Callum Keith Rennie
Actor
He has the rugged cool of a bad boy who has been to hell and
back, looks better for it, and now humors the camera with good
behavior. Hollywood stars tend to tumble through addiction and
recovery after they get famous. But Vancouver native Rennie got
it out of his system before he started. While working as a stage
actor, he says he spent his 20s drinking. Then, at 33, he
quit. "I got a piece of glass in my eye in a bar fight." He
recalls, then adds, with laconic under-statement: "I thought,
This has gone far enough.ı" Now 36, he has been acting in
film and TV for just four years, but is racing to catch up.
While living in Vancouver, he paid his dues playing criminals
in TV series such as The Commish, Lonesome Dove, The Highlander
and The X-Files. IN 1993, he turned heads with a feature role
opposite Sandra Ho in Double Happiness. He dismisses the
character as "a vacuous middle-class male," but his talent in
the role was obvious.
As a recovering junkie in Curtisıs Charm, Rennie finally got
to show some edge. Then, playing a laconic guitarist in Bruce
McDonaldıs punk rockumentary, Hard Core Logo, he displayed
something rare in Canadian cinema, the quietly smouldering
charisma of a movie star. This fall, replacing David Marciano,
Rennie will co-star with Paul Gross as the new cop sidekick in
CTVıs Due South. But in case anyone thinks this actor is going
straight, Rennie is quick to point out: "I play a cop like a I
play a bad guy."
Back to LJC's Due South Page