A little over a year ago, an intriguing, talented Vancouver actor came to my attention–Garfield Wilson–and he and I had a chance to chat briefly. Originally, the plan had been for me to share his interview shortly after that wonderful conversation. However, due to a variety of circumstances, the posting of his interview was delayed (something that never brings me joy). Yet, like the incredible man he is, he was amenable to patiently wait for my schedule to permit the time required to adequately highlight him and his career. Thankfully, I finally have the opportunity to present this amazing artist to my readers today. 

RH: Garfield, it is so good to get to chat with you! I’m glad I happened to look you up.

GW: Thank you, Ruth, for reaching out.

I discovered you because I noticed you were in one of the Darrow & Darrow movies, and as I started looking through your credits, I noticed you’ve done quite a lot, and you seem to have a pretty fascinating story.

Thank you, Ruth, that’s a huge compliment.

And since you have become quite a prolific Vancouver actor, I decided it was high time to interview you. 

Thank you again, Ruth. I have been very fortunate to be on some popular shows up here in Vancouver.

So why don’t we begin at the beginning? I understand that you weren’t born in Canada.

That’s right. I was born in England. I always say London, England, but it was actually in Surrey. My dad was a welder, and he always went where the oil was. When we first moved to Canada, it was Manitoba in the ’70s. Shortly after that, we moved to Edmonton, and that is basically where I grew up. It was a great childhood. I was involved in a lot of sports as well as the arts. The arts brought me out here to Vancouver, and that’s where I stayed.

I noticed you had done some singing as well?

That was my passion growing up. I always thought I was going to be a singer and a performer. One of my childhood idols was Michael Jackson. And then I was a fan of all the other Motown hitmakers of that day and age. I started out fronting a funk soul R & B band out of college called Ramseys Soul Revival. That led to a stage manager seeing me perform. And then I was cast in Jesus Christ Superstar playing Judas. That was in Edmonton. And the year after that, I was in their production of Hair.

I came out to Vancouver with a band that was made up of a group of musicians that I had connected with and became friends with out of college. We came out to Vancouver and very quickly disbanded. {laughs} I did odd jobs at H & B and other places and created a new band. I got connected to the person who was representing musician Colin James, who was very big in the ’90s. At the time, he vwas in Vancouver, working on his new album. They wanted a tenor, so I got the call to go do some backup vocals for one of his songs. They liked the sound of my voice, so they decided to have me sing backup vocals on basically the whole album. This was for his 2000 release, Fuse. So I ended up touring with him for the better part of that year to promote that album, which was amazing.

One of the things that happened to me when I started living in Vancouver…one of my high school friends had mentioned how there were a lot of U.S. productions that would come and film in Vancouver. At that time, X-Files was really popular. And Stargate and Andromeda and other shows like that. To make a long story short, I got a few credits, and I got my full union membership. So I started getting small acting roles. My wife and I started having kids. So because I needed some financial security, I decided to get certified as a personal trainer. I was always into fitness. I created my own personal training company, which I still operate today.

In 2013, I was still singing a lot in Vancouver. Through a mutual connection, I was asked to come out and audition for a production of Dreamgirls. I auditioned for that, and I got a role as one of the ensemble cast. My agent, who was a client of mine in my personal trainer business, had asked me to read for this pilot. At the time, I hadn’t gone to an audition in about eight years. I was busy building my personal training company and supporting my family. I landed a season regular role in a show called Almost Human, which was very surprising to get that role at that time. I was there for eleven of the thirteen episodes. And just having J.J. Abrams’ name on my resume opened up so many doors for me as far as the roles I was being considered for.

