Mark Ghanimé (born December 1, 1977) is a Canadian actor, with Lebanese origins. He is known for his roles as Major Sergio Balleseros on the Syfy original series ''

Helix A helix (; ) is a shape like a cylindrical coil spring or the thread of a machine screw. It is a type of smooth space curve with tangent lines at a constant angle to a fixed axis. Helices are important in biology, as the DNA molecule is for ...

'', and for recurring as Don Carlos on

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

series ''

Reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., King of Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-princes of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kin ...

''.

Early life

Ghanimé was born on December 1, 1977, in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary () is a major city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a Metropolitan area, metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the List of ...

, Canada to a Canadian mother and a Lebanese father. He spent time growing up in both Calgary and in

Montreal, Quebec 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 ...

, Canada and was

trilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monoling ...

from an early age, speaking French, English, and

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

due to his diverse heritage. Ghanimé grew up focusing on academics with the intent of becoming a business man and going into real estate. He obtained a finance degree from the

University of Lethbridge The University of Lethbridge (also known as uLethbridge, uLeth, and U of L) is a public comprehensive and research university located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with a second campus in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in the liberal arts traditio ...

in Canada. In his early twenties, Ghanimé began taking vocal lessons and hip-hop dance classes in order to explore his creative side. In 2004, Ghanimé had an uncredited, background role in ''Chasing Freedom'' starring

Juliette Lewis Juliette Lake Lewis (born June 21, 1973) is an American actress, singer and musician. She is known for her portrayals of offbeat characters, often in films with dark plots, themes and settings. Lewis gained prominence in American cinema during t ...

. While on set, he became passionate about acting and knew he wanted to pursue it as a career.

Career

After starting his career acting in commercials, Ghanimé was cast in his first guest-starring role as Graham in the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

series '' Wild Roses''. He then had small guest starring roles on ''

Smallville ''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...

'' and ''

Supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

'' in 2010 and '' The Secret Circle'', '' Fairly Legal'', and ''

Arrow An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...

'' in 2012. Starting in 2012, Ghanimé had a recurring role as Dr. Jamie Albagetti on

series '' Emily Owens, M.D.'' and a starring role as Daniel Goose-Egg in the

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

''Soldiers of the Apocalypse'', for which he also served as associate producer. In 2013, he had supporting roles as Run in the Showcase

miniseries In the United States, a miniseries or mini-series is a television show or series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. Many miniseries can also be referred to, and shown, as a television film. " Limited series" is ...

'' Eve of Destruction'' and as the museum curator in the

Hallmark Channel Hallmark Channel is an American cable television network owned by Hallmark Media, a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. The channel broadcasts family-oriented general entertainment programming, including television series and made-for-TV movies. ...

television movie '' The Hunters''. Ghanimé's most significant role came in 2014 when he was cast as a series regular in the Syfy original series ''

'', playing Major Sergio Balleseros who guides a team of

CDC The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and is headquartered in Atlanta, ...

scientists to investigate a disease outbreak at a research facility in the arctic. The series was cancelled on April 29, 2015, and aired for two seasons. In 2015, Ghanimé was cast in the recurring role of Don Carlos in the third season of The CW series ''

''. He also recurred as Justin Faysal on the

Chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression refrigeration, vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigerator, absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated th ...

horror

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

series '' Slasher'' in 2016. in 2017, Ghanimé recurred on the second season of '' Private Eyes'', playing a romantic interest of the main character, Angie Everett, played by

Cindy Sampson Cindy Marie Sampson (born May 27, 1978) is a Canadian director and actress (film actress, film and television actress, television). She is known for her role in the Canadian television series ''Private Eyes (TV series), Private Eyes''. Biogr ...

. In 2023, Ghanimé plays Sam Calloway in ''To All a Good Night'' with Kimberley Sustad. Ghanimé currently stars as Dr. Cameron Hayek on Netflix's

Virgin River The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...

Personal life

He has visited

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

numerous times and wishes to portray more Middle-Eastern characters in order to bring positive light to the Middle East and accentuate the beauty of countries such as Lebanon which he says are rarely portrayed positively in the media.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ghanime, Mark 1977 births 21st-century Canadian male actors Living people Male actors from Calgary Lebanese male actors Canadian male television actors Canadian people of Lebanese descent University of Lethbridge alumni