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Callum Keith Rennie

Callum Keith Rennie (born September 14, 1960) is a Canadian television and film actor.

Biography

Early life

Rennie was born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England. When he was four years old, his Scottish parents relocated the family from England to Canada. Rennie was raised in Alberta, as the second of three boys. He began work in university radio, and discovered acting while in Edmonton at the age of 25. For roughly a decade through his late teens and twenties, Rennie struggled with alcoholism. However, in the summer of 1993, a dramatic event led him to change. While in a rough Vancouver bar, Rennie and a construction worker got into an altercation. He 'flipped the bird' to the construction worker, who punched his fist through a plate glass window, and drove a shard of glass into Rennie's left eye and retina.

Career

Rennie has had roles in a variety of Canadian television series, including Twitch City, Da Vinci's Inquest and Due South. He has also been in a number of movies, including Double Happiness (as the love interest of Sandra Oh), Curtis's Charm, Hard Core Logo, eXistenZ, Memento, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Flower & Garnet. He has a recurring role in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica as the Cylon known as Leoben Conoy.

One of Rennie's most widely recognized roles is that of Detective Stanley Raymond Kowalski on the Canadian television series Due South. The show has been aired in over 150 countries, helping to broaden Rennie's fanbase.

Rennie has made guest appearances on several television shows. These include The Outer Limits, Forever Knight, Mutant X and Highlander: The Series, in which he played both a mortal in the Season 2 episode "An Eye For an Eye" and an immortal named Tyler King in the Season 4 episode "The Innocent". During Season 1 of La Femme Nikita, Rennie guest-starred in the two-part episodes "Gray" and "Choice" as the only love interest Nikita had outside Section One during the entire run of the series. Rennie also appeared in The X-Files, initially offered the role of Alex Krycek. He turned down the role because he did not want to commit to a television series at that time, but he later guest-starred on the show and was signed to be in The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which was released on August 1, 2008. Rennie has also made an appearance on Smallville as a Freak of the Week in the Season 5 episode "Fragile". Rennie has obtained a recurring role for the second season of Californication as rock star Lew Ashby.

Rennie resides in Vancouver, also spending time in Toronto and Los Angeles.

Awards

In 1997, Rennie won the Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Children's or Youth Program or Series for My Life as a Dog. In 1999, he won the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Last Night. He won a Leo Award for Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama in 2001 for Suspicious River, in 2003 for Flower & Garnet and in 2007 for Unnatural & Accidental. Rennie won the award of the Vancouver Film Critics Circle for Best Actor in a Canadian Film in 2003, also for Flower & Garnet.