Paul Michael Gross OC (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, director, writer, producer, and musician born in

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

. Gross is known for his lead role as Constable Benton Fraser in the popular Canadian television series ''

Due South ''Due South'' is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 26, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred P ...

'' as well as for his 2008 war film '' Passchendaele'', which he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. Gross acted as executive producer on ''Due South'' in addition to starring, wrote seven episodes including the two-part series finale, and wrote and sang songs for the soundtrack of the series. He later found success with another Canadian television series, '' Slings & Arrows'' and ''

Republic of Doyle ''Republic of Doyle'' is a Canadian comedy-drama television series set in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, which aired on CBC Television from January 6, 2010, to December 10, 2014. The show stars Allan Hawco as private investigator and f ...

''.

Early life

Gross was born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Renie Gross (née Dunne), a writer and art historian, and Robert "Bob" Gross, a career soldier, colonel, and tank commander. His family moved to

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

in his adolescence, where Gross attended Yorktown High School. He credits drama teacher Timothy Jecko as his inspiration for becoming an actor: "I'm not sure where I would have ended up otherwise."

Career

Gross studied acting at the

University of Alberta The University of Alberta, also known as U of A or UAlberta, is a Public university, public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford,"A Gentleman of Strathcona – Alexande ...

in Edmonton, but he left during the third year of his study. He went back later to complete the half-credit needed to receive his fine arts degree. He appeared in several stage productions, such as ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

'' and ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

''. Other productions in which he appeared include '' Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme'' and ''

As You Like It ''As You Like It'' is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 and first published in the First Folio in 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 h ...

''. His student work ''The Deer and the Antelope Play'' was co-produced by the university’s department of drama and Theatre Network, and won both the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award and the Alberta Culture Playwriting Award. After the play ''Successful Strangers'', Gross starred in his first movie, ''Turning to Stone''.

Gerald Pratley Gerald Arthur Pratley (September 3, 1923 – March 14, 2011) was a Canadian film critic and historian.Piers Handling"Gerald Arthur Pratley" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', September 18, 2011. A longtime film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp ...

, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 226.Noel Taylor, "Show about women's prison shocking, moving". ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The news ...

'', February 24, 1986. He wrote and directed the

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

movie '' Men with Brooms''. Gross starred in the television series '' Slings & Arrows'' from 2003 to 2006 alongside his wife Martha Burns, which '' The A.V. Club'' called "one of TV's greatest shows". In 2008, he attracted widespread attention in Canada when he wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in the

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for sc ...

-winning film '' Passchendaele'', inspired by stories he heard from his grandfather, a

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

soldier. The film had its premiere at the

2008 Toronto International Film Festival 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

on September 4, 2008, when it also had the honour of opening the festival. The film received a mixed reception upon release. Despite this, it won several awards; namely five awards the 29th Genie Awards, including Best Picture, and the Golden Reel Award for Canada's top-grossing film of 2008. On March 2, 2009, Paul Gross was honoured for his film ''Passchendaele'', winning that year's National Arts Centre Award for achievement over the past performance year. From September 16, 2011, he appeared in a production of

Noël Coward Sir Noël Peirce Coward (16 December 189926 March 1973) was an English playwright, composer, director, actor, and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what ''Time'' magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and ...

's ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetu ...

'' in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

co-starring Kim Cattrall (the production ended October 30, 2011); the production moved to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

where it opened November 6, and closed on December 31, 2011. That year, he also produced a feature film with

Akshay Kumar Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia (born 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian-born naturalised Canadian Quote: "(Former prime minister Stephen) Harper campaigned in 2011 alongside one of Modi's biggest celebrity backer ...

called '' Breakaway'' starring

Camilla Belle Camilla Belle Routh (born October 2, 1986), known professionally as Camilla Belle, is an American actress, director, and producer. Early life Belle was born to Deborah Cristina Gould and Jack Wesley Routh, a country music performer and compos ...

and Vinay Virmani. Between 2011 and 2014, he appeared in 9 episodes as Kevin Crocker on ''

''. More recently, Gross completed work on the contemporary war drama ''

Hyena Road ''Hyena Road'' is a 2015 Canadian war drama film written, directed by and starring Paul Gross. It was shown in the Gala Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was shown on 24 September 2015, at the Calga ...

'', released on October 9, 2015. According to the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

of Canada web site (www.stratfordfestival.ca), Gross will be starring in the title role of ''

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane a ...

'' during the 2023 season.

''Due South''

His role as upright

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...

officer Benton Fraser in the ''

'' television series (1994–1999) brought him increased recognition. Like fellow actor David Marciano, he didn't want to do the show at first, and creator

Paul Haggis Paul Edward Haggis (born March 10, 1953) is a Canadian screenwriter, film producer, and director of film and television. He is best known as screenwriter and producer for consecutive Best Picture Oscar winners ''Million Dollar Baby'' (2004) and ...

didn't even know if he wanted Gross for the role, but following a meeting, he was cast as Constable Benton Fraser.''Due South''
. Retrieved 30 November 2007. When ''

'' was revived for the third season, Gross returned in the role of Benton Fraser. He also took on duties as executive producer and writer. He earned an estimated salary of $2–3 million per season, and at the time was the highest-paid performer in Canadian television history. He wrote several episodes of the last season of the series. His favourite episodes include "Gift of the Wheelman" and "All the Queen's Horses" and his episodes "Mountie on the Bounty" and "Call of the Wild" are of a similar style.

Personal life

In September 1988, Gross married Canadian actress Martha Burns. The couple have two children,

Hannah Gross Hannah Gross (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Debbie Mitford in the Netflix drama '' Mindhunter''. Early life Gross grew up in Toronto. She is the daughter of actors Martha Burns and Paul Gross. She attended N ...

, who is also an actress, and Jack Gross.

Theatre

Filmography

Films

Television

Honours

Awards

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

* * * Watc
''Remembrance''
a vignette on Paul Gross for his Governor General's Performing Arts Award.
PaulGross.org
* Paul Gross a

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gross, Paul Officers of the Order of Canada 1959 births Living people Canadian male television actors Canadian television writers Canadian television producers Canadian male film actors Canadian film producers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian male screenwriters Canadian male stage actors Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Best Actor in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners University of Alberta alumni Film directors from Calgary Male actors from Calgary Writers from Calgary Governor General's Performing Arts Award winners 20th-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male actors Canadian male television writers Canadian Comedy Award winners