B: December 15, 1970 in Vancouver, BC
Michael Garrett Shanks may have been born in Vancouver but he grew up in Kamloops, British Columbia. An overly active young man, he had fun at school playing defence in hockey, fly-half and later wing on the rugby team, he was a member of the Student Council, and joined a school theatre group. As well as acting in the group he also directed. He turned down a chance to become a professional hockey player in his teens and went to the University of British Columbia to study business, paying his way thanks to occasional jobs working as a labourer and lumberjack. Not liking math, he ended up a half credit short of getting a Business degree, graduating instead with a degree in Fine Arts. His decision to pursue an acting career had its impetuous when he saw a location shoot for an episode of the series, MacGyver. From UBC, Shanks spent two years at Ontario`s Stratford Festival acting in a number of small roles which led to similar work on television. That ultimately led to his long-running role of Dr. Daniel Jackson on Stargate SG-1. Tiring of the role he quit the series at the end of season 5 to pursue a career on the big screen, but would return to the series on a regular basis. He has played the role of Chief of Surgery Charlie Harris on the hit CTV series Saving Hope since 2012. |
Features & TV Movies: A Family Divided (TV-1995) Suspicious River (2000) The Eastmans (TV-2010) Never Forget (2022, short) TV Series – Cast: TV Series – Guest appearances: Andromeda (2001, 2003) The Good Guys (2010) Altered Carbon (2020) |