Canada has many talented actors, writers, producers, and other content creators. To help our industry grow, we would like to introduce you to some talented folks who have managed to capture that magic on screen.
This week we spoke with Vancouver improviser, host, writer, director, and performer David C. Jones.
David has too many professional film and TV credits to list but some of those include Tops and Bottoms, iZombie, The Switch, So Help Me Todd, Firefly Lane…etc.
HNMAG: Where are you originally from?
David C. Jones: I was born in Ontario and raised by a single mother with my sister, till about grade seven. That’s when my mother remarried. After that, we moved out West.
HNMAG: You moved to Vancouver when you were a teenager?
David C. Jones: Victoria. I did my schooling there but I was often depressed and scared due to repressed sexuality and bullying. About a year after high school, I moved with a friend to Vancouver.
HNMAG: How did you first get interested in performance?
David C. Jones: I was really shy in high school but still very attracted to theatre. I did stagecraft so I could be near the theatre without getting picked on or teased even more. I decided to risk it and signed for drama in grade eleven. Our drama teacher, Mrs. Dewdney taught us Theatresports. I took to that like a fish to water and I became ravenous for more, so I organized highschool Theatresports shows for various community services such as hospitals, conferences…etc. I set up an inter-high school improv battle at Market Square over a couple of weekends or so. One school was a no-show, so I split up our school team and made half pretend to be from the other school.
HNMAG: Did you get into improv when you first moved to Vancouver?
David C. Jones: No, I worked backstage at Carousel Theatre. I created sets, glued red sequins on stuffed toy rats, and then threw them on the stage for The Pied Piper. After that, actor Leslie Jones could tell that I was still depressed and she suggested I do a program called Canada World Youth. It’s an international exchange program. I unintentionally wrote down my old family address in Victoria. They had too many Vancouver applicants, so they dismissed my application for that but accepted me from the Victoria program. I had to jump on a ferry and go from there for my interview.
Two months later, I found out that I was going to India. In the first half of the program, candidates from India came to Canada and we worked together, with local families in the Kootenays. It was work and education placement. It’s about finding your humanity. It’s a big world out there and a lot of people need help. The second half was experiencing work and life in India. You worked in the community and then did a community project. In India, we worked in a grape farm and built a library that they didn’t need.
HNMAG: What did you do after that?
David C. Jones: I remembered back in high school that I really had fun doing Theatresports. I auditioned and I got into the Rookie League after doing levels one and two of the Vancouver Theatresports League (VTSL). I was a rookie for six months and then I was promoted to the Mainstage. I did three provincial tours for VTSL. Then some of us wanted to do sketch comedy so we created the troupe Rock, Paper, Scissors. We wanted to emulate Kids in the Hall. We ended up doing a Canadian Armed Forces Tour. We were in a TV special called A Date With Farmer’s Daughter, mounted plays like The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Designed for Living and created impov/scripted hybrids like A Twisted Christmas Carol …etc I stayed with them for thirteen years.
HNMAG: How did you get into working in Film and TV?
David C. Jones: I appeared in a TV special as a Stand-up comedian.
HNMAG: Why did you start doing Stand-up?
David C. Jones: I did stand-up because a new TV station called VTV wanted me for their show Out Loud. They called me up and asked me to do some gay Stand-up. I told them I’m an improviser. They said we have a six-minute spot for Stand-up comedy. That was my first foray, which was kind of weird. I met with comedians and rewrote some one-man show material. It worked, I got laughs, despite the dry mouth.
HNMAG: That lead to more Film and TV work?
David C. Jones: I started to get more opportunities in commercials. Funny story, two separate ad agencies, four years apart, I was cast twice as a London Drugs employee. I hoped that my character would be a manager by now.
HNMAG: Why did you join the actor’s union?
David C. Jones: I did a television special called Amp’d by Salter Street, who made This Hour Has 22 Minutes. I was headhunted at VTSL and then flown over to Halifax and that’s when I joined the union. My name was in the TV Guide which is kind of cool.
HNMAG: Who else was in Amp’d?
David C. Jones: Nancy Robertson, Christine Lippa, Roman Danylo, Rebecca Northern and a young funny guy named Michael something.
HNMAG: It’s difficult to compete with Who’s Line is it Anyway.
David C. Jones: It’s so hard to film improv. We also had that issue for my TVshow Tops and Bottoms.
HNMAG: How did that come about?
David C. Jones: After Rock, Paper, Scissors, I formed a queer improv troupe. I ran workshops at the Alliance for Arts and Culture. Alternating Sundays for straight and queer performers. I had created an improv show for Yuk Yuk’s called Vicious Games so I adapted that and made the show for Tops and Bottoms. The idea was to constantly be improving the skills of the clear improvisers by voting them up and down working with the stronger improvisers and giving them an impetus and opportunity to improve. By the way, the tv version is still on Amazon Prime OUTtv and Apple TV. The same six episodes over and over. Sadly, I don’t get any residuals at all.
HNMAG: Did you perform with other nightclub improv troupes with your peers?
David C. Jones: Not really. From being bullied, I learned to hide to avoid being attacked. On stage, I felt alive. Offstage, I avoided people, or just kept them at arm’s length. Friendly, but not ‘friend-able’. So looking back, it makes sense that other performers would forget about me when they start new ventures. I didn’t really bond with people. And maybe I was a little obnoxious too, I don’t know I can’t speak for other people.
I was recently diagnosed with my own mental health issues and that has revealed a lot to me about how I interact with people or don’t interact with people. Last year I created a one man musical about that with the help of a lot of amazing friends.
