Acting

Don McKellar

Born August 17, 1963 · Toronto, Ontario, Canada (age 63)

Don McKellar CM (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the film Last Night, which won the Prix de la Jeunesse at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, as well as his screenplays for films such as Thirty Two Short Films…

Known For

No Other Choice

No Other Choice · 2025

No Other Choice

MovieComedyCrime

After being laid off and humiliated by a ruthless job market, a veteran paper mill manager descends into violence in a desperate bid to reclaim his dignity.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World · 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

MovieActionComedy

As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.

Crimes of the Future

Crimes of the Future · 2022

Crimes of the Future

MovieScience FictionHorror

With his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from the National Organ Registry obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... Their mission — to use Tenser's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

eXistenZ

eXistenZ · 1999

MovieActionThriller

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Blindness

Blindness · 2008

MovieDramaMystery

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

Target Number One

Target Number One · 2020

Target Number One

MovieThrillerCrime

Ex heroin junkie, Daniel Léger, gets involved in a drug deal with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. When the deal goes sour, Daniel gets thrown into a Thai prison and slapped with a 100-year sentence. While he tries to survive his Bangkok incarceration, the news of his conviction captures the attention of Globe and Mail journalist Victor Malarek, who decides to go after the shady undercover cops responsible for wrongly accusing Daniel.

Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies · 2005

Where the Truth Lies

MovieDramaMystery

An ambitious reporter probes the reasons behind the sudden split of a 1950s comedy team.

Exotica

Exotica · 1994

In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.

Filmography

Sort

No Other Choice

No Other Choice · 2025

No Other Choice

MovieComedyCrime

After being laid off and humiliated by a ruthless job market, a veteran paper mill manager descends into violence in a desperate bid to reclaim his dignity.

Screenplay

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World · 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

MovieActionComedy

As bass guitarist for a garage-rock band, Scott Pilgrim has never had trouble getting a girlfriend; usually, the problem is getting rid of them. But when Ramona Flowers skates into his heart, he finds she has the most troublesome baggage of all: an army of ex-boyfriends who will stop at nothing to eliminate him from her list of suitors.

Director

Crimes of the Future

Crimes of the Future · 2022

Crimes of the Future

MovieScience FictionHorror

With his partner Caprice, celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. An investigator from the National Organ Registry obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed... Their mission — to use Tenser's notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.

Wippet

eXistenZ

eXistenZ · 1999

MovieActionThriller

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Yevgeny Nourish

Blindness

Blindness · 2008

MovieDramaMystery

When a sudden plague of blindness devastates a city, a small group of the afflicted band together to triumphantly overcome the horrific conditions of their imposed quarantine.

Screenplay

Target Number One

Target Number One · 2020

Target Number One

MovieThrillerCrime

Ex heroin junkie, Daniel Léger, gets involved in a drug deal with the wrong people for the wrong reasons. When the deal goes sour, Daniel gets thrown into a Thai prison and slapped with a 100-year sentence. While he tries to survive his Bangkok incarceration, the news of his conviction captures the attention of Globe and Mail journalist Victor Malarek, who decides to go after the shady undercover cops responsible for wrongly accusing Daniel.

Norm

Where the Truth Lies

Where the Truth Lies · 2005

Where the Truth Lies

MovieDramaMystery

An ambitious reporter probes the reasons behind the sudden split of a 1950s comedy team.

Publishing Executive

Exotica

Exotica · 1994

In the upscale Toronto strip club Exotica, dancer Christina is visited nightly by the obsessive Francis, a depressed tax auditor. Her ex-boyfriend, the club's MC, Eric, still jealously pines for her even as he introduces her onstage, but Eric is having his own relationship problems with the club's female owner. Thomas, a mysterious pet-shop owner, is about to become unexpectedly involved in their lives.

Thomas

The Grand Seduction

The Grand Seduction · 2014

The Grand Seduction

A small fishing village must procure a local doctor to secure a lucrative business contract. When unlikely candidate and big city doctor Paul Lewis lands in their lap for a trial residence, the townsfolk rally together to charm him into staying. As the doctor’s time in the village winds to a close, acting mayor Murray French has no choice but to pull out all the stops and begin The Grand Seduction.

Director

The Red Violin

The Red Violin · 1998

MovieDramaThriller

300 years of a remarkable musical instrument. Crafted by the Italian master Bussotti (Cecchi) in 1681, the red violin has traveled through Austria, England, China, and Canada, leaving both beauty and tragedy in its wake. In Montreal, Samuel L Jackson plays an appraiser going over its complex history.

Screenplay

Redacted

Redacted · 2007

A fictional documentary discusses the effects the Iraq war has had on soldiers and local people through interviews with members of an American military unit, the media, and local Iraqis.

Criminal Investigator (voice)

The Middle Man

The Middle Man · 2021

MovieComedyDrama

Frank Farrelli takes on the job as a middle man in the God-forsaken town of Karmack, USA, a community in a depression so deep that they need a middle man to professionally communicate more of the bad news.

Doctor

When Night Is Falling

When Night Is Falling · 1995

When Night Is Falling

MovieDramaRomance

Camille is a professor at a Protestant college and is in a long-term relationship with Martin, a respected minister and fellow professor. When Camille meets Petra, a bold and flamboyant performer in a circus troupe, she is inexplicably drawn. Pursuing Petra, Camille throws her whole conservative life into disarray.

Timothy

Last Night

Last Night · 1998

MovieComedyRomance

Various citizens of Toronto anxiously await the end of the world, which is occurring at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.

Director

Closet Monster

Closet Monster · 2016

MovieDramaFantasy

A creative and driven teenager is desperate to escape his hometown and the haunting memories of his turbulent childhood.