At that time, I was still running my personal training company with some employees, and it was going very well. But I was being asked to come to auditions for guest-starring roles, co-starring roles, and principal roles. And I really didn’t have any skills or any tools to deal with the pressures of being in an audition room and all the pressures that go with that. So I went to an acting coach, and she literally changed my life in terms of being an actor. So I’ve been working with her for the last six or so years. I started with her on-camera class, which was huge for me since it completely demystified the audition room. That can really be quite a sterile place. It’s where casting directors and directors and producers want to see what you can bring to your role. It’s not a place filled with creativity. It’s just a room with a couch and these people who can make it feel quite intimidating. My acting coach was good at helping me understand the anatomy of the room and how to make the room my own. Once I was able to realize that this was not a place of intimidation, I was able to understand that it was a place to be creative. Then I was able to use whatever is in the room to be creative. Once I started using that muscle, it really started to work for me, and I started landing some bigger roles. Through her study class, I was able to get into the layers, like peeling back an onion, of what it means to be an actor and to be authentic and to be true to access your emotions. What I’ve learned from her courses has literally changed the game for me. And I’ve been very fortunate ever since.

Almost Human is one of those shows I’ve heard about, but have never seen. I know I’ve interviewed loads of people who were a part of the show. In fact, it was Jaime Callica who originally told me about that show. 

As Android MX-43

Oh, yeah, Jaime is a friend of mine! Actually, in the show, I was his android. In the episodes that he was on, most often, he was the officer in the scene, and I became his android. I played an android named MX-43. So did Darren Scott and Anthony Konechny. That show was all about police officers when they are on the beat and there’s a car, and they have this big computer screen they look at and they use it to look up a license plate or they use it for navigation or to pull up someone’s file. They need a partner, and they do their job together. They’re one and the same. This show’s premise was, “What is the officer’s partner was their computer, and it was an android?” This android could do everything their computer screen could do for them, but it could also be their defense and their offense and could shield them from whatever. The androids on that show…there were ten thousand versions of my android. So if one got obliterated, there was another that looked just like us.

Almost Human

Interesting. That’s one of those ones I need to watch some time. I know there was only one season, which was a shame. 

Yeah, they kind of changed the game on that show. When we started the show, it had a Blade Runner feel to it. And there was this big criminal organization that was behind everything that was going on with the star of the show, Karl Urban. There was a lot going on that could be dissected over that season. But after that first episode, you never heard about that again. You never heard from the big bad guy who was running that organization. Then it turned into an episodic buddy-cop series. I am not certain who or what influenced the change, but unfortunately, it never really caught on. The unfortunate thing about using that genre of sci-fi with the drama and the humor is that there was nothing at the end of the episode that would make you want to come back and see another episode to see what happens next. With shows like that, everything is tied up in a neat little bow at the end of every episode. While that works for some shows, it just never quite caught the fans’ attention as it should have.  I don’t think the show’s potential was ever fully realized.

Almost Human

Now, they had an amazing cast! Michael Ealy and Karl Urban, Michael Irby and Minka Kelly, Lili Taylor. That was a great experience for me. After taking almost a decade off acting, my first audition landed me a series regular role. It was a blessing and a curse for me. I was there every day, but I was more or a presence instead of being an integral part of the storytelling. It was great to watch the whole process and be a part of it. I took that experience and it influenced other experiences.

I saw that you were also on Continuum. 

That was amazing.

I have not seen the show yet–I missed that one. But I have talked to many who have been a part of the show. 

Continuum

It was an amazing experience. In that season, they were tying everything together. They knew it was going to be the last season, so they had an extremely heavy cast. We were going to be this group of individuals that came from the future, and we were going to try to influence what happened in the past to create a better future. We wanted to create a better present-day by going back in time. We were time travelers, but we were sort of looked at like bad guys for that show; but in our minds, we were the good guys. We were a complex group of six or seven of us. We were surrounded by such great actors like Ryan Robbins, Aleks Paunovic, Kyra Zagorsky, and so many more I could name…it was a really good clinic for me as far as what it means to be in that kind of ensemble and what can happen on set when taking the words off the page and making it come alive in those characters. And even the questions that the actors would ask the director and other members of the creative team involved in the show. You know, scenes that weren’t on the page. Like, what kind of relationships do we have, and how do we see these relationships and interactions between the characters? Just how we react to each other. It was really great for me to see and learn, and those guys were so accessible and so giving to me as an actor that we became good friends. I’ve gotten to work with them on other shows. It’s been an amazing, supportive community. The greatest thing about this all this is that everybody wants you to do well so that the end product is the best it can be. And that has been such a blessing for me. 

