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Ephraim Todd Ellis (born February 23, 1985) is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing
Rick Murray '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' is a Canadian teen drama television series created by Linda Schuyler and Yan Moore. The series is now considered the first incarnation and premiered on CTV on October 14, 2001, and then ended on MTV Canada and ...
on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' and Danny Ellis on ''
Falcon Beach ''Falcon Beach'' is a Canadian television show, filmed at Winnipeg Beach and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and produced for the Canadian and American markets. It originally aired in 2005 as a movie on Global in Canada. It was produced as a TV serie ...
.''


Early life

Ephraim Ellis was born in Toronto, Ontario on February 23, 1985. His mother is an artist and jeweler, while his father is a visual artist and former stage manager for
The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...
in Toronto. Ephraim began acting while studying at
Earl Haig Secondary School Earl Haig Secondary School (EHSS), formerly Earl Haig Collegiate Institute is a public high school with 2,048 students in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In addition to being a public secondary school, the school is also host to the Claude Watson Art ...
in
Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...
,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
as part of the Claude Watson School of the Arts program. Ephraim attended Earl Haig at the same time as fellow ''Degrassi'' co-stars
Jake Epstein Jacob Lee Epstein (born January 16, 1987) is a Canadian actor and singer. He played Craig Manning, a musician with bipolar disorder, on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation''. He also played Will in the First National Tour of '' American Idiot'', an ...
and John Bregar.


Career

Ephraim Ellis' first television role was an eight episode arc during seasons three and four of ''Degrassi: The Next Generation.'' He played Rick Murray, the character who famously shot and paralyzed
Jimmy Brooks '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' is a Canadian teen drama television series created by Linda Schuyler and Yan Moore. The series is now considered the first incarnation and premiered on CTV on October 14, 2001, and then ended on MTV Canada and ...
, the character played by Aubrey 'Drake' Graham. After appearing on ''Degrassi'', Ephraim appeared on such varied television shows such as '' Naturally Sadie,'' '' Wild Card,'' and '' Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye'' before landing the series lead role of Danny Ellis in the Global Television /
ABC Family The American cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and six different name changes) during its h ...
drama series ''
Falcon Beach ''Falcon Beach'' is a Canadian television show, filmed at Winnipeg Beach and Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and produced for the Canadian and American markets. It originally aired in 2005 as a movie on Global in Canada. It was produced as a TV serie ...
. Falcon Beach'' ran for two seasons until 2006, when it was cancelled as a result of ABC Family's decision to decline bringing the series back for a third season. Concurrently with ''Falcon Beach'', Ephraim also appeared as Riley Kineston in seasons two and three of the YTV sci-fi series ''
Zixx ''Zixx'' (full title is ''Zixx: Level One'' for season one, ''Zixx: Level Two'' for season two, and ''Zixx: Level Three'' for season three) is a Canadian television series that aired on YTV. This series was developed by Savi Media and The Nig ...
,'' as Dylan in seasons four and five of the APTN series ''
renegadepress.com ''renegadepress.com'' is a Canadian teen drama television series, produced by Vérité Films for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Plot The storyline follows the lives of a group of teenagers running an e-zine about their daily expe ...
,'' and in the
Canadian Film Centre The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) is a charitable organization founded by filmmaker Norman Jewison in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in 1988. Originally launched as film school, today it provides training, development and advancement opportunities for pr ...
's short feature ''White Out'', which premiered at the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...
. Soon afterwards, Ephraim played the role of Eli Keller on the YTV sitcom ''
Family Biz ''Family Biz'' is a Canadian television sitcom, filmed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada starring Doug Murray, Ephraim Ellis and Kate Corbett. Created by James Nadler, the show is currently airing on YTV and France 2. The first episode was shown on ...
'' which filmed in
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
during the summer of 2008. In 2009, Ephraim appeared in the Canadian Film Center horror/comedy web-series ''Seth On Survival'' as the title character, supernatural survivologist Seth Greening. In 2011, the series spawned a spin-off web-series, ''Your Lupine Life'', where Ephraim reprised the role of Seth, as well as writing the episode in which he appeared. As a tie-in to the two web-series, Ephraim also wrote and published a book, ''Archie Hartigan & The Frost Wolf'', a young adult fiction novel set in the same universe as ''Seth On Survival'' and ''Your Lupine Life''. Ephraim appeared in several episodes of season four of ''
Murdoch Mysteries ''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick ...
'', as Toronto Gazette reporter Paddy Glynn. From 2011 to 2016, Ephraim was a member of the Toronto sketch comedy troupe ''The Rocket Scientists'' alongside Brandon Hackett, Kevin MacNeil, and Chris Small. Ephraim appeared alongside
Minnie Driver Amelia Fiona Jessica "Minnie" Driver (born 31 January 1970) is an English actress. She rose to prominence with her break-out role in 1995's '' Circle of Friends''. She went on to star in a wide range of films including the cult classic '' Grosse ...
and
Meat Loaf Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947 – January 20, 2022), known professionally as Meat Loaf, was an American rock singer and actor. He was noted for his powerful, wide-ranging voice and theatrical live shows. He is on t ...
in the 2014 horror/musical/comedy film ''Stage Fright''. Later that year, Ephraim took on the role of Hedwig in the Lower Ossington Theatre's production of '' Hedwig & the Angry Inch'', in a performance Toronto's Now Magazine said "achieves emotional depth, telling stories of love and betrayal, revealing a poignant loneliness beneath the makeup, sparkly costumes and iconic blond wig," and that "Ellis has the manic energy and singing chops to deliver in this difficult role." Ephraim later returned to the Lower Ossington for
Legally Blonde ''Legally Blonde'' is a 2001 American comedy film directed by Robert Luketic in his feature-length directorial debut, and scripted by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith from Amanda Brown's 2001 novel of the same name. It stars Reese Wit ...
and two productions of
Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Gospels' accounts of the Passion, the work interprets the psychology of Jesus and other characters, with ...
. Ephraim continued to make forays into the world of Ontario theatre in productions of '' Perfect Wedding'' at the Lighthouse Festival Theatre in Port Dover, ''
Barefoot In The Park ''Barefoot in the Park'' is a romantic comedy by Neil Simon. The play premiered on Broadway in 1963, starring Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley. It was made into a film in 1967, which starred Redford and Jane Fonda. Productions ''Barefoot ...
'' at Upper Canada Playhouse, and ''The Money Tree'' for Toronto's Roseneath Theatre for Young Audiences. In 2018, Ephraim reunited with his ''Degrassi'' co-stars to appear in the music video for
Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...
's single " I'm Upset"'','' reprising his role as Rick Murray.


Personal life

Ephraim lives in Toronto, Ontario with his wife (a stage manager), and their cat.


Filmography


Film


Television


Theatre


Radio


References


External links

*
Ephraim Ellis
o
TTDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Ephraim 1985 births 21st-century Canadian male actors Male actors from Toronto Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors Living people