Paul Gross

Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959)[1] is a Canadian actor, producer, director, singer, and writer born in Calgary, Alberta. He is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the television series Due South as well as his 2008 war film Passchendaele, which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. During Due South's final season, Gross acted as executive producer in addition to starring, wrote the season three opener and finale, the two part series finale and wrote and sang songs for the show, some of which can be found on the two Due South soundtracks. He later found success with another Canadian TV series, Slings & Arrows. He also produced one film with Akshay Kumar called Speedy Singhs starring Camilla Belle and Vinay Virmani.[2]

Paul Gross
Gross at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Paul Michael Gross April 30, 1959 Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Actor producer screenwriter composer director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse(s)	Martha Burns ​ ​ (m. after 1988)​
Children	2, including Hannah Gross

Early life

Gross was born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Renie Gross (née Dunne), a writer and art historian, and Robert "Bob" Gross, a career soldier, colonel, and tank commander.[3][4] His family moved to Arlington, Virginia in his adolescence, where Gross attended Yorktown High School. He credits drama teacher Timothy Jecko as his inspiration for becoming an actor: "I'm not sure where I would have ended up otherwise."[5]

Career

Gross studied acting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but he left during the third year of his study.[6] He went back later to complete the half-credit needed to receive his fine arts degree.[7] He appeared in several stage productions, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet.[8] Other productions in which he appeared include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and As You Like It.[8] His student work "The Deer and the Antelope Play" was co-produced by the university’s department of drama and Theatre Network, and won both the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award and the Alberta Culture Playwriting Award.[7]

After the play Successful Strangers, Gross starred in his first movie, Turning to Stone.

He wrote and directed the curling movie Men with Brooms. He wrote, co-produced, directed and starred in the Genie Award-winning film Passchendaele, inspired by stories he heard from his grandfather, a First World War soldier.[7]

From September 16, 2011, he appeared in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives in Toronto co-starring Kim Cattrall (the production ended October 30, 2011);[9] the production moved to Broadway where it opened November 6, and closed on December 31, 2011.[10]

More recently, Gross completed work on the contemporary war drama Hyena Road, released on October 9, 2015.[11][12][7]

Between 2011 and 2014 he appeared in 9 episodes as Kevin Crocker on Republic of Doyle.[13]

Due South

His role as upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Benton Fraser in the Due South television series brought him increased recognition. Like fellow actor David Marciano, he didn't want to do the show at first, and creator Paul Haggis didn't even know if he wanted Gross for the role, but following a meeting, he was cast as Constable Benton Fraser.[14]

When Due South was revived for the third season, Gross returned in the role of Benton Fraser. He also took on duties as executive producer and writer. He earned an estimated salary of $2–3 million per season, and at the time was the highest-paid performer in Canadian television history.[15] He wrote several episodes of the last season of the series. His favourite episodes include "Gift of the Wheelman" and "All the Queen's Horses" and his episodes "Mountie on the Bounty" and "Call of the Wild" are of a similar style.[14]

Personal life

In September 1988, Gross married Canadian actress Martha Burns. The couple have two children, Hannah and Jack.

Theatre

Year	Role	Title	Theatre
1981	Sylvius	As You Like It	Northern Light Theatre, Edmonton
	Lysander	A Midsummer Night's Dream
1982–1983		Mrs Warren's Profession	Theatre Calgary
		Unseen Hand
		Farther West
	Clarence Underhill	Walsh	National Arts Centre, Ottawa
	Motherwell	The Kite	Festival Lennoxville
		Take Me Where the Water is Warm
	George Gaga	In the Jungle of Cities
1984	Dorante	Successful Strangers	Centaur Theatre, Montréal
	Romeo	Romeo and Juliet	Toronto Free Theatre, Toronto
1988	Young Kenneth Pyper	Observe the sons of ulster marching towards the somme	Centrestage Co., Toronto
1989	Brick	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg
2000	Hamlet	Hamlet	Stratford Festival of Canada
2011	Elyot	Private Lives	Royal Alexandra Theatre, Music Box Theatre
2012	Edmund Gowery	Are You There, McPhee?	McCarter Theatre, New Jersey

