Victor Garber

Victor Garber, (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian stage and film actor and singer. Known for his work on stage and screen, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2022, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Garber originated roles in the Broadway productions of '' Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'' in 1979 (as Anthony Hope), '' Noises Off'' in 1983 (as Garry LeJuene), '' Lend Me a Tenor'' in 1989 (as Max), '' Arcadia'' in 1995 (as Bernard Nightingale), and ''Art'' in 1998 (as Serge). He's received four Tony Award nominations for his performances in the play '' Deathtrap'' in 1978 (as Clifford Anderson), the Neil Simon musical '' Little Me'' in 1982 (as The Men in Belle's Life), ''Lend Me a Tenor'' in 1989, and the musical comedy revival of ''Damn Yankees'' in 1994 (as Applegate). He created the role of John Wilkes Booth in the original cast of the 1990 Off-Broadway run of ''Assassins''. In 2018, he returned to Broadway in the revival of '' Hello, Dolly!'' as Horace Vandergelder opposite Bernadette Peters and Gavin Creel.

He made his film debut as Jesus Christ in the musical ''Godspell'' (1973). He has also been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards along with the casts of the critically acclaimed films ''Titanic'' (1997), ''Milk'' (2008), and ''Argo'' (2012), winning for ''Argo''. Other notable films include '' Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993), '' The First Wives Club'' (1996), ''Annie'' (1999), '' Legally Blonde'' (2001), '' Sicario'' (2015), '' Dark Waters'' (2019), and '' Happiest Season'' (2020).

On television, Garber is best known as Jack Bristow in the ABC series '' Alias'' (2001 to 2006) for which he received three consecutive Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series nominations. He received further Emmy nominations for his portrayal of Sidney Luft in '' Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows'' (2001) and for his guest roles in the sitcoms ''Frasier'' in 2001 and '' Will & Grace'' in 2005. Garber portrayed Martin Stein / Firestorm in the superhero series ''The Flash'' (2015–2017) and ''Legends of Tomorrow'' (2016–2017, 2021), which are part of the Arrowverse.

Early life

Victor Garber was born in London, Ontario, Canada, and is of Russian-Jewish descent. His father was Joseph "Joe" Garber (died 1995), and his mother, Bessie Hope Wolf (died 2005), was an actress, singer, and the host of ''At Home with Hope Garber''. He has a brother, Nathan, and a sister, Alisa.

Garber attended Ryerson Elementary School and London Central Secondary School. He began acting at the age of nine in 1958. Garber enrolled in the children's program of the Grand Theatre, and, at age 16, he was accepted at a six-week summer theatre training program at the University of Toronto taught by Robert Gill.Profile of Victor Garber
''Toronto Star''. Retrieved April 24, 2014. In New York, he studied acting at HB Studio.

Career

Music

In 1967, after a period working as a solo folk singer, Garber formed a folk group called The Sugar Shoppe with Peter Mann, Laurie Hood and Lee Harris. The group enjoyed moderate success, breaking into the Canadian Top 40 with a version of Bobby Gimby's song "Canada" (1967). Three other Sugar Shoppe songs made the lower reaches of the Canadian Top 100 in 1967 and 1968. The band had performed on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' before breaking up.

Theatre

Garber played Jesus Christ in Toronto's 1972 production of ''Godspell,'' alongside Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas, Paul Shaffer and Martin Short. In 1985, he appeared in '' Noises Off'' at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of '' Deathtrap'', '' Sweeney Todd'' and ''Noises Off'' (1983), and in the original Off-Broadway cast of '' Assassins'', as well as the 1990s revival of ''Damn Yankees''. In 1986, Garber appeared at Circle in the Square opposite Uta Hagen in ''You Never Can Tell''. He was nominated for four Tony Awards and opened the 48th Tony Awards program in 1994 (the year he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for ''Damn Yankees''). In 1998, he co-starred on Broadway in the Tony Award-winning play ''Art'' with Alan Alda and Alfred Molina. In 2005, he played the role of Fredrik Egerman in the Los Angeles Opera production of '' A Little Night Music''. He played Ben Stone in a critically praised Encores! staged concert production of '' Follies'' (2007) opposite Donna Murphy. In mid-2007, he played Garry Essendine in a production of Noël Coward's '' Present Laughter'' at Boston's Huntington Theatre. He reprised the role on Broadway in the Roundabout Theatre production, which opened in January 2010.

In January 2018, Garber replaced David Hyde Pierce as Horace Vandergelder in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of ''Hello, Dolly!'' at the Shubert Theatre opposite Bernadette Peters. Garber began performances on January 20 prior to the press opening on February 22.

