Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister

Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau (October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000) was a Canadian politician, statesman, and lawyer who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984. Between his no ...

in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of Glenn Gould in '' Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould'' (1993), and for playing Detective Martin Ward in '' Bon Cop, Bad Cop'' (2006) and its sequel '' Bon Cop, Bad Cop 2'' (2017). His other roles include Martin Harrison in ''

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

'' (2002), Lord Marshal Zhylaw in '' The Chronicles of Riddick'' (2004)'','' First Gentleman Henry Taylor on ''24'' (2009), Cardinal Della Rovere on '' The Borgias'' (2011–2013)'','' Laufey in ''

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' (2011), General Ted Brockhart on '' House of Cards'' (2016–2017), Declan Gallard on '' 21 Thunder'' (2017), Wernher von Braun in '' For All Mankind'' (2019), and Sir Reginald Hargreeves on ''

The Umbrella Academy ''The Umbrella Academy'' is an Absurdist fiction, absurdist Superhero fiction, superhero comic book series created by writer Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá. It follows a dysfunctional family of adopted superhero siblings with bizarre powers a ...

'' (2019–2024). Feore is also a Prix Iris and Screen Actors Guild Award winner and a Genie Award nominee.

Early life and education

Feore was born on August 22, 1958, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. His parents, Dr Dermot Feore and Elaine Taylor, were Irish, and the family moved back to

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

shortly after Colm was born, remaining there for several years before emigrating to Canada landing in Ottawa in 1961 before moving to

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

. After graduating from Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario, he attended the National Theatre School of Canada in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Career

Feore honed his acting skills as a member of the Acting Company of the Stratford Festival of Canada, North America's largest classical repertory theatre. He spent 17 seasons at Stratford where he rose from bit parts to leading roles, including

Romeo Romeo Montague () is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Romeo and Juliet''. The son of Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lord Montague, Lord Montague and his wife, Characters in Romeo and Juliet#Lady Montague, Lady Montague, he ...

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

, and Cyrano. He returned in 2006 to star in four productions, including '' Don Juan'' in both English and French and as Fagin in '' Oliver!'' In 2009 he played the main role of

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

in the play ''

'', the main role of Cyrano in '' Cyrano de Bergerac'', and Lear in ''

King Lear ''The Tragedy of King Lear'', often shortened to ''King Lear'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is loosely based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his ...

'' in 2014, all performed at the Stratford Festival Theatre. He also has appeared on Broadway as Cassius in the production of ''

Julius Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in Caesar's civil wa ...

'' starring

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles Denzel Washington on screen and stage, on stage and screen, Washington has received List of awards and nominations ...

as Brutus.

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

, for the Public Theater, he was

Claudius Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; ; 1 August 10 BC – 13 October AD 54), or Claudius, was a Roman emperor, ruling from AD 41 to 54. A member of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, Claudius was born to Nero Claudius Drusus, Drusus and Ant ...

in a ''

'' production that starred Liev Schreiber. In Canada, Feore's most famous roles were as Prime Minister

in the critically acclaimed television mini-series '' Trudeau'', a role for which he won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, as classical pianist Glenn Gould in the 1993 film '' Thirty-Two Short Films About Glenn Gould'', and as by-the-book English Canadian detective Martin Ward in the box-office hit '' Bon Cop, Bad Cop''. He also played a crazed marketing executive imposter in the second season of the Canadian TV series, '' Slings and Arrows'', a role that continued for several episodes. The show has run in the United States on the Sundance Channel. Outside Canada, Feore has appeared in numerous film, theatre and television roles. He is perhaps most famous in the United States for his supporting roles in such Hollywood films as ''

'', '' City of Angels'', ''

Pearl Harbor Pearl Harbor is an American lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. It was often visited by the naval fleet of the United States, before it was acquired from the Hawaiian Kingdom by the U.S. with the signing of the Reci ...

'', '' The Sum of All Fears'', ''

Paycheck A paycheck is traditionally a paper document (cheque) issued by an Employment#Employer, employer to income, pay Employment#Employee, employee for services rendered. In recent times, the physical paycheck has been increasingly replaced by elect ...

