Daniel MacIvor (born July 23, 1962) is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom '' Twitch City''.

Personal

MacIvor was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Nova Scotia and educated at

Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia, Canada, with three campuses in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, a fourth in Bible Hill, Nova Scotia, Bible Hill, and a second medical school campus ...

in Halifax, and then at George Brown College in Toronto. MacIvor is openly gay. He married Paul Goulet in 2006; they have since divorced. He has an Italian Greyhound, called 'Buddy'. In 2021, MacIvor earned an MA in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

Career

In addition to his film and theatrical credits, MacIvor wrote the libretto to the opera "Hadrian," for which Rufus Wainwright wrote the music.

Theatre

MacIvor founded the theatre company da da kamera with Michele Jelley in 1986 to independently produce his own work. He was in residence at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre - for whom he has written, directed, and acted. His plays include ''Never Swim Alone'', ''This is a Play'', ''Monster'', '' Marion Bridge'', ''You are Here'', ''Cul-de-sac'', and ''A Beautiful View''. Five of MacIvor's plays were published as ''I Still Love You'' in 2006, in celebration of the twentieth anniversary of da da kamera, (''Never Swim Alone'', ''The Soldier Dreams'', ''You are Here'', ''In on It'', and ''A Beautiful View''), and won MacIvor a coveted

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Drama.

Solo theatre work

MacIvor is particularly well known for a series of solo shows created in collaboration with director Daniel Brooks. These include ''House'', ''Here Lies Henry'', ''Monster'' and ''Cul-de-sac''."Two Daniels' latest collaboration conjures the dead"
''Toronto Star'', November 28, 2016. Karen Fricker. These incorporate a minimalist and meta-theatrical style. In ''House'' and ''Here Lies Henry'', MacIvor portrays one character who speaks directly to the audience, acknowledging their presence. While the direct address of the audience continues in '' Monster'' and ''Cul-de-sac'', MacIvor portrays several characters throughout the course of the piece and this direct address is occasionally broken up by dialogue between these characters. In 1992, ''2-2 Tango'' was included in ''Making Out'', the first anthology of Canadian plays by gay writers, alongside works by Ken Garnhum, Sky Gilbert, David Demchuk,

Harry Rintoul Harry Rintoul (December 9, 1956 - January 14, 2002) was a Canadian playwright and theatre director. He was best known for his 1990 play ''Brave Hearts'', which was noted as one of the first significant gay-themed plays in Canadian theatre history ...

and Colin Thomas. The first three of these pieces were staged at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in the 2006/2007 season as part of a tribute and retrospective of da da kamera's work. MacIvor and Brooks later collaborated with Iris Turcott to create the play ''Who Killed Spalding Gray?'', in which MacIvor performs the part of a fictional character partly based on the style of deceased American actor Spalding Gray. The show premiered at the Halifax's Magnetic North Theatre Festival, and was later performed in Toronto at the Luminato Festival and at the High Performance Rodeo in Calgary

Film

In his early film work, MacIvor frequently collaborated with director

Laurie Lynd Laurie Lynd (born May 19, 1959, in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian film and television director and screenwriter, best known as the director of the feature film ''Breakfast with Scot''. In his early career, Lynd made the short films ''Together a ...

, including on the short films '' RSVP'' in 1991, ''

The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore ''The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore'' is a Canadian musical comedy-drama short film directed by Laurie Lynd, which premiered at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival before going into wider release in 1993. Made as an academi ...

'' in 1992, and the feature film ''

House A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

'' (1995). In the early 2000s MacIvor wrote, co-wrote and directed several

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

s, which were usually made in his home province of Nova Scotia. They include ''Past Perfect,'' '' Marion Bridge'', '' Whole New Thing'' and '' Wilby Wonderful''. As an actor he appeared in Cynthia Roberts's '' Bubbles Galore'' and Jeremy Podeswa's '' The Five Senses'', had a recurring role in the television series '' Republic of Doyle'' and played Nathan in the iconic Canadian television series '' Twitch City.'' In recent years MacIvor has been working with director Bruce McDonald as screenwriter of the films '' Trigger'' and '' Weirdos'' (for which MacIvor won a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

in 2017 for best original screenplay).

