7 minute read
Peter MacNeill Canadian Actor
By Jay Cooper
Peter MacNeill Canadian Actor
We are so very fortunate to have yet another talented professional live here in the Kawarthas. Peter MacNeill is not only an amazing talent in TV, Film and Theatre, but also a very kind, wise and inviting soul and graciously allowed ATOTK into his home, life and, of course, his beautiful garden. He is Canadian Royalty.
I asked Peter why he chose the Kawarthas. He said, “Well it started with the cottage by Apsley on Loukes Lake many years ago. I was invited to go stay at a dear friend’s place for the weekend. He picked me up at the marina and we were driving down the lake. I was looking around and thought, Wow this is so beautiful. I took his canoe for a paddle around the shore and there was a cottage for sale. I purchased it and that became our Kawartha connection. I can walk for miles and miles in the woods. We’ve had bears on the porch and deer in the yard. It’s heaven on earth. Coming from Toronto, we never really stopped, except at Leahy’s Farm on Hwy 28 to get some supplies, which is always a fun thing to do”.
Peter and his wife now reside in beautiful Millbrook. He says, “When we started looking for a home in the area, we looked at many different places from Lindsay to Warkworth, but fell in love with our place here in Millbrook”. As of this interview, Peter has over 200 acting credits in Film, TV and Theatre. Awards including 2 Gemini awards and a Genie. He said, “Yes, I’ve won 3 awards. It feels nice because your peers vote and you’re in good company. The nomination is almost as good as winning. I was sitting in the audience for an award and I didn’t win. Another actor, Wayne Robson, won. He gets up to walk, looks at me and says HaHa (laughs). I couldn’t believe it. You son of a bitch, let’s keep it professional, Wayne. (laughs) A lot of people are watching”.
Born in New Brunswick, Peter lived in Montreal as a youngster. That was the start for his very successful, well traveled acting career. “I grew up in Verdon Montreal and after high school took off and became this hippy dippy character. I hitch hiked across the country, made my way to San Francisco and stayed there for quite awhile. I came home and went back to school at Sir George Williams University. Having been away for 5 years, I was having problems writing papers. My Professor suggested I check out this new program they had with film and video to see if I could put something together on video. I edited down J.B. by Archibald MacLeish, but took all the philosophical grain from it and had other students involved. They were thrilled to have us, a project, a real project. I directed it and played the voice of God and laid in some Ravi Shankar music. I thought to myself, this is so much fun and so cool, I would really like to do this. I got an A on the project, quit school and joined a Theatre company. I had no training at all and cut my teeth with theatre of the absurd, but it was fun. Then, I started studying with other people and landed on my feet”. Peter never had to do anything other than acting. He says, “It seemed like a miracle to me. I’m incredibly grateful and lucky to have such an amazing career”.
With so many acting credits, does Peter have a preferred medium - TV, Film or Theatre? “If I could still do Theatre, I would. Theatre is where my heart is and where your real soul comes out for the audience. There’s nothing like it in the world. When you have the audience in the palm of your hand, delivering a line, whether tragic or funny, it’s like magic really”.
With the deep catalogue of achievements, I asked what Peter’s favorite acting gig was. “I have to say ‘Call Me Fitz’. I had more fun then anything. I would go to work in the morning and start to laugh and we wouldn’t stop working and laughing until the end of the day. You don’t often get a gig like that. Jason Priestly was super to work with and the show runner was awesome”.
So which peers were a bit of a challenge to work with and which were great? Peter explains, “It’s so surprising sometimes. I’ve had horrible experiences with people that have ego problems and trying to be in charge of everything, trying to direct other actors and get in their face and it’s awful. And then I’ve worked with wonderful people like Linda Kash, who is just so great and so much energy. Her brother Daniel and the whole family have that trait. Jason Priestly is a champ to work with too, absolutely fabulous, amongst so many others”.
Peter is an amazing actor and has no solid ties to a specific role, so he isn’t pigeon holed into one character. He says, “Very true. I couldn’t imagine being locked in. One of the worst examples of that would be playing to race or type, like body shape. Being able to do different roles has only expanded my opportunities”.
Peter with Kevin Costner, Robert Duvall & Annette Bening in Open Range
What’s a day on the set like? “Oh god, the only thing I don’t like about the business, is it takes so long to do everything. You’ve got 200 people working doing different jobs. You show up in the morning and it’s freezing cold out and raining, go to your trailer for wardrobe and someone asked if you want breakfast and they bring you a breakfast roll. But they don’t get it to you until you’re in hair and makeup because they’re running around doing 5 other things. You can’t eat it because they’re doing your makeup. Then get you in your costume and you can’t eat it because you could get it on your shirt. Then you go on set and they don’t allow food on set, so you park your breakfast roll somewhere and you’ll find it later. It’s just so fn glamorous.” (he laughs)
Peter is also an incredible artist. His paintings and his love for creating them make them very special. “When I was a kid, I always loved to sketch. My wife has a degree in fine arts and wanted to go back to painting, and I said I’d like to do that too. So we started painting and taking classes and having a great time with it in our studio. You start looking at things in a different way with light and shadows. Like when your driving as the light changes, the interests change and opens up a whole new world. I can’t explain how wonderful it is.” What is Peter’s favourite project? A favorite project whether it be TV, Film or Theatre? “I gotta go back to theatre. It was a show out of Montreal called Balconville. It’s a little time in the life of people that live in these triplexes in Montreal. The play was such a hit that we toured Canada and then England and Ireland. My second favourite would be Call Me Fitz and a third would be Eleventh Hour, which I won an award for.”
Peter in their Studio
Peter is a man that loves the Kawarthas and his beautiful home. With his wife, they do painting and gardening and enjoy their cottage every chance they get. This year has given more spare time, each day is living their lives to the fullest. Peter is filming a new TV show in Nova Scotia.
Their beautiful gardens
We asked Linda Kash to comment for this article. “When you see Peter MacNeill’s name on a call sheet, you know it’s gonna be a good gig. Peter played my dad in my very first film, The Events Leading Up to My Death. Since then, we’ve crossed paths working together a few times across the country. I’ve enjoyed his work over the years. He’s Canadian Royalty and I’m ever so pleased that he and his wife have chosen to move to our neck of the woods”. The Good Witch, Call Me Fitz, Murdoch Mysteries, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Crash, The Hanging Garden, Geraldine’s Fortune, Dog Park, Open Range plus much, much more. See Page 41 for full listing.
One of Peter's paintings
