The Canadian Screen Awards air Sunday night at 8 pm on CBC but not every talented Canadian working in television will be among the many nominees.
Many are in New York, LA, Atlanta and elsewhere, starring in, writing or making American network TV shows.
One such lad is Martin Gero, who I got re-acquainted with last January in Pasadena during the winter Television Critics Association press tour. Born in Switzerland but raised in Ottawa and schooled at Toronto’s Ryerson University, Gero worked me into a scene five or six years ago when he was directing an episode of The LA Complex at the Epitome studios in uptown Toronto.
Fortunately, his career survived that potentially enormous setback. He went on to create and executive produce Blindspot on ABC and now he’s teamed with Greg Berlanti and Chris Fedak on Deception. That series, about a showboat Vegas magician played by British actor Jack Cutmore-Scott (Cooper Barrett’s Guide to Surviving Life) who helps the FBI solve crimes, also premieres Sunday night.
When I kidded Gero that it was nice to see a Canadian in charge on the New York based series, he pointed out that he also hired “a half-Canadian” to be the consulting magician on Deception: David Kwong, who grew up in Hamilton, Ont. He then pointed out that the Commonwealth is well represented on the series: “Literally everyone on this show is British except for Ilfenesh Hadera,” referring to the native New Yorker who plays the main FBI agent. “The Queen’s going to love this show.”
Read more about Gero, Kwong and Deception here at this feature I wrote for The Canadian Press.
advertisement
