Freedom, fame and staying grounded: Meet Grant Nickalls

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at [email protected].

He’s played a bit of everything: a serial killer, Jennifer Lopez’s boyfriend, a First Nations man, and a troubled father. He got the chance to shoot the breeze with John Candy and turned a dinner date down with Mariah Carey. But for Grant Nickalls, getting the chance to play Tom Thomson in a theatre production next year is a dream come true.

“This means so much to me,” says the 46-year-old Huntsville actor, who is the host of Hunters Bay Radio’s morning show and contributes a weekly video to Huntsville Doppler. “When you take the stage in your hometown, the stakes are much higher. You can’t fake it, these are the people who know you the best. And that scares me a bit for sure. To me, this is big… this is huge. And I’m extremely grateful that I’ve been given this opportunity.”

Grant is no stranger to the Algonquin Theatre stage or to portraying the legendary Tom Thomson. He played the famous Canadian painter in a play to honour the opening of the theatre back in 2005. He did a lot of research to get into the role as Thomson, who Grant calls “a tortured guy, who everyone loved and admired for his paintings but all he wanted to do was drink, fish and chase women.”

And now, with the coming of When Winnie Knew, slated for its debut in July 2017, Grant is ready to take the lead more than ever. It’s a big deal for a lot of reasons: the opportunity to play the lead role of an intriguing and captivating man (yet again), the fact that he’s been granted permission from celebrity author Roy MacGregor to use excerpts from his book Northern Light, sharing the stage with both Cydney Jones (she plays Thomson’s love Winnie Trainor) and Sean Cotton, one of the area’s finest musicians. None of it would even be possible if it wasn’t for the beautiful mind of Teri Souter, who approached Grant with the idea for the play. He says he will be guided by the memory of local playwright Stina Nyquist, as she was the one who originally introduced him to Thomson.

Grant is the whole package. He’s an intelligent, good-looking, down-to-earth family man who believes that growing up in a small town like Huntsville taught him the importance of being kind and respectful to others. After finishing elementary school here he was transferred to an all-boys school in Newmarket, an experience that at first he was not at all that fond of. But had it not been for that move, there’s a good chance Grant would have never discovered his true passion.

I was a typical jock who tried out for a play, got the part and that was it. I was hooked. For me, what I loved about it was that feeling of freedom. I just felt so free. I felt like, as weird as it sounds because there was all these people sitting there watching me, that I wasn’t being judged. Which doesn’t make sense, I know, because that’s what the whole industry is about. Acting is like having a license to take a risk…There’s this whole process of acting that allows you to make choices in a controlled environment.

Being a part of that school play opened a new door for Grant. As a guy who didn’t normally like being in the spotlight, he thrived off taking the stage. And the comments and feedback he received from people was proof that he was good at acting. The director of that play happened to go to university with a woman who was an agent in Toronto and he had convinced her to come check Grant out in a production. Apparently, she, too, liked what she saw. She immediately became Grant’s agent. He packed his bags, moved to Toronto and the first job he got was a commercial for Coca-Cola that went international. By the time he was 22, he was attending the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal and graduated with a degree in acting. The rest, as they say, is history.

Photos in the above gallery generously supplied by Grant Nickalls

He’s done everything from commercials and voice-overs, to television shows and even had a small part in the multi-million dollar box office hit, The Incredible Hulk. He’s been a guest star in shows like The Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, Cardinal, Republic of Doyle, Queer as Folk and Gangland Undercover. He played Jennifer Lopez’s love interest in ­Angel Eyes and David Foster in Celine, a film that highlighted the life of Canadian singing sensation Celine Dion. He garnered quite a following after his role in Dirty Work, a cult classic that introduced him to a handful of Saturday Night Live alumni including Chris Farley, Norm MacDonald and Chevy Chase. Grant has been the feature actor in films such as The Obituary, Hello October, Dear America, The Eleventh Hour and Beauty and Power. He’s worked with Hume Cronyn, Edward Norton, Rachel Ward and Patrick Duffy. This fall, Incorporated, a new sci/fi television series is set to air, which has been produced by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Out of dozens of other guys who auditioned for the part, Damon and Affleck saw something in Grant.

As an actor, you’re giving yourself permission to walk in someone else’s shoes. Certain roles can be easy to draw from. That’s what I enjoy. If you can do anything on a level as an actor and make someone think, you’ve done a great job.

The nature of show business…

As an actor, Grant has travelled everywhere from Hollywood and Los Angeles to New York. And despite his worldly travels, he’s always stayed true to his roots. His heart belongs in Muskoka. He wouldn’t sacrifice being away from his family (he has two boys) for anything. His wife is his rock. She keeps him grounded. She’s his one and only. She has been since he was just 19 and she will be until the very end.

He will openly tell you he has good days and bad days. Sometimes, he can be washed away by his insecurities and riddled with self-doubt and thoughts of not being good enough. The life of a Canadian actor can be a real struggle at times. When you work, you make great money. But if you aren’t going to auditions and trying to land that must-have role, well, the cash won’t be flowing in that’s for sure. So, according to Grant, you better have a good partner by your side who’s in it for the love and nothing else.

“It’s either work is good or you’re broke. It’s that simple.”

Fame and stardom seems much easier to achieve for our friends in the south. Sure, hard work can pay off, but the gigs are often few and far between. He leaves Doppler readers with a hilarious analogy:

“Trying to be an actor in Huntsville is like trying to be a surfer in Saskatchewan.”

(I just wanted to add a little blurb about the extraordinary Grant Nickalls. He has been a big supporter of the local music scene and constantly goes out of his way to help recognize and promote up-and-coming artists. He believes that this beautiful little town is overflowing with talent and he will do what he can to help those musicians who are passionate about what they are doing receive recognition or airtime on Hunters Bay Radio. Thanks for being awesome, Grant!)

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