Story Editor

Treading Water

Treading Water · 2013

MovieDramaComedy

Mica is born smelling of fish that soap and doctors can't remove. Problems increase starting school as no one'll be his friend. He sees a therapist. His life seems doomed until he meets Laura.

Richard

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould · 1993

Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould

MovieDramaMusic

A collection of vignettes highlighting different aspects of the life, work, and character of the acclaimed Canadian classical pianist.

Screenplay

Zoom

MovieAnimationComedy

A multi-dimensional interface between a comic book artist, a novelist, and a film director. Each lives in a separate reality but authors a story about one of the others.

Horowitz

Trigger

Trigger · 2010

MovieDramaMusic

Ten years after ending their partnership as rock musicians, two women become re-acquainted in the course of one night.

Brian

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw · 2020

The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw

MovieHorrorDrama

A devout community suffering from a plague is torn apart by a beautiful young woman and the forces of witchcraft, black magic, and possession.

Bernard Buckley

Through Black Spruce

Through Black Spruce · 2019

Through Black Spruce

MovieDramaMystery

The disappearance of a young Cree woman in Toronto traumatizes her Northern Ontario family, and sends her twin sister on a journey south to find her.

Director

The Passion of Ayn Rand

The Passion of Ayn Rand · 1999

The Passion of Ayn Rand

MovieDramaRomance

Author Ayn Rand becomes involved with a much younger and married man, to the dismay of those close to her.

Alfred

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming · 2017

Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming

MovieAnimationDrama

A young Canadian poet with Chinese and Persian parents travels to Iran to perform at a poetry festival.

Dietmar (voice)

Three Days in Havana

Three Days in Havana · 2014

Three Days in Havana

MovieCrimeComedy

A businessman gets caught up in an assassination plot when he travels to Cuba.

Pepe

Degrassi

Degrassi · 2001

SeriesDramaSoap

The life of a group of adolescents going through the trials and tribulations of teendom at Degrassi Community School.

Keith

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent · 2024

Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent

SeriesCrimeDrama

An elite squad of detectives investigate high-profile crime and corruption in metro Toronto.

Les Cake

Republic of Doyle

Republic of Doyle · 2010

Republic of Doyle

SeriesComedyDrama

Jake Doyle and his ex-cop father, Malachy, run a Newfoundland detective agency. Their rugged seaside town never lacks for intriguing cases, and the Doyles don't always land on the right side of the law.

J.J. Murphy

The Sympathizer

The Sympathizer · 2024

The Sympathizer

SeriesDramaWar & Politics

Near the end of the Vietnam War, a spy who was embedded in the South Vietnam army flees to the United States and takes up residence in a refugee community, where he continues to gather intelligence and report back to the Viet Cong.

Executive Producer

Once a Thief

Once a Thief · 1996

SeriesAction & AdventureDrama

Once a Thief is a 1997 Canadian television show inspired by the 1996 film of the same name.

Twitch City

Twitch City · 1998

Twitch City is a surreal sitcom set in the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Kensington Market, and follows Curtis, a television addict who refuses to leave his apartment, and his friends and roommates Nathan and Hope. In the series' first episode, Nathan is sent to prison for killing a homeless man with a can of cat food, leaving Curtis and Hope to find a replacement roommate to help with the rent.

Teleplay

Slings & Arrows

Slings & Arrows · 2003

Slings & Arrows

SeriesDramaComedy

This darkly comic Canadian series follows the fortunes of a dysfunctional Shakespearean theatre troupe at the fictional New Burbage Festival, exposing the high drama, scorching battles, and artistic miracles that happen behind the scenes.

Darren Nichols

Odd Job Jack

Odd Job Jack · 2003

SeriesAnimationComedy

Odd Job Jack was a Canadian animated comedy television show featuring Don McKellar, about one man's misadventures in temporary employment. Seen on and produced for the The Comedy Network, a cable specialty channel, and shown on Adult Swim in Latin America, the show has currently finished its production run as of its fourth season. The second season has been released to DVD, and seasons two through four can currently be seen on the on demand streaming video service Hulu.

Jack Ryder (voice)

Sensitive Skin

Sensitive Skin · 2014

Davina and her husband Al try to revamp their lives as they struggle with the uncertainties of middle age.

Executive Producer

Hey Lady!

Hey Lady! · 2020

Nothing is safe when fearlessly off-the-charts senior citizen Lady and her chain-smoking best friend embark on a rampage of urban vengeance, upturning everything in their path.

Dr. Wolfe

Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story

Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story · 2006

Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story

In 1930s Saskatchewan Tommy Douglas, a small town pastor, sees the poverty and injustice around him which seem beyond his power to address from the pulpit. Douglas enters politics with the socialist Canadian Commonwealth Federation where his idealism runs into powerful opposition from the wealthy and the powerful. Despite the long odds, Douglas' new calling would soon make him a leader who transformed Canada.

Clarence Fines

Michael: Every Day

Michael: Every Day · 2017

Michael: Every Day

Every Day picks up five years after Micheal: Tuesdays & Thursdays, with Michael well established in his new city, and David struggling to continue his practice.

Executive Producer

The Haunted Season

The Haunted Season · 2024

The Haunted Season

SeriesSci-Fi & Fantasy

From Severin Films and Kier-La Janisse, a new series of chilling short form horror in the tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas. From Severin Films and renowned author, producer, and filmmaker Kier-La Janisse comes The Haunted Season. Created by Janisse, one new episode of The Haunted Season will arrive on Shudder each December with chilling short form horror tales in the tradition of telling ghost stories for Christmas.

Minturn