Continuum

Garfield, what you’re saying right there is why I love the Vancouver film community. I’m not saying they’re not supportive down in LA and in other places, but there is something special about the Vancouver film community. I love getting to connect with them and see all the relationships between everyone. There’s a real support system there.

I think a part of that is it comes from being a small community of actors, and those actors have had an amazing career and have continued to thrive and get roles as long as they have. A lot goes on and changes in the industry occur.  Thankfully, things are really good now, especially with the emergence of Netflix and other studios. This means there’s a lot more productions coming up here to film. We don’t necessarily have the competitiveness that can be quite toxic. Like what I’ve heard from some circles in LA where people have disconnected or don’t want the other actors to do well because they want to get those roles.

With Viv

In Vancouver, we realize there’s a huge part of it that is beyond your control. You have really great actors and artists, and for whatever reason, they don’t get a gig, and another person gets a gig. And that can be for reasons that are so beyond your control. It can be about the way you look from how tall you are to if you’re male or female or if you’re this or that ethnic group. Or it may just be that they like you or they don’t. It boils down to so many different things, and I think by in large, the core group of actors that is working in Vancouver realizes that. They know they can do good work, so if somebody gets the role, they know their number’s gonna come up. So they’re very supportive by in large. There are those actors that get competitive. But as far as my experience is concerned, it’s just a really wonderful family of actors that is always ready to support each other and help if needed. And part of that is that most of the actors that are working who are quite busy are part of the union here. And being a part of the union, they are ready to advocate for those other actors.

I understand that even from those actors who are from Vancouver who have moved down to LA, they still tend to find each other in LA. I find that very interesting. 

I don’t doubt it.

I have interviewed hundreds of Vancouver actors by now, I believe, or at least ones originally from Vancouver or Canada, and what you are saying what I hear over and over again. 

It’s a wonderful community to be in, and even when you go for auditions, there’s an etiquette and a camaraderie that I might tend to take for granted. When I see fellow actors, they are happy to see me even though we might be going out for the same role. They’re like, “What are you doing after the audition? Let’s go for coffee.” And by the same token, depending on the intensity of the role, we let the other people who are auditioning be in their zone so they can do their best in the audition. And then afterwards, you try to forget about the audition because at that point, there’s nothing more you can do. It’s out of your hands. And you’ve probably got the next audition to begin to prepare for. I’ve been very fortunate over the past few years to be in the mix of super-talented individuals.

I’ve noticed you have been on some very big shows. I’m still back in season one of Travelers, but what I’ve seen of that show just blew me away!

Travelers

That show really makes you think. There’s some real moral dilemmas in that show. What is right, and what is wrong, and what is for the greater good? What can be sacrificed right now for the greater good? And my character was not on too long, but I have a lot of people who say when I’m in the training studio, “Oh my gosh, I saw you on Netflix on Travelers!” It’s amazing, you know? So I’m really proud of the fact that I’ve not only been busy as an actor, but I’ve been fortunate enough to be on some really top-notch shows.

Another show that amazed me was when I was on Bates Motel. I was on the first episode of season three. I played a DA Agent. It started with showing me from the back. Then I have a couple lines here and there. Then I walked off. And so many people messaged me that they saw me, and I was like, “How did you see me? I missed it!” {laughs} I felt like I was only on there for a nanosecond! But it’s so great when people recognize you like that and appreciate your work.

I see you’ve also been on the show Ice. Yet another show on my radar to watch. 

