• Christopher Plummer as John Watkins
• Marina Orsini as Diane Fletcher
• Shaun Johnston as David Present
• Ted Whitthall as Robert Madison

Christopher Plummer as John Watkins

Christopher Plummer has enjoyed over 50 years as a member of the English speaking theatre’s most distinguished alumni and as a veteran of international renown in over 80 motion pictures.

Growing up in Montreal, Plummer made his professional debut on stage in both French and English, and as a youngster of 18, he played Posthumus in Shakespeare’s Cymbeline directed by the late Fyodor Komisarjevsky of Moscow’s Imperial Theatre and the old Vic. Plummer never looked back, performing most of the great roles in the classic repertoire as a leading actor at Great Britain’s National Theatre under Sir Laurence Olivier, the Royal Shakespeare Company under Sir Peter Hall and in its formative years, the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Plummer’s introduction to the screen occurred in 1957 with the film Stage Struck. This followed a host of films ranging from the Oscar-wining The Sound of Music, John Huston’s The Man Who Would Be King, to The Silent Partner, Murder by Decree, The Battle of Britain, the Russian-made Waterloo The Royal Hunt of the Sun, Fall of The Roman Empire, Inside Daisy Clover, Eye Witness, Star Trek VI, Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, The Pink Panther, Wolf, Dolores Claiborne, Twelve Monkeys, Oedipus the King, co-starring Orson Welles, Michael Mann’s The Insider and countless others.

More recently Plummer finished shooting two British films, Lucky Break and Night and Day. Plummer can also be seen in the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind directed by Ron Howard with Russell Crowe and Ararat, a project directed by Atom Egoyan.

Since his start in the Golden Years of live television, Plummer’s appearance on television numbers into the hundreds – such as the award-winning Little Moon of Alban (Emmy nomination); Hamlet in Hamlet at Elsinore (Emmy nomination), Emmy Award-winning BBC production: Oedipus Rex, The Thorn Birds (Emmy nomination), Don Juan in Hell (BBC); The Money Changers (Emmy Award); the series Counterstrike and the animated film Madeline.

Plummer received Great Britain’s Evening Standard Award, two Tony Awards, two Emmy Awards, three New York Drama Desk Awards, the Theatre World Award, New York’s Drama League Award and two Outer Critics’ Circle Awards. In Canada he won a Genie Award for Murder by Decree, a Genie nomination for The Amateur and in 1956 he was awarded the Quebec prize, le Prix Marc l’Escarbot.

Plummer is also a talented pianist. With his friend Sir Neville Marriner and musicologist Christopher Palmer, he helped arrange a concert version of William Walton’s film score for Henry V that he performed several times with various symphony orchestras around the world.

In 2001, he was awarded the Governor General’s Award for his tremendous work in theatre. This award follows numerous others: Companion of the Order of Canada (1968 by Elizabeth II), first recipient of the Maple Leaf Award for Arts and Letters (New York, 1982), and The Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D.C. presented him with its coveted Will Award. He holds a Lifetime Achievement Award from the State of Connecticut, was honoured with the prestigious Commonwealth Award in 1998 in Wilmington, Delaware, has an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts at New York’s Juilliard School and was elected into the Theatre’s Hall of Fame in 1986 and Canada’s Walk of Fame in 1999.

Mr. Plummer lives with his wife Elaine and various canines in southern Connecticut and in Florida.

Marina Orsini as Diane Fletcher

Marina Orsini’s career started in 1986, when she landed the role of Suzie Lambert in the hit television series He Shoots, He Scores, followed by the role of Sophie in L’Or et le Papier. In 1990, Orsini portrayed Émilie Bordeleau in Les Filles de Caleb, for which she won two Gemini Awards and a MétroStar award. She continued with this role in the spin-off series Blanche in 1992.

Orsini continues to portray unforgettable women of the past: in Shehaweh, she is a brave Native woman, and in the series Miséricorde, she plays the nun Soeur Marie. In 1995, she became modern day Dr. Michèle Imbeault in the television series Urgence, and in 1999, she portrayed the great surgeon Lucille Teasdale in the MOW Dr Lucille.

Fall 2001 was a busy season for Marina, as she appeared in two television series, L’Or and Cauchemar d’amour, while also working opposite Christopher Plummer on the set of Agent of Influence under the direction of Michel Poulette. In Spring 2002, she portrayed Karen Durrelle in the biker drama The Last Chapter.

Her other English production credits include Black Harbour, The Hunger, The Sleep Room, and Eddie Lives. Aside from the small screen, Marina has appeared in French feature films including, La Grenouille et la Baleine, L’Emprise, and Les Muses Orphelines. Most recently, she practiced her Italian in Paolo Vrizi’s My Name is Tanino.

Marina Orsini has won a FIPA d’Or in Cannes, and three Rose d’Or for Personality of the Year. She also received the Lion d’Or from the Canadian-Italian Association for her acting career. In 1993, Marina was awarded the MétroStar as Female Personality of the Year.

Shaun Johnston as David Present

Johnston grew up in central Alberta and stumbled into acting. While studying at Red Deer College, en route for a career in law, Johnston was forced to take a drama option, and that was that. He immediately moved to Edmonton and studied acting at the University of Alberta, and has since become one of Alberta’s most prolific actors.

Johnston has worked in nearly every city in Canada and his television credits include: a recurring role on Myth Quest, a series regular on Traders and Destiny Ridge, recurring roles on Mentors and Beggars & Choosers, guest starring on Adventures of Shirley Holmes, Welcome to Paradox, Dead Man’s Gun, and North of 60, co-star on Cold Heart of a Killer and The X-Files. Johnston is well known for his role as the series lead in two seasons of Jake & The Kid. Other television credits include: Blessed Stranger: Swiss Air 111, High Noon, The Crow and Outer Limits.

Feature film credits include: Viva Los Nowhere; Beautiful Joe; Mystery, Alaska; Heart of the Sun; Road to Saddle River; Two Brothers, a Girl & a Gun; Silver Wolf; Bad Prospect; Silent Cradle; and Ms. Bear.

In 1994 Johnston won an AMPIA Award for Best Actor for his lead performance in Two Brothers, a Girl & a Gun, and took home the same award in 1997 for his lead performance in Jake & The Kid.

Ted Whitthall as Robert Madison

Originally from Montreal, Whittall began performing at four years of age in his father’s traveling children’s theatre company. He didn’t return to acting again until he had received a degree in Economics and another degree in Film Production, both from Concordia University in Montreal. It was while reading Stanford Meisner’s book on acting that Whittall decided to pursue it as a career. He left for New York to study at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse before returning to Canada.

Whittall’s big break came when he secured a recurring role on the popular Canadian series Traders. Recently he has co-starred opposite William Hurt, Julia Ormond and Lynn Redgrave in Varian’s War for Showtime, and stars in the third TV miniseries incarnation of Armistead Maupin’s popular book serial, Further Tales of the City.

Other credits include: Spinning Out of Control, Chiefs, Dice, The Nathalie Cole Story, Blue Murder, PSI Factor, La Femme Nikita, Jackie O : A Life, Stolen Miracle, Hidden Agenda and The Hunger.

His work in an ad campaign for Kellogg’s Eggo waffles earned him a 2000 Bessie Award for Best Actor in a Canadian commercial…. and a lifetime supply of cereal!

Whittall divides his time between Toronto and Montreal.

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