Don McKellar

Don McKellar (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 About Glenn Gould, The Red Violin, Blindness, and No Other Choice. McKellar frequently acts in his own projects, and has also appeared in Atom Egoyan's Exotica and David Cronenberg's eXistenZ and Crimes of the Future.

He is also known for being a fixture on Canadian television, with series including Twitch City, Odd Job Jack, and Slings & Arrows, as well as writing the book for the popular Tony Award-winning musical The Drowsy Chaperone. He is an eight-time nominee and two-time Genie Award winner.

Early life and education Don McKellar was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the son of Marjorie Kay (Stirrett), a teacher, and John Duncan McKellar, a corporate lawyer. He attended Glenview Senior Public School, Lawrence Park Collegiate Institute and later studied English at the University of Toronto's Victoria College.

Career McKellar was a founding member of Toronto's Augusta Company, In 2006, he appeared in Ken Finkleman's miniseries At the Hotel, received a Gemini Award nomination for his role as socialist politician Clarence Fines in Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story and hosted the CBC Radio One series High Definition.

McKellar appeared in all three seasons of television's Slings & Arrows as theatre director Darren Nichols. The show is co-written by Bob Martin, his collaborator on the musical The Drowsy Chaperone, for which McKellar won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. Martin and McKellar also cocreated the Canadian television sitcom Michael, Tuesdays and Thursdays, which debuted on CBC Television in fall 2011.

In 2016, McKellar was made a Member of the Order of Canada "for his contributions to Canadian culture as an actor, writer and director".

Alongside fellow showrunner Park Chan-wook, McKellar was expelled from the Writers Guild of America in August 2025 for strikebreaking. Park and McKellar had crossed WGA picket lines by continuing to write for their HBO miniseries The Sympathizer during the 2023 writer's strike.

Personal life McKellar married his longtime partner, Canadian actress Tracy Wright, on January 3, 2010. Wright died of cancer on June 22, 2010.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes Roadkill Russel, the Serial Killer Also writer The Adjuster Tyler - The Young Censor Highway 61 Pokey Jones Also writer Giant Steps Real Estate Hucker Blue Short film; director and writer Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould Concert Promoter Also writer Coleslaw Warehouse Short film Exotica Thomas Camilla Security Guard Arrowhead Ray Bud Short film; Mockumentary Dance Me Outside Writer When Night Is Falling Timothy Never Met Picasso Jerry Joe's So Mean to Josephine Mike Bach Cello Suite #4: Sarabande Max Short film Last Night Patrick Wheeler Also writer and director The Red Violin Evan Williams Also writer Elimination Dance Male Dance Partner Short film; also writer and director The Herd Himself Documentary Existenz Yevgeny Nourish waydowntown Brad You Tell Me Short film This Might Be Good Projectionist Short film A Word from the Management Short film; writer and director The Art of Woo Nathan The Event Matt Shapiro Public Domain Host Clean Vernon Childstar Rick Shiller - the driver Also writer and director Where the Truth Lies Publishing Executive Monkey Warfare Dan Redacted Criminal Investigator (voice) Blindness Thief Also writer Green Door Ron Short film Cooking with Stella Michael Laffont Scott Pilgrim vs. the World Director Trigger Brian This Movie Is Broken Writer I'm Yours Phil The Grand Seduction Director Treading Water Richard 3 Days in Havana Pepe Zoom Horowitz (voice) Window Horses Dietmar (voice) Blood Honey Dr. Bert Morrison Meditation Park Gabriel Through Black Spruce Journalist Also director American Woman Newscaster Target Number One Norm The Curse of Audrey Earnshaw Bernard Buckley The Middle Man Doctor Crimes of the Future Wippet No Other Choice Writer

Television Year Title Role Notes RoboCop Dr. Newlove Episode: "Zone Five" Side Effects Elaine's Lover Episode: "Rust Proof" Taking the Falls Episode: "Elvis has Left the Building" In the Presence of Mine Enemies Paul Heller Television movie Once a Thief Sam Francisco Episode: "Rave On" – Twitch City Curtis 13 episodes; also writer The Passion of Ayn Rand Alfred Television movie The Industry John Kalileah Episode: "Alan's Ex" Degrassi: The Next Generation Keith Barra 2 episodes I Was a Rat Oliver Tapscrew 3 episodes Trudeau Greenbaum Television movie – Slings & Arrows Darren Nichols 13 episodes – Odd Job Jack Jack Ryder (voice) 52 episodes Rick Mercer Report Food Court Patron Episode #2.8 Prairie Giant Clarence Fines 2 episodes At the Hotel Woody Episode: "I F***ed Lou Reed" The Englishman's Boy Coster 2 episodes Republic of Doyle J.J. Murphy Episode: "A Stand Up Guy" – Michael: Every Day Creator, director, and executive producer – Sensitive Skin Al Jackson 12 episodes; also director and executive producer Saving Hope Dr. Amos Carver 3 episodes Hey Lady! Dr. Wolfe 5 episodes The Sympathizer Writer and executive producer