Canada boasts a wealth of talented actors, writers, directors, and other content creators. To help our industry grow, we would like to introduce you to some of those gifted folks who have managed to capture that magic on screen.
This week, we spoke with Vancouver writer, director, producer, and performer Bradley Stryker.
Bradley Stryker has over one hundred and fifty professional film and TV credits, including popular shows such as Untamed, Tracker, 911-Lonestar, Devil in Ohio, FBI, Animal Kingdom, Law and Order: SVU, Arrested Development, CSI: NY, Psych, Smallville, Supernatural, iZombie, Lost in Space, Arrow, Altered Carbon, Mad TV, and The O.C.
HNMAG: Congratulations on your UBCP award nomination, what can you tell us about that?
Bradley Stryker: Sure, it was a for a film, 13th Round, which I shot in Vancouver with a bunch of friends and a local up and coming filmmaker, Michael Trainor, who was ambitious enough to get it done. I played a boxing trainer with Parkinson’s. It was a very intimidating role because as I studied the disease I realized there are many different characteristics of the disease, and so no matter what I did, some people would relate to it, and others would be like, “That’s not at all like my Uncle Frank.” None the less, I leaned into my almost three decades of training in LA, NY, and Vancouver and I did my best. I’m just glad some people related to it.
HNMAG: Are you in Los Angeles right now?
Bradley Stryker: I just left Vancouver, about twenty-four hours ago. I’ll be in LA for a couple of weeks. Then I’ll be back up in Van-city again. I’m finishing three features I wrote/directed right now, so lots of travel all over to get it done. I do love to travel, but it’s always nice to catch my breath at home in Vancouver amongst the clean air and green trees.
HNMAG: Did you grow up around Seattle?
Bradley Stryker: That’s exactly where I grew up. I was raised in the suburbs of Seattle. Although my living and working in Vancouver, or meeting my wife Caitlin for that matter, had nothing to do with me being from the Pacific Northwest. I was just up in Vancouver working and she picked me up in a bar. And that’s no joke — she picked me up, not the other way around. Which if you’ve seen my wife is hard to believe, she’s gorgeous, and well… I play serial killers.
HNMAG: What brought you to Vancouver initially?
Bradley Stryker: A TV show, I was working as an American. Then I fell in love with Canada and applied to become a permanent resident.
HNMAG: Did you move to LA to work as an actor?
Bradley Stryker: I did a college tour. I started at Washington State and travelled down the coast. I transferred to Santa Barbara, then graduated from San Diego State. I also ended up in New York for a summer. I caught the acting bug there. The day I graduated from SDSU, I drove up to LA and spent the next decade building my career. Back in my twenties, it was possible to make a really good living just doing TV commercials, and so I did just that.
HNMAG: Were you union back then?
Bradley Stryker: Yeah, I got my SAG card in my early 20’s. I did a ton of US national commercials back then, bought my first house that way, they used to pay tremendously.
HNMAG: You were working as an actor in the early 2000’s and came up to Vancouver. What was that show that brought you to Hollywood North?
Bradley Stryker: It was a Jason Priestley movie. A movie of the week called Termination Point. And I had just spent my entire twenties in LA, doing the grind of spending eight to nine hours a day in my car alone. So Vancouver was quite enticing really.
HNMAG: Yes, LA is very spread out.
Bradley Stryker: Yeah, you’re driving and you’re alone. Then I discovered this place called Vancouver, where you can drive to an audition and be home within the hour. I was like, “Whoa, what is this lovely thing?” It was also the whole Pacific Northwest thing that I grew up in. The summers are gorgeous. The quality of life is so much higher. Most Canadian actors strive to move to Hollywood. I had already seen behind the curtains. I knew the truth of LA, and I also knew how special everyone in Vancouver had it. People can genuinely root for one another because there is enough to go around.
HNMAG: You met your wife when you were working up here. Is she in the industry as well?
Bradley Stryker: She is, but I didn’t meet her on a gig, we met at Earls in Yaletown.
