about movies, and meeting others with similar tastes in movies, currently owned by parent company Fandango. The formerly independent site, allows users ...
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirby, Luke
1978 births
Living people
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male television actors
Canadian people of American descent
Male actors from Hamilton, Ontario
National Theatre School of Canada alumni
Primetime Emmy Award winners
20th-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male actors