“Honestly, back in ’79 when I decided to become an actor, I’m not even really sure any of us knew what that meant. I remember watching classmate Dwayne Brenna on stage, thinking, ‘Holy crap, he’s good!’ I think we were probably a bit mystified by it all. Mom and Dad just knew I absolutely loved it.” After convocation for both Coates and Chappell in 1981, she taught in Kindersley before the couple moved to Toronto the next year. Coates went to auditions, waited tables at the Nag’s Head Tavern, complete with cummerbund, and lived off tips while Diana pulled their financial weight, teaching with the York Board of Education. It was a lean but exciting time of wide-eyed discovery as auditions and small parts came his way. Opportunities picked up steam and a short 18 months later, Coates landed roles in West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet at the Neptune Theatre with Tom Kerr in Halifax. Soon he was trodding the boards at Stratford with roles like the lead in Macbeth and as Roma in Bertold Brect’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. “My favourite writer, Joseph Campbell, says to follow your bliss and I believe that, but sometimes it’s tough,” he says. “You need someone to help you over those bumpy roads. If you love each other, if they can support you until there’s either nothing left to support or you’re a star, that’s what it takes. I was lucky Diana did that for me.” During this period, Coates caught the eye of New York agents for his Stratford work. While Diana taught in Toronto, Coates headed to Broadway where his career blossomed with plum roles. One of the most significant was taking over from Aiden Quinn the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. “I always wanted to be where the best work was, but I was almost an innocent about the whole time. I had no fear.” Two daughters were born in Toronto, Kyla in 1989 and Brenna in 1993. In 1995, the entire family made their way to Los Angeles, following Coates’ bliss. By that time, he’d gotten a green card with his work on Waterworld and other Warner Brothers projects, and had joined the Screen Actors Guild. When Coates realized he wouldn’t have to give up his Canadian citizenship — something he’d never do — the family became dual citizens in 1998. Now the veteran of over 50 movies and television shows, Coates says he’ll go wherever he needs to go to work on the best projects. “The two movies I worked on in Saskatchewan last year will forever be in my heart. I will go wherever I need to go to work on the best projects, I don’t care if it’s Hollywood or Winnipeg (where he recently filmed hockey comedy Goon, with Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber and Jay TOP Fishing at Chitek Lake FraMe As Stanley Kowalski in Broadway’s A Streetcar Named Desire MiDDle With parents, high school graduation bOTTOM Sons of Anarchy cast at premiere
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