HNMAG: How many years later did it take to get PR?
Bradley Stryker: No, I met my wife after I already had my PR card. But initially, it was just short of a two year waiting from application to getting my card. And then ten days after I got my PR card, I packed a truck and moved to Vancouver.
HNMAG: Was it difficult to get PR applying as an actor?
Bradley Stryker: I had to prove I was a valid professional. There was a standard point system. I was a college graduate, I satisfied the requirements, I paid all the fees, and less than two years later, I got it. It was much easier twenty-seven years ago than it is now. Now I’m told it is very hard. And listen, Vancouver is not perfect; we all know there are issues, but it’s also a very lovely place with a very high quality of life. People have said that my wife won the lottery; she gets to work in the States if she wants to. Even though my wife didn’t have anything to do with my immigration initially, it’s still the other way around. I prefer living in Canada. Vancouver has a wonderful community of working actors who are supportive and friendly; very much like a family. It makes the work that much more valid and worthwhile when it feels that way.
HNMAG: You’re a very experienced professional actor, but you also write, direct, and produce. Did you always have those ambitions or did you grow into those roles?
Bradley Stryker: I was living in Yaletown and working on Stargate Universe. I was with my then girlfriend, who is now my wife, and we were doing pretty well, but I still felt like I needed to figure things out, something wasn’t quite right. I went backpacking to Thailand for a few months and had an awakening on my thirty-first birthday. It was a “who are you” and “who do you want to be” moment. I have a ton of energy, and I like to go. It can become a problem if I don’t know what to do with it. As a professional actor, there is a ton of downtime. I realized that I needed to harness my energy in more constructive ways. I decided that could start with screenwriting. The day I got home, I read my first screenwriting book.
HNMAG: Which book was it?
Bradley Stryker: How to Make a Good Script Great. For the first two years, I sat in coffee shops writing for sixty hours a week. I took every course available and I read every book on screenwriting I could get my hands on. In the last seventeen years, I’ve written forty-one movies, three TV shows, and I’ve directed five feature films. I’ve also sold four screenplays and optioned many more. Right now, I have five projects in various stages of development. The magic equation for me is to be very busy, working on many things at once. I want to be productive during my downtime. I’m currently in post-production on three films, trust me it wasn’t by design, but varying budget issues that made it my reality. One that is special to my heart is a feature film that will be a non-profit to support LA fire victims.
HNMAG: What’s it called?
Bradley Stryker: It’s called Venice Days. Every single dollar we make goes to the cause and people who need it. It circumvents the Hollywood machine for the good of others, which I need right now. That knowledge has made the process amazing. It’s really nice to be doing the thing you love while also helping other people.
HNMAG: Was your first short Dog People?
Bradley Stryker: No, the first thing I directed was a short called Ranger Charlie.
HNMAG: Was it set in Vancouver?
Bradley Stryker: Oh yeah!
HNMAG: That’s great, so many productions are made in Vancouver and set in the US.
Bradley Stryker: This is a funny thing because for a long time, if a production was set in Canada, nobody wanted it. Point of fact. When we made Sheltering Season, we filmed in Vancouver and set the movie outside of Seattle because that was the accepted rule at the time.
HNMAG: That was a feature?
Bradley Stryker: Yeah, we were the first independent feature green lit post-COVID. It did really well. It sold well. From the first draft to when we started rolling was just three months. Thank you Kaleena Kiff, Amanda Verhagen-Drake, and Adam Kane, my collaborators who got us cooking. I wrote the movie for my wife to be the lead, and she absolutely crushed it.
HNMAG: Caitlin must have appreciated that?
Bradley Stryker: Well, she was a mother with a dead kid in the movie… so kind of. We did win some LEO awards on that one and were nominated for UBCP awards, so that always helps justify the heavy work load for little pay. What made it really special really is that we did it as a Vancouver community. It was still COVID, and we didn’t have to ask actors to step out of their bubble because we cast with that in mind. We began production right after the lockdown ended. It helped everyone realize that we were all going to be ok. At that time, we didn’t even know if the business was going to go on.
