Tetsuro Shigematsu (born 1971) is a playwright/performer,

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

, and Canadian radio broadcaster. He was the final host of

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

's former afternoon series '' The Roundup'', where he replaced

Bill Richardson William Blaine Richardson III (November 15, 1947 – September 1, 2023) was an American politician, author, and diplomat who served as the List of governors of New Mexico, 30th governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. He was U.S. ambassador to ...

in 2004, making him the first visible minority to host a daily network radio program in Canada. The show completed its final episode on November 4, 2005. Prior to working for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

, he was a writer for the Canadian TV show '' This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He is currently a writer for ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'', and artist-in-residence at

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Asian Canadian Theatre.

Early life

Shigematsu was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England in 1971. His father was from Kagoshima, Japan, and his mother was from

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

, Japan. His family emigrated to Canada in 1974. He grew up in

Surrey, British Columbia Surrey is a city in British Columbia, Canada. It is located south of the Fraser River on the Canada–United States border. It is a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver regional district and metropolitan area. Mainly a suburban city, Surr ...

, with four siblings, and studied in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. He has a BFA from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. In 1991, at the age of 19, Shigematsu became the youngest playwright to compete in the history of the Quebec Drama Festival.

Career

From 1993 to 1996, Shigematsu wrote and performed his one-man show ''Rising Son'' in Montreal,

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Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, and

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. In 1994, Tetsuro studied poetry with

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

. He then spent the following two years in Japan, where he studied

Butoh is a form of Japanese dance theatre that encompasses a diverse range of activities, techniques and motivations for dance, performance, or movement. Following World War II, butoh arose in 1959 through collaborations between its two key founder ...

dance with the founding master, Kazu Ohno, in Yokohama, Japan. In 1996, he starred with

George Takei George Takei ( ; born April20, 1937), born , is an American actor, author and activist known for his role as Hikaru Sulu, helmsman of the USS ''Enterprise'' in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Takei was born to Japanese-American parents, with w ...

(

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) in the television movie '' Rinko The Best Bad Thing'', based on the novel by

Yoshiko Uchida Yoshiko Uchida (November 24, 1921 – June 21, 1992) was a Japanese American writer of children's books intended to share Japanese and Japanese-American history and culture with Japanese American children. She is most known for her series of bo ...

. That same year, Tetsuro began hosting the Montreal Asian Heritage Festival. In 1997, he created and produced three episodes of '' La La Pan-Asia'', a half-hour TV show showcasing Asian youth culture. In 1998, he was awarded a

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

grant to write a new play, '' The Moons of Tokyo''. In 1999, Shigematsu was invited to be artist-in-residence at Technoboro, an artist-run media lab. His video work has been seen in the

Montreal World Film Festival The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.Biosphere The biosphere (), also called the ecosphere (), is the worldwide sum of all ecosystems. It can also be termed the zone of life on the Earth. The biosphere (which is technically a spherical shell) is virtually a closed system with regard to mat ...

and won the Prix du Public at the Evénement Interuniversitaire d'Art. In 2007, Shigematsu completed his feature film debut, '' Yellow Fellas'', which he wrote and directed. In 2009, Shigematsu appeared in Episode 2 of the TV series '' Deadliest Warrior'' as one of the experts for the Samurai team. In 2010, he returned for the ''Deadliest Warrior'' "Back for Blood" special, a transition from season one to season two pitting the winning warriors from season one against one another. In 2011, Shigematsu gave a TEDx talk called ''The Awesomeness of Your Contradictions''. In 2011, Shigematsu began his PhD within the Faculty of Education at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. He conducts research on social media, with a focus on the rising visibility of diasporic Asians on

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, for which he was named a Vanier scholar. In 2012, Shigematsu began writing for ''

''. In 2015, Shigematsu's theatrical solo work ''Empire of the Son'' had its world premiere at The Cultch in Vancouver. The entire run sold out prior to opening, an unprecedented feat for the world premiere of a Canadian play,. The Vancouver Sun named it as the best theatre show of 2015. The 2016 remount also sold out its run prior to opening. In October 2017, Shigematsu's next solo work, ''1 Hour Photo'', had its world premiere at The Cultch in Vancouver. ''1 Hour Photo'' was shortlisted for the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awa ...

at the 2019 Governor General's Awards."Michael Crummey among fiction finalists for Governor General's Literary Awards"

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, October 2, 2019.

Personal life

Shigematsu speaks English, French, Japanese, and Persian. He has two children.

References

External links

Tetsuro Shigematsu's personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shigematsu, Tetsuro 1971 births 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Living people British emigrants to Canada Canadian male comedians Canadian people of Japanese descent Canadian writers of Asian descent Canadian male dramatists and playwrights CBC Radio hosts Concordia University alumni People from Surrey, British Columbia Writers from London Writers from British Columbia HuffPost writers and columnists 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Comedians from London