Michael Seater
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Michael Seater (born January 15, 1987) is a Canadian actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. From 2005 to 2009, he starred as the titular role in the Canadian
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
''
Life with Derek ''Life with Derek'' is a Canadian television teen situation comedy that aired on Family Channel (Canadian TV network), Family Channel (English) and VRAK.TV (French) in Canada and on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on Fam ...
''. He later portrayed James Gillies in ''
Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick B ...
'', from 2009 to 2017. Aside from acting, Seater has ventured into filmmaking, with the independent feature films ''
People Hold On "People Hold On" is a song by British band Coldcut and singer-songwriter Lisa Stansfield, released as the first single from the band's debut album, '' What's That Noise?'' (1989). It was written by Matt Black, Jonathan More and Stansfield, an ...
'' (2015) and ''
Sadie's Last Days on Earth ''Sadie's Last Days on Earth'' is a Canadian comedy film directed by Michael Seater, and starring Morgan Taylor Campbell, Clark Backo, Ricardo Hoyos, Munro Chambers and Paula Brancati. The plot follows a teenager who is convinced that the end o ...
'' (2016), which he wrote, directed, and co-produced.


Early life

Seater was born and raised in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Ontario. He attended the
Etobicoke School of the Arts The Etobicoke School of the Arts (ESA) is a specialized public arts-academic high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in Etobicoke, it has been housed in the former Royal York Collegiate Institute facility since 1983. Founded on September ...
and worked as a
child actor The term child actor or child actress is generally applied to a child acting on stage or in film, movies or television. An adult who began their acting career as a child may also be called a child actor, or a "former child actor". Closely associ ...
.


Career


Early work

Seater began acting in the late 1990s and appeared in the short films,
direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...
films, made-for-television films, several television series. Seater voiced the title character in the series ''
Mattimeo ''Mattimeo'' is a fantasy novel by Brian Jacques, published in 1989. It is the third book in the ''Redwall'' series. It is also one of the three ''Redwall'' novels to be made into a television series, alongside its self-titled novel (Season 1) ...
: A Tale of Redwall'', which aired in 2000, starred as Lucas Randall in the television series ''
Strange Days at Blake Holsey High ''Strange Days at Blake Holsey High'' (also known as ''Black Hole High'') is a Canadian science fiction on television, science fiction television series which first aired in North America in October 2002 on Global TV. It is set at the fictional boa ...
'', which began airing in 2002 and ended in 2006, and had a role in the 2005 film ''
The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio ''The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio'' is a 2005 American biographical film written and directed by Jane Anderson. It is based on the book by Terry Ryan, and stars Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson, and Laura Dern. The film received a limited relea ...
'', which starred
Julianne Moore Julie Anne Smith (born December 3, 1960), known professionally as Julianne Moore, is an American actress. Prolific in film since the early 1990s, she is particularly known for her portrayals of emotionally troubled women in independent films, a ...
. Seater then appeared in the recurring role of Owen on the series ''
ReGenesis ''ReGenesis'' is a Canadian science-fiction television series produced by The Movie Network and Movie Central in conjunction with Shaftesbury Films. The series, which ran for four seasons from 2004 to 2008, revolves around the scientists of No ...
'', which ended after its fourth season.


2005–2014: ''Life with Derek'' and further acting work

Seater garnered wider public recognition for his role as Derek Venturi on the popular Canadian family sitcom, ''
Life with Derek ''Life with Derek'' is a Canadian television teen situation comedy that aired on Family Channel (Canadian TV network), Family Channel (English) and VRAK.TV (French) in Canada and on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on Fam ...
'', which was a hit with teens at the time. Seater starred on the series from its premiere in 2005 to its finale in 2009, for a total of 70 episodes and four seasons. Before the show's cancellation, Seater had written a script for an episode of the fourth season with his brother, Graham. In 2009, following the conclusion of ''Life with Derek'', Seater played a character in the Degrassi movie ''
Degrassi Goes Hollywood ''Degrassi Goes Hollywood'' is a 2009 Canadian film adaptation of the popular, long-running teenage drama '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. The movie premiered in the United States on The N on 14 August 2009, and in Canada on CTV on 30 August ...
'' and in 2010 he starred in the CBC series ''
18 to Life ''18 to Life'' is a Canadian sitcom television series that debuted on January 4, 2010, on CBC. The series is shown in Quebec on Vrak.TV with the title ''Majeurs et mariés''. Synopsis The show stars Stacey Farber and Michael Seater as Jessie H ...
''. He also played the recurring role of murderer and criminal mastermind James Gillies in the Canadian series ''
Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick B ...
''. From 2012 to 2013, Seater also had a recurring role on the Canadian television series ''
Bomb Girls ''Bomb Girls'' is a Canadian television drama that debuted on January 4, 2012, on Global and Univision Canada in Spanish. The plot profiles the stories of four women working in a Canadian munitions factory during World War II, beginning in 1941. ...
''. He also appeared in '' Bomb Girls: Facing the Enemy'', a
television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
based on the series.


2015–present: Transition into filmmaking

In 2015, Seater wrote and directed the feature film ''
People Hold On "People Hold On" is a song by British band Coldcut and singer-songwriter Lisa Stansfield, released as the first single from the band's debut album, '' What's That Noise?'' (1989). It was written by Matt Black, Jonathan More and Stansfield, an ...
'', which was nominated for a
Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
for Best Original Song (by
Noah Reid Noah Nicholas Reid (born May 29, 1987) is a Canadian voice, stage, and screen actor; and musician. He has performed in several films and television series, including ''Franklin'' and the CBC comedy ''Schitt's Creek''. In 2016, he received a Cana ...
). The film premiered at the Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival in 2015. It received mixed reviews from critics. In 2016, Seater wrote and directed his second feature film, ''
Sadie's Last Days on Earth ''Sadie's Last Days on Earth'' is a Canadian comedy film directed by Michael Seater, and starring Morgan Taylor Campbell, Clark Backo, Ricardo Hoyos, Munro Chambers and Paula Brancati. The plot follows a teenager who is convinced that the end o ...
'', which was produced by
Shaftesbury Films Shaftesbury Films is a film, television and digital media production company founded by Christina Jennings in 1987. It is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Background Shaftesbury is a creator and producer of original content for television and ...
. It was released on December 9, 2016 in theatres. It received mostly negative reviews from critics, and scored a 40% on
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
.


Personal life

Seater identifies as
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
, and had input into the creation of his character James, a gay man, on '' The Wedding Planners''. He is close friends with his ''Life with Derek'' co-star
Ashley Leggat Ashley Leggat (born September 26, 1986) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles as Casey McDonald in the Canadian family comedy series ''Life with Derek'' and as Tiffany in the MTV television film ''Made... The Movie''. Early life L ...
.


Filmography


Film


Television


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Seater, Michael 1987 births Living people 21st-century Canadian male actors Canadian male child actors Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian LGBT actors LGBT male actors Male actors from Toronto Queer actors