HNMAG: What are the changes to the rules since you released Sheltering Season?
Bradley Stryker: I’d say big companies and platforms like Netflix and beyond are more open to International content. Content from all other countries can play well in the US now. Which is great news for us all. We can thank shows like Fleabag, Squid Games, Adolescence for this.
HNMAG: There is still a concern with most Americans; when they are exposed to characters who seem American but then have contrary information about them being Canadian, it confuses them. Is this true?
Bradley Stryker: No, that’s not really true, but there is a difference between the American mentality and Canadian mentality. Americans are stereotypically more intense because life is just harder down there. You have to fight harder for every single thing. Now more than ever really. But if you want to celebrate Canada, be fearless. If you are going to shoot something set in Vancouver and want to show off its beauty, start with an opening shot of the Lion’s Gate Bridge… why not, it really is stunning. Let the audience know right away, you’re in Vancouver, Canada, and away we go.
HNMAG: There’s no confusion there.
Bradley Stryker: Also, America is two countries in one. There isn’t that big a difference on the coasts, but the middle is another story. Some people in the middle might be turned off and think, “What’s this Canadian BS”? Those people also never saw Parasite, but it was a critical acclaimed hit a few years ago, and it’s a really good movie. So know why you’re doing what you’re doing; be strategic; and go for it unapologetically.
HNMAG: You worked on the original Family Law in LA. The new Canadian Family Law with Victor Garber is an example of being a fearless Vancouver production.
Bradley Stryker: Sure, but it always comes down to quality doesn’t it? Most Vancouver productions round the edges too much. Which can be great for Hallmark and procedural TV, but not for Independent film or a gritty FX, Netflix, or HULU Thriller or Drama. I would love to see more gritty content with powerful storytelling come out of Vancouver. Things that might make us feel uncomfortable or challenge our way of thinking. Hallmark is great at what it does, but it doesn’t play at Cannes, Venice, or Sundance.
HNMAG: What’s your next project to come out?
Bradley Stryker: I’m finishing a Christmas movie that will play on a streamer, The Holiday Hitman. I was hired to direct for a small studio in London. It’s an action comedy, and a lot of fun.
HNMAG: Coming out this Christmas?
Bradley Stryker: Depends what the streamer decides to do with it. I just make the movies, the sales is on the studio and producers in London.
HNMAG: When you are directing yourself as an actor, how does that work?
Bradley Stryker: I’ve been acting for twenty-seven years. I know when it’s working and when it’s not. Of course, I do go back and check framing, but I do so much prep and homework as an actor that I could probably do most of the movie as a play. By the time I get in front of the camera, there are not a lot of questions left to be answered. It’s more about being present and willing to take a fall with my fellow actors and see what happens, and that’s my favorite part.
HNMAG: Do you have any advice for up and coming actors and filmmakers?
Bradley Stryker: The main thing I want to impart to people is that all of this business is a lot more DIY than you may think. Nobody needs to pay attention to you unless you give then a reason to. If you feel like you are not getting enough work and you’re frustrated, then get busy making your own luck. Write that script you always wanted to write and find a way to make it. In Vancouver people will show up to help you. I know this because I’ve asked for help, and somebody has always shown up. Especially your fellow professional acting friends. People pay every week to go to an acting class. And if they don’t, they should be. Maybe for two months, save that money; collaborate on or find a script; pool together those funds and shoot a no-budget feature film. Trust me, it can be done… I’ve done it.
Bradley Stryker is a prolific actor, writer, director, and producer. He grew up in the Seattle area, moved to LA, came to Vancouver to work, and fell in love with a place that felt more like home and might even perhaps be slightly prettier. Bradley has a great perspective on setting production locally. It’s all about going for it, alleviating this idea of politeness in your storytelling, and being as fearless as you can. We should see more cutting-edge independent features that are set in Vancouver, and Bradley Stryker is a big part of that. We are looking forward to seeing all he has to offer on the big screen.