Peter Blais (born 1949) is a Canadian actor, best known for his frequent roles in the plays of George F. Walker.[1]
A native of Ottawa, Ontario, Blais is the grandson of John Peter Macmillan, a naturalist who played a key role in establishing Cape Breton Highlands National Park.[2] He attended Carleton University and joined the campus drama society, where he met Dan Aykroyd. They performed together in several amateur productions during the 1960s.[3]
Through the early 1970s he continued to have stage acting roles,[4] while also working as a textile artist and theatrical costume and set designer, most notably on a 1977 production of King Lear for Halifax's Neptune Theatre.[5]
It was as a designer that he first began to collaborate with Walker, although he soon began to appear in acting roles in Walker's plays as well as designing them.[6]
He was additionally the designer of the original Arthur Ellis Award statuette for the Crime Writers of Canada.[7]
His performances in Walker's plays included Beyond Mozambique (1978),[6] Rumours of Our Death (1980),[8] Theatre of the Film Noir (1981),[9] Criminals in Love (1984),[10] Better Living (1987),[11] Zastrozzi, The Master of Discipline,[12] Beautiful City (1987),[13] Nothing Sacred (1988),[14] and Love and Anger (1989).[15] By the time of Love and Anger, Blais had a reputation as "the quintessential Walker actor", to the point that Walker wrote Love and Anger specifically for Blais to play the lead.[6]
He did not appear in the original cast of Escape from Happiness, although he designed the sets,[16] and subsequently stepped into the role of Rolly Moore after Eric Peterson departed the cast.[17]
His other stage roles included productions of The Lark (1980),[18] Glengarry Glen Ross (1986)[19] and The Nerd (1988).[20]
He has also had supporting and guest roles in film and television, most prominently recurring roles as Lennox Cooper in PSI Factor and Geoff/Parson Hubbard in Made in Canada.
In the late 1990s he retired from the theatre and moved to Nova Scotia, where he became a partner with artist Tom Alway in the Maritime Painted Saltbox Gallery in Petite Riviere, although he continued to appear in occasional film and television roles thereafter.[21]
He has been a two-time Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee, receiving nods for Best Leading Actor, General Theatre at the 1985 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Criminals in Love,[22] and Best Supporting Actor, General Theatre at the 1988 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Nothing Sacred.[23]
He won a Golden Sheaf Award for Best Performance - Male at the 1999 Yorkton Film Festival for The Wager.
He received a Gemini Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Program or Series at the 14th Gemini Awards in 1999, for his work in PSI Factor.[24]