'', and '' The Chronicles of Riddick''. In 1999, he appeared in

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...

's '' Storm of the Century'' as the powerful ancient wizard Andre Linoge. He was the crooked Los Angeles Police Chief James E. Davis in 2008's '' Changeling''. In 2011, he appeared as Laufey, King of the Frost Giants, in the live-action

superhero film Superhero film/movie is a film genre categorized by the presence of superhero characters, individuals with extraordinary abilities who are dedicated to fighting crime, saving the world, or helping the innocent. It is sometimes considered a sub ...

''. In 2014, he portrayed Dr. Francis Dulmacher in '' Gotham''. He portrayed the First Gentleman Henry Taylor on the seventh season of '' 24'', appeared as Tad Whitney in ''

The West Wing ''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...

'' second-season episode titled "

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

" and played the billionaire suspect Jordan Hayes in the 2011 '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' episode "Flight". He played supernatural murderers in two episodes of '' Friday the 13th: The Series''.

Honours

On June 8, 2002, Feore received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree (D.Hum.) from the University of Windsor in Windsor. In October 2012, he was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or '), also termed Doctor of Literature in some countries, is a terminal degree in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. In the United States, at universities such as Drew University, the degree ...

degree (D.Litt.) by Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, in recognition of his contributions to Canadian theatre and film. Feore was honoured with Gascon-Thomas Award from the National Theatre School of Canada in 2013, the award is given annually to an actor that makes an exceptional contribution to the growth of theatre. In the same year, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada (OC) "for his contributions as an actor of the stage and screen, notably by bridging Anglophone and Francophone cultures as a fluently bilingual performer." In 2019, Feore received the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award in Film from the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards. He won the

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () 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) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

for Best Supporting Actor at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, for the film '' Sugar Daddy''. Robin Wong TIFF Schmooze Colm Feore 2007

Personal life

Feore has been married to Donna Feore (née Starnes), a choreographer and theatre director associated with the National Arts Centre and the Stratford Festival, since 1994."Colm and Donna Feore: A most contemporary couple"
''NUVO'', Spring 2006. He was previously married to actress Sidonie Boll, whom he met at the National Theatre School, from 1983 to 1994. Feore has three children: son Jack with Boll, and son Thomas and daughter Anna with Donna Feore. Feore is fluent in French.

Filmography

Film

Television

Stratford Festival Theatre credits

* ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1984), Romeo * ''The Boys from Syracuse'' (1986), Antipholus * ''Cymbeline'' (1986), Iachimo * ''Othello'' (1987), Iago * ''Richard III'' (1988), King Richard III * ''The Taming of the Shrew'' (1988), Petruchio * ''The Three Musketeers'' (1988), Athos * ''Julius Caesar'' (1990), Cassius *''The Merry Wives of Windsor'' (1990), Frank Ford * ''Hamlet'' (1991), Hamlet * ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1992), MercutioStratford Festival
/ref> * ''Measure for Measure'' (1992), Angelo * ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1993), Oberon * ''The Pirates of Penzance'' (1994), Pirate King * ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1994), Cyrano * ''My Fair Lady'' (2002), Henry Higgins * ''Don Juan'' (2006), Don Juan * ''Oliver!'' (2006), Fagin * ''Coriolanus'' (2006), Coriolanus * ''Intervention'' (2007) * ''Macbeth'' (2009), Macbeth * ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (2009), Cyrano * ''King Lear'' (2014), King Lear * ''The Beaux' Stratagem'' (2014), Archer * ''Richard III'' (2022), Richard III * ''The Miser'' (2022), Harper

References

External links

''Canadian Film Encyclopedia''
A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Feore, Colm 1958 births American emigrants to Canada Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian people of Irish descent Living people Male actors from Boston Male actors from Windsor, Ontario Officers of the Order of Canada Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners National Theatre School of Canada alumni 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors Canadian male Shakespearean actors Best Supporting Actor Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Ridley College alumni Best Supporting Actor Jutra and Iris Award winners Governor General's Award winners