Awards and honors

In addition to winning the Governor General's Award for Drama in 2006. MacIvor has won other notable awards during his career. Mr. MacIvor also has two Chalmers New Play Awards, once in 1997 and 1992.

Plays

In 1998, MacIvor won the award for overall excellence at the New York International Fringe Festival for his play ''Never Swim Alone''. In 2002, his play ''In On It'' earned him a GLAAD Award and a Village Voice Obie Award. In 2008, he was awarded the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre.

Selected theatre work

* ''See Bob Run'' (1989), da da kamera, directed by Ken McDougall * ''Yes I Am and'' Who Are You? (1989), Buddies in Bad Times, directed by Edward Roy * ''Wild Abandon'' (1990), Theatre Passe Muraille, directed by Vinetta Strombergs * ''Somewhere I Have Never Travelled'' (1990), '' Tarragon Theatre'', directed by Andy McKim * ''Never Swim Alone'' (1991), da da kamera, directed by Ken McDougall * ''2-2 Tango'' (1991), Buddies in Bad Times, directed by Ken McDougall * ''Jump'' (1992), Theatre Passe Muraille, directed by Daniel Brooks * ''House'' (1992), da da kamera and the Factory Theatre * ''This is a Play'' (1992), da da kamera, directed by Ken MacDougall * ''The Lorca Play'' (1992), da da kamera, co-directed by MacIvor and Daniel Brooks * ''Sessions'' (1995), Tarragon Theatre, with Daniel Brooks and Clare Coulter * ''Here Lies Henry'' (1995), Buddies in Bad Times Theatre * ''The Soldier Dreams'' (1997), da da kamera at Canadian Stage Company * ''Marion Bridge'' (1998), Mulgrave Road Theatre and da da kamera * ''Monster'' (1998), da da kamera at Canadian Stage Company, directed by Daniel Brooks * ''In On It'' (2000), Edinburgh Festival, directed by MacIvor * ''You Are Here'' (2001), da da kamera in association with Theatre Passe Muraille * ''Cul-de-Sac'' (2003), da da Kamera, directed by Daniel Brooks * ''A Beautiful View'' (2006), da da kamera, directed by Daniel MacIvor * ''How It Works'' (2007), '' Tarragon Theatre'', directed by Daniel MacIvor * ''His Greatness'' (2007), Vancouver Arts Club, directed by Linda Moore * ''Confession'' (2008), Mulgrave Road Theatre, directed by Ann-Marie Kerr * ''Communion'' (2010), Tarragon Theatre, directed by Daniel MacIvor * ''This Is What Happens Next'' (2010), Canstage, directed by Daniel Brooks * ''Bingo!'' (2011), Mulgrave Road Theatre * ''Was Spring'' (2012), Tarragon Theatre, directed by Daniel MacIvor * ''The Best Brothers'' (2012), '' Stratford Shakespeare Festival'', directed by Dean Gabourie * ''Arigato, Tokyo'' (2013), Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, directed by Brendan Healy * ''Small Things'' (2014), Prairie Theatre Exchange, directed by Robert Metcalfe * ''Who Killed Spalding Gray?'' (2014), Magnetic North Theatre Festival * "I, Animal" (2015), KAZAN CO-OP Theatre, directed by Richie Wilcox * ''Cake & Dirt'' (2015), Tarragon Theatre, directed by Amiel Gladstone * ''Let's Run Away'' (2019), Canadian Stage, directed by Daniel Brooks * ''New Magic Valley Fun Town'' (2019), Tarragon Theatre, directed by Richard Rose

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macivor, Daniel 1962 births 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian Film Centre alumni Canadian gay actors Canadian gay writers Canadian LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights Canadian LGBTQ film directors Canadian LGBTQ screenwriters Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male film actors Canadian male screenwriters Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Canadian opera librettists Canadian people of Scottish descent Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Film directors from Nova Scotia Gay dramatists and playwrights Gay screenwriters George Brown College alumni Governor General's Award–winning dramatists Living people Male actors from Nova Scotia People from Sydney, Nova Scotia Screenwriters from Nova Scotia