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1989	Cold Comfort	Stephen Miller
	Divided Loyalties	Walter Butler
1991	Married to It	Jeremy Brimfield
1992	Buried on Sunday	Augustus Knickel
1993	Aspen Extreme	T.J. Burke
1994	Whale Music	Daniel Howl
	Paint Cans	Morton Ridgewell
2002	Men with Brooms	Chris Cutter	Also writer and director
2004	Wilby Wonderful	Buddy French
2008	Passchendaele	Michael Dunne	Also writer, producer and director
2010	Gunless	The Montana Kid
	Barney's Version	Constable O'Malley of the North
2011	Speedy Singhs		Producer
2015	Hyena Road	Pete Mitchell	Also writer, producer and director
	Beeba Boys	Jamie
2018	The Parting Glass	Sean

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1985	Turning to Stone	Billy	Debut; television film
1986	Airwaves		Writer
1988	Chasing Rainbows	Jake Kincaid	14 episodes
1989	Street Legal	Steven Hines	2 episodes
1990	The Ray Bradbury Theater	Skip	1 episode
	Getting Married in Buffalo Jump	Alex Bresnyachuk	Television film
1993	Gross Misconduct: The Life of Brian Spencer		Writer
1993	Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City	Brian Hawkins	6 episodes
1994	XXX's & OOO's	Bucky Dean	Television film
1994–1999	Due South	Constable Benton Fraser	67 episodes
1996–1998	The Red Green Show	Kevin Black	5 episodes
1997	Noel's House Party	Himself	1 episode[16]
	20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Ned Land	Television film
1999	Murder Most Likely	Patrick Kelly	Television film
2003–2005	The Eleventh Hour	Tony Joel	2 episodes
2003–2006	Slings & Arrows	Geoffrey Tennant	18 episodes
2004	H2O: The Last Prime Minister	Thomas David McLaughlin	Also writer and executive producer
	Monday Report	Thomas David McLaughlin	Episode #2.3
2005	Burnt Toast	Scott	Television film
2006	Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story	John Diefenbaker	2 episodes
	Hockey: A People's History	Narrator	10 episodes
2008	The Trojan Horse	Thomas David McLaughlin	Also writer and executive producer
2009–2010	Eastwick	Darryl Van Horne	Regular; 12 episodes
2010	Men with Brooms	Chris Cutter	12 episodes
2011–2014	Republic of Doyle	Kevin Crocker	9 episodes
2017	Alias Grace	Thomas Kinnear	4 episodes
2018	Caught	Roy Patterson	Miniseries; 5 episodes
2019	Tales of the City	Brian Hawkins	Main cast; 9 episodes

Honours

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Officer of the Order of Canada (O.C.)	Awarded on May 2, 2013; Invested on February 13, 2015[17]
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for Canada	2012[18]

