Jason Gann is an Australian-born former actor, comedian, writer and producer. He is best known for his role as the title character in the Australian comedy series '' Wilfred'', directed by Tony Rogers, and the U.S. reboot of the same name.

Biography

Early life

Jason Gann was born in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

, Australia, At 14, while attending an all-boys school, Gann discovered his love for comedy when he performed as Suzanne, leader of the can-can dancers in a high school production of '' Paint Your Wagon''. After high school, he went on to study acting at the

University of Southern Queensland The University of Southern Queensland is a public research university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, the sixth largest city in the Australian state of Queensland Founded in 1967 after a successful campaign by the local Darling Down ...

. He earned a B.A. in Acting while also attending classes in humanities and the arts.

Early career

Immediately following his studies, Gann moved to Brisbane where he continued studying theatre and music. He worked in children's theatre at the

Twelfth Night Theatre The Twelfth Night Theatre is an established Australian entertainment venue located in Bowen Hills, in Brisbane, Queensland. Many notable actors, both international and Australian, have performed there. The Twelfth Night Complex includes the ma ...

Bowen Hills Bowen Hills is an inner north-eastern Suburbs and localities (Australia), suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Bowen Hills had a population of 4,898 people. Geography Bowen Hills is by road from the Brisbane centr ...

for several years, performing in dozens of shows. He also played lead roles and toured the country in several comedy theatre productions for that theatre company. He developed and starred in several seasons of the Arts Council-funded play ''Keep Everything You Love'', for which he won the Del Arte Award for Best Male Actor 1997. Gann then worked for the

Queensland Theatre Company Queensland Theatre, formerly the Queensland Theatre Company and Royal Queensland Theatre Company, is a professional theatre company based in Brisbane, Australia. It regularly performs in its own Bille Brown Theatre and the Queensland Performin ...

as an actor in several development projects and starred in the Sven Swenson play ''The Vertigo and the Virginia'' for QTC in 1999.

''Wilfred'' and Australian TV

In 2001, Gann wrote and produced several short films that screened in festivals internationally. In 2002 he co-wrote and starred in the short ''Wilfred''. He first came to national attention when he won Best Male Actor and the short won Best Comedy and the Peoples' Choice Award at

Tropfest Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. It has also become known as the world's first global film festival. Founded by actor/director John Polson, Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people at the 'Tropicana Caffe' in ...

in 2002. ''Wilfred'' went on to screen at festivals including

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

in 2003. Gann won the Tropfest Best Male Actor award again in 2003 for ''Buried''. He then appeared in Australian feature films including ''

Gettin' Square ''Gettin' Square'' is a 2003 Comedy film, comedy Crime film, crime thriller film directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and written by Chris Nyst. An international co-production between Australia and the United Kingdom, it stars Sam Worthington, David ...

'', '' Thunderstruck'', '' The Illustrated Family Doctor'', and ''

Kenny Kenny is a surname, a given name, and a diminutive of several different given names. In Ireland, the surname is an Anglicisation of the Irish ''Ó Cionnaith'', also spelt ''Ó Cionnaoith'' and ''Ó Cionaodha'', meaning "descendant of Cionnaith". ...

''. In 2004, for Australian TV, Gann appeared in two episodes of ''

Blue Heelers ''Blue Heelers'' is an Australian police drama series that was produced by Southern Star Group and ran for twelve years on the Seven Network, from 1994 to 2006. Although based around the policing of the town, the series generally depicted th ...

'' and had a cameo on ''

Kath & Kim ''Kath & Kim'' (also written as ''Kath and Kim'') is an Australian sitcom originally airing in the prime-time slot on ABC Television from 2002 to 2005 and subsequently on the Seven Network in 2007 and 2022. The show was produced by Riley and T ...

''. In 2006, Gann wrote and starred in 52 episodes of the sketch comedy show '' The Wedge'' on Australia's

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as the 10 Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount Global's Paramount Networks UK & Australia, UK & Australia division and is o ...

. Gann then created, produced, wrote and starred in the network's spin-off comedy series '' Mark Loves Sharon''. The following year, Gann co-created and played the title character for the Australian comedy series '' Wilfred'', based on the short film. It ran for two seasons, both of which went on to win awards at

in 2007 and 2009.

US Television

In 2010, Renegade Films sold the Australian format of '' Wilfred'' to the U.S. network FX. Faced with redeveloping the show for an American market without Tony Rogers, Gann teamed with ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'' executive producer David Zuckerman. Actor

Elijah Wood Elijah Jordan Wood (born January 28, 1981) is an American actor and producer. Wood made his film debut with a minor part in ''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989) at the age of eight and achieved recognition in the early 1990s as a child acto ...

signed on to co-star with Gann. The ''Wilfred'' debut became FX's highest-rated comedy series debut. Gann is managed by

Jeff Kwatinetz Jeff Kwatinetz (born April 6, 1965) is an American entertainment industry executive. He is the former CEO of The Firm, Inc., a media production and talent management company in Santa Monica, California, and current COO of Cube Vision, the film ...

Prospect Park Prospect Park may refer to: Businesses * Prospect Park (production company), entertainment production company *Prospect Park Productions NZ, theatre company based in Dunedin, New Zealand Places New Zealand * Prospect Park, New Zealand, a portion ...

. Gann left ICM and signed with WME in 2012. After ''Wilfred'', Gann has been commissioned to produce and develop new television series by networks including

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Business career

As of 2014 Gann has left both acting and writing to pursue his CBD business ''Wilfred CBD & Hemp''.

Awards and nominations

In 2007 and 2010, Gann was nominated for an AFI Award for Best Male Performance in a Comedy Series. In 2007 he won for Best Comedy Series, for ''Wilfred'', and in 2010 he won for Best Screenplay in a Television Series. In 2011, Gann was nominated for a Silver Logie for Most Outstanding Actor for his work on ''Wilfred''. He was awarded the Australian '' GQ'' Comedian of the Year Award for 2011, and was nominated for the annual Golden Collar Award, normally given solely to canine performers.

Personal life

Melbourne legal incident

In 2007, Gann pleaded guilty to assaulting a shuttle bus driver, Joseph Hosny. Gann's legal counsel advised him to plead guilty rather than fight the allegation, as a tough sentence could have threatened the production of '' Wilfred'' in the United States. In September 2014, Gann was reassessing his legal options. In March 2018, a California court ordered Gann to pay $594,452 (USD) to the bus driver.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gann, Jason 1971 births Living people Australian stand-up comedians Australian film directors Australian television directors Australian film producers Australian television producers Australian television writers Australian male stage actors Australian male film actors Australian male television actors Australian male comedians Australian screenwriters University of Southern Queensland alumni 21st-century Australian singers Australian male television writers 21st-century Australian male singers