HNMAG: You do get cast as quite unique characters.
David C. Jones: Years ago, I took a workshop with Candice Elzinga. She was telling everyone that she would sometimes tell an actor to do a second take a different way to see if they can take direction. She said, “David C. Jones was in my room the other day and he gave me three completely different takes of the same scene and I posted all of them to the director.” (Side Note: I didn’t end up booking that role.) When you see a great actor like Meryl Streep, who transforms themselves into a character, that’s what I want to do. At times, it feels that casting doesn’t want that. Sometimes it’s interpreted as over-acting because they know it’s not you. My agent (Deb Mahood at Lucas Talent) suggested putting the character stuff at the back of my reel. Only put upfront the clips with your own hair and your own voice. So, I’ve done that now and I’m booking more, so there it is, she is smart.
HNMAG:You recently played a doctor on So Help Me Todd.
David C. Jones: I got cast as a clue. Someone impersonated my character via a stolen nametag. In the third episode, I first played that character. I grabbed the door, holding both sides of the frame, and stuck my head in to speak one line to Madeline Wise (Allison). She ad-libbed a line at the end of the scene. I knew I didn’t have permission to add lines back so instead I just gave a funny reaction and exited. The crew cracked up after they cut and the director of that episode (Robin Givens) told me to keep doing that. Every take, Madeline ad-libbed a new line and I gave a new reaction. After the scene, the writer introduced herself. She loved what I was doing, and she said she would talk to told she would talk to the showrunner about me. Then two weeks later Dr. Jelen returned! After I sent production a card thanking them for the opportunity and a good time and then in the PS I wrote “Please stop eating apples because we don’t want to keep this doctor away.” Fingers crossed.
HNMAG: Most of the parts you book are on US productions.
David C. Jones: Yap.
HNMAG: What would it take to play characters that are set in Canada?
David C. Jones: Allegiance takes place in Vancouver. I’ve also done Walla on Family Law. Like every actor I would love to be on every show. Canadian would be great.
HNMAG: You do a lot of different things.
David C. Jones: I really like audiences and I love to do things for them, and I really love to be creative. I have done voice-over work, and I make films as well. I’m in pre-production for a music video that I’m shooting in two weeks. I’m also a Keynote speaker and a corporate entertainer so I got a couple big gigs coming up this summer as well as I Emcee a lot of stuff. Like everyone my income took a huge hit during the pandemic, so thankfully a lot more work is coming in now.
I love being creative and making stuff. I wear a lot of hats. I just took my skills of being a host and emcee to being a speaker. I did a keynote speech for Act Safe and that was great fun. I spoke about working with people who are difficult and parlayed it into audience participation improv.
HNMAG: When were you at Langara’s Studio 58?
David C. Jones: I was doing VTSL and Rock, Paper, Scissors and I loved acting. I decided to audition for the best school in Western Canada for acting, and they rejected me. But then I did it again (“Are you sure?”) and got accepted. Years after I graduated, I was hired by them to direct a partially improvised/ partially scripted show called Risky Macbeth. The fourth term students and I created the show.
I say this to my students and try to remember it: ‘nobody can make you act and nobody can stop you from acting unless you put your entire career in the hands of the gate keepers, and which case they do have the ability to stop you 100% of the time. So make your own stuff.’ You’re going to get a whole lot of no. If that’s going to cause you to wilt and die, you won’t make it. It hurts and you can feel it, but don’t dwell in it. Take action.
HNMAG: What would you really like other performers to know?
David C. Jones: The important thing is to do it if it is fun and gives you joy. If it doesn’t or if you’re complaining all the time don’t do it. Nobody really cares about complaining actors. I must remind myself about that all the time because it is such an easy trap to fall into. We all must take care of our mental health and we all must be mindful for that everybody is going through a lot. Try to lead with empathy and love. My dear friend Nelson Wong says “Be the aspirin not the headache.”
I remember a longtime ago also a teacher of mine Debra Thorne said something like: ‘If you were going to be a professional doctor or lawyer, you wouldn’t think twice about going to school for a significantly longtime. So don’t treat being a professional actor, any different. Too many actors think they can just do it. Go to a professional acting school most of them in the world are three-year conservatory training because it takes that long to give an artist, a wide range of tools experience, and to help them get out of their own way.’
HNMAG: The only issue with some theatre schools is they can be too judgmental and harsh breaking you down.
David C. Jones: Yes. But here is a big shift in acting training that sort of came out of the pandemic. You don’t have to mentally destroy an actor in training to help get them ready for the toughness of the business and a lot more schools now are focusing on resilience well also encouraging actors to get out of their own way. Life is hard and we are in difficult times right now so acting schools need to find a balance of bringing joy and creativity but not just blowing smoke up people’s asses. There must be truth and setting people up for success within the realities of the business. But you don’t have to break them down and mentally mind fuck them. That old philosophy is really being called out. The cycle of abuse in acting schools is ending.
In film and TV, some of us perform, others write, and others direct. David C. Jones does it all and more. He is also a wonderful instructor. Nobody works harder and more passionately. David is a great example of what you need to really make a difference in entertainment. If the reason you are pursuing a creative career is to make money, you should find another profession. There are far easier and less risky ways to make a living. If you are driven to perform, write or direct. If that is the only thing that will truly make you happy, then that’s what you must do. We could not see David C. Jones being happy as an accountant, banker, or salesperson. He was born to make other people shine.