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film/Play	Result
1981	Alberta Culture competition	New Play	The Deer and the Antelope Play	Won
1982	Clifford E. Lee Foundation	National Award for Playwrights	The Deer and the Antelope Play	Won
	Alberta Culture competition	New Play	The Dead of Winter	Won
1985	Dora Award	Best Performance	Romeo and Juliet	Nominated
1986	Gemini Award	Best Writing in a TV Drama	In This Corner	Nominated
1988	Dora Award	Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Featured Role	Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Toward the Somme	Won
1994	Gemini Award	Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series	Gross Misconduct	Nominated
1995	Gemini Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Due South	Won
1996	Gemini Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Due South	Won
1997	Gemini Award	Best Writing in a Dramatic Series	Due South	Nominated (with Paul Quarrington, John Krizanc)
1998	Gemini Award	Best Writing in a Dramatic Series	Due South	Won (with John Krizanc, R.B. Carney – Mountie on the Bounty, part 2)
		Best Dramatic Series	Due South	Nominated (with Frank Siracusa, Peter Bray, R.B. Carney, George Bloomfield)
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Due South	Nominated
		Best Writing in a Dramatic Series	Due South	Nominated (with R.B. Carney, John Krizanc – Mountie on the Bounty, part 1)
		Best Writing in a Dramatic Series	Due South	Nominated (Burning Down the House)
1999	Gemini Award	Canada's Choice Award	Due South	Won (with Frank Siracusa, David Cole, R.B. Carney)
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Due South	Nominated
2000	Gemini Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series	Murder Most Likely	Nominated
		Best TV Movie or Dramatic Mini-Series	Murder Most Likely	Nominated (with R.B. Carney, Frank Siracusa, Robert Forsyth, Anne Marie La Traverse)
2003	Canadian Comedy Award	Pretty Funny Direction	Men With Brooms	Won
		Pretty Funny Male Performance	Men With Brooms	Nominated
		Pretty Funny Writing	Men With Brooms	Nominated (with John Krizanc)
	Genie Award	Best Original Screenplay	Men With Brooms	Nominated (with John Krizanc)
2004	Gemini Award	Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Slings & Arrows	Won
2005	ACTRA Toronto	Award Of Excellence		Won
	Writers Guild of Canada	Movie of the Week and/or Mini-Series	H2O	Won (with John Krizanc)
	Directors Guild of Canada	Outstanding Team Achievement in a Television Movie or Mini-Series	H2O	Won
	Gemini Award	Best Dramatic Mini-Series	H2O	Nominated (with Frank Siracusa)
		Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series	H2O	Nominated (with John Krizanc)
	Monte Carlo Television Festival	Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series	H2O	Won
2007	Gemini Award	Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role	Slings & Arrows	Won
2008	Gemini Award	Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series	The Trojan Horse	Nominated (with John Krizanc)
2009	Genie Award	Best Motion Picture	Passchendaele	Won (with Niv Fichman, Francis Damberger and Frank Siracusa)
		Golden Reel Award	Passchendaele	Won (with Niv Fichman, Francis Damberger and Frank Siracusa)
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role	Passchendaele	Nominated
	NBC Universal Canada	Award of Distinction		Won
	The Governor General's performing arts awards	National Arts Centre Award: Exceptional Achievement over the Past Performance Year		Won
	Directors Guild of Canada	Team Feature Film	Passchendaele	Won
	National History Society	Pierre Berton Award	Passchendaele	Won
(Sources: IMDb.com, Paul Gross website)

Discography

Albums

Year	Album
1997	Two Houses (with David Keeley)
2001	Love and Carnage (with David Keeley) (first released as Give the Dog a Bone)[19]

Singles

Year	Single	CAN Country	Album
1997	"Voodoo"		Two Houses (with David Keeley)
1998	"32 Down on the Robert MacKenzie"
1999	"Papa's Front Porch"	61
2000	"Ride Forever"

References

1. "filmreference.com". Paul Gross. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
2. "Speedy Singhs as producer". bollywoodhungama.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2011.
3. Johnson, Brian D. "Paul Gross (Profile)".
4. "Paul Gross FAQ". paulgross.org.
5. Harris, Bill. "Paul Gross's Remarkable Teacher, Tim Jecko". Professionally Speaking. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
6. "TV.com". Paul Gross Biography. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
7. MacPherson, Adrianna (October 11, 2015). "From Student to Star: With a new film hitting the big screen, actor-writer-director Paul Gross reflects on his time honing his craft in Edmonton". Avenue magazine Edmonton. Retrieved May 2, 2020.
8. "Paul's stage roles". Paul Gross website. Retrieved November 30, 2007.
9. "Private Lives". Mirvish Productions. Archived from the original on October 14, 2011. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
10. "About". Private Lives. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
11. ""Hyena Road" at the Internet Movie Database". IMDb. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
12. Daniel Chai. "Movie Review: Hyena Road takes you into the heart of Canada's Afghanistan war". Vancity Buzz.
13. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1297754/fullcredits
14. Due South Archived December 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 30 November 2007.
15. "Paul Gross (Profile)". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 20, 2014.
16. "Paul Gross on Crinkley Bottom". Retrieved September 22, 2010 – via YouTube.
17. http://gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=6896&t=12&ln=Gross
18. http://gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=215559&t=13&ln=Gross
19. "Give a Dog a Bone (review)". Paul Gross. Retrieved July 3, 2015.

External links

• Paul Gross at The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Paul Gross at IMDb
• Paul Gross at AllMovie
• Watch Remembrance, a vignette on Paul Gross for his Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
• Paul Gross at Tv.com
• PaulGross.org
• Paul Gross at Northern Stars