Garber received the 2018 Theatre World John Willis Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Film

His earlier film work includes ''Godspell'' (1973) as Jesus Christ (the part he played originally in the 1972 Canadian stage production) and '' Sleepless in Seattle'' (1993). He starred opposite Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, and Bette Midler in '' The First Wives Club'' as film producer Bill Atchison, husband of Goldie Hawn's character, Elise Eliot, in 1996. In James Cameron's ''Titanic'' (1997), he essayed a Mid-Ulster accent to play the shipbuilder Thomas Andrews.

In 2009, Garber voiced DC Comics supervillain Sinestro in the direct-to-video animated film '' Green Lantern: First Flight''. That same year, Garber played a Klingon interrogator in J. J. Abrams' ''Star Trek'' film; however, his scenes were deleted from the finished film.

In 2010, Garber had an uncredited cameo in '' The Town'', directed by Ben Affleck, as David, a bank manager. Garber also appeared in the film '' Ice Quake''. In late 2012, he appeared in Affleck's film ''Argo'', about the Iran hostage crisis; Garber portrayed Canadian Ambassador to Iran Kenneth D. Taylor. He also co-starred in 2014 thriller ''Big Game''.

Garber narrated the 2017 film '' They Shall Not Perish''. Other film appearances include '' Annie'' (1999), '' Legally Blonde'' (2001), and '' Tuck Everlasting'' (2002).

Television

On television, he has had roles on American and Canadian shows. Garber's first leading role on television show was in CBS's 1985 summer series '' I Had Three Wives''. He had a recurring guest role on CTV's '' E.N.G.'' (1991–93). He portrayed Jack Bristow, the father of main character Sydney Bristow on ABC's '' Alias'', earning three Emmy nominations. He next starred on the television series ''Justice'' (2006) on Fox and ABC's ''Eli Stone''. He appeared as Olivier Roth in four episodes of the Canadian science drama '' ReGenesis''. He appeared in the Fox series ''Glee'' in the third episode titled " Acafellas", as Will Schuester ( Matthew Morrison)'s father Mr. Schuester. He played Martin Stein / Firestorm on ''The Flash'' starting with the episode "Crazy for You" (2015), before being spun off onto ''Legends of Tomorrow'', where he was a series regular for its first and second seasons (2016–2017) and half of the third season (2017). Garber made his final appearance as a regular in the crossover event " Crisis on Earth-X" (2017), where Stein was killed off. However, he reprised his role in the series' 100th episode, " Wvrdr_error_100 not found" (2021), where Stein appears as part of Gideon's memories. Additionally, Garber made an independent return to ''The Flash'' in the season three episode "Duet" (2017) as the unnamed husband of gangster Digsy Foss ( Jesse L. Martin) in a dream world. Garber reprised his role as Stein for a final time in a vocal cameo in " A New World" (2023), the series finale of ''The Flash''. He also played the reoccurring character Admiral Halsey on '' The Orville''.

Personal life

Garber prefers to keep his personal life private and has largely stayed out of the tabloids. In 2012, he referred publicly to being gay. In 2013, he said "I don't really talk about it but everybody knows." Garber has been in a relationship with Canadian artist and model Rainer Andreesen since 2000. On October 10, 2015, Andreesen announced on his Instagram page that he and Garber had married in Canada.

Garber has type 1 diabetes: he was diagnosed in 1962 at the age of 12.

Garber is good friends with his ''Alias'' co-star Jennifer Garner and officiated her 2005 wedding to Ben Affleck. Garber and his husband Rainer Andreesen were the only guests at the private wedding.

Filmography

Film

Television

Theatre

Source: ''Playbill''

Awards and nominations

In addition to industry awards, Garber was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2022, with the rank of Officer.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Garber, Victor
1949 births
20th-century Canadian LGBTQ people
20th-century Canadian male actors
20th-century Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people
21st-century Canadian male actors
21st-century Canadian male singers
21st-century Canadian singers
Audiobook narrators
Canadian emigrants to the United States
Canadian expatriate male actors in the United States
Canadian expatriate musicians in the United States
Canadian folk singers
Canadian gay actors
Canadian gay musicians
Canadian LGBTQ singers
Canadian male film actors
Canadian male musical theatre actors
Canadian male television actors
Canadian male voice actors
Canadian people of Russian-Jewish descent
Gay singers
Living people
Male actors from London, Ontario
Musicians from London, Ontario
Officers of the Order of Canada
Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners
People with type 1 diabetes
University of Toronto alumni