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John Reardon

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, John Reardon is one of three children, and is part of a large extended family. In fact, he estimates he has over 300 cousins living in Canada's Maritimes. He returns to his hometown as often as his busy schedule allows, but spends much of his time working in Hollywood and Vancouver.

During his school years, John performed in many plays, but he had never considered going into acting professionally until he saw a riveting cinematic performance. "I was just finishing high school when I saw Paul Newman in the movie 'Cool Hand Luke' and decided he had the best profession in the world, says John. Paul Newman has definitely been a very big idol for me--not only in acting, but also in the way he lives his life. He is an incredibly talented performer with great range and can do comedy and drama. He also has been married to the same woman for the last 40 years, runs a charity that makes over $200 million a year and was also a professional race car driver at the age of 75. He is pretty cool."

Although motivated to follow in the footsteps of his idol, John choose to complete his education first. He studied marine biology at Mount Allison University where he was an all-star football player and an academic All-Canadian. Upon graduation, John pursued his ambition of becoming an actor. He performed with a few improv comedy groups, and then studied acting at Second City in Toronto and Los Angeles. His first break in showbiz came in 2001 when he was cast to play the role of Josh Wyatt in the CBC TV series Edgemont and soon after as Randall Thompson in the FOX series Tru Calling.

In 2004, he landed his first movie role, playing Heath in the Wayans Brothers' outlandish comedy, White Chicks. After a turn playing the lead character, Greg, in the horror movie Severed, John went on to spoof the genre, appearing in Scary Movie 4, along with a star-studded cast that included Leslie Nielson, Bill Pullman, Molly Shannon, and Michael Madsen.

Meanwhile, John began to land major roles, playing the title character in Merlin's Apprentice, a Hallmark mini-series that also starred Sam Neill and Miranda Richardson. A leading man in the movies A Valentine's Carol and 7 Things to do Before I'm 30, John also played the lead in another mini-series, Son of the Dragon, filmed on location in China. Here he demonstrates his athletic skills inhis portrayal of D.B, a young thief who trains under a martial arts master played by David Carradine. John continued his work on feature films when he played a small-town mechanic in the Weinstein brothers' movie Make it Happen, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and in 2010 worked for four months on Disney's Tron: Legacy where he worked with Jeff Bridges to help create the computer animated characters of Young Kevin Flynn and Clu.

John's upcoming roles include playing a lead in a remake of the 1984 film The Philadelphia Experiment, a neurotic professor in the TV series Clue and a bush pilot in the exciting new show Arctic Air which premières January 10th on CBC. As a working professional, John has continued to hone his acting skills, studying with Chris Fields in Los Angeles and continuing his work in Improv at Second City. A great humanitarian, John supports a number of charities including Save the Oceans, Sharkwater, Amnesty International, and the Canadian Wildlife Fund. John has traveled to almost 40 countries and has a passion for SCUBA diving. He would like to explore all five oceans of the world. Meanwhile, John is riding the wave of success in his acting career and spends much of his spare time writing.

He recently wrote/produced and starred in a TV pilot called The In- Between and has written a screenplay about the civil war in Cambodia as well as a period piece about a turn of the century boxer from his hometown of Halifax.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2012.

John Reardon Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayJuly 30, 1975 (48)
SignLeo
BirthplaceHalifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Height6' 1" (1m85)  How tall is John Reardon compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Love on the Sidelines
The Christmas Secret
Repo! The Genetic Opera
The Punisher
Christmas Secret
Severed
Make It Happen
The Babe
Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married?: The Play
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