Yes, I’ve been a part of both seasons of Ice. I played a character that was a part of the organized crime unit, which was a lot of fun. He’s not a nice person. My character gets the brothers in a bit of trouble during the first season, and then I got to come back for the second season. I try to up my game as far as the standing in the organized crime unit goes. That was one of my most favorite characters to date to play. The director and the writers gave me a lot of room to move around, and there was a lot of dialogue and interaction with the stars of the show. I really enjoyed that one. It was a lot of fun.

Speaking about some of your credits I have seen, I noticed Christmas Princess in your list of credits, and I finally got to see that this past holiday season. I really enjoyed it. This was one of the better UP network offerings for Christmas. 

Oh, yes, Christmas Princess was based on a true story. In fact, the real-life girl depicted in the film came to set a couple days after I wrapped. That was huge for the cast. It was a quick scene, but I played a firefighter right before the parade. And then I was also on the History Channel series SIX. I played a doctor on that series. So even though the show ended after that second season, I think you can still look it up and watch it.

With Ali Sweeney

Hallmark audiences have gotten to see you in quite a few mysteries in recent times. Any special memories from Darrow & Darrow or Chronicle Mysteries that you would like to share?

The one consistent memory I have from  both productions (Darrow & Darrow and Chronicle Mysteries) is how fantastic the stars were. Honestly, they were so gracious, accessible and fun to hang out with on set. So it made my job enjoyable in the roles I played and added to what audiences saw in the final product. I hadn’t even realized Darrow & Darrow was an actual movie series. Such an amazing cast on both projects.

You were also a part of The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco. What did you enjoy particularly about working on that show?

With Gary Harvey

That was a role I’m really happy to have played because I got to play a character who is a father that suffers a tragic loss. Being a father of three beautiful kids, it wasn’t a challenge drawing from those emotions of devotion as a parent to ground myself within the character. Not to mention working with Director Gary Harvey and the incredibly talented cast and crew. I also got to play opposite my good friend Teach Grant (who’s such an amazing actor) who I had worked with in Altered Carbon.

Altered Carbon with Teach

You have a wonderful role on The Good Doctor this past season. What was it like working on that show and with the cast/crew?

That was such a wonderful set to be on. I worked opposite Antonia Thomas and Fiona Gubelmann on that day, and they were fantastic! It’s actually surreal when you have the privilege to work with actors you admire and on a show that you’re a fan of, so that was a very good day 🙂

We also saw you on Unspeakable and Benchwarmers 2. (two very different genres). Any special moments from either of those?

Unspeakable

I have to say that my role in Unspeakable was one of the most amazing roles I’d ever had. For those who may not be familiar with it, the series is set in the 1980s. I played a gay activist, and it is about the tainted blood scandal. Hemophiliacs rely on donor blood to live, and as you might remember, there was the emergence of HIV in the early 1980s, and people didn’t really understand it. The Red Cross did not have a good screening process, so they had tainted blood that was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C. As a result, thousands of Canadians and Americans were infected with HIV, and that was a huge scandal. This eight-part mini-series shows how this scandal affected so many people’s lives. It shows how there were people to whistleblow for it and to advocate for the LGBTQ community. I was very proud to be a part of that show. That was a story that needed to be told, and everyone involved brought something extra every day they were on set.

That was a story that needed to be told and everyone involved brought something extra everyday they were on set.

With the family

I quite agree with you. I learned so much from that series!

Any other upcoming roles you can mention?

Man In the High Castle

I’m very excited for the end of 2019 and early 2020. You’ll see me in dramatic, horror and comedic roles and I can’t wait. Upcoming projects coming out are: Man In The High Castle (Season 4), Come To Daddy (feature starring Elijah Wood), Cinderella Christmas (Netflix feature film), Coffee & Kareem (Netflix feature starring Ed Helms & Taraji P. Henson), Kidnapped: Kamiyah Mobley Story (Lifetime feature starring Niecy Nash)… And more! 😊

As an actor who is somewhat older in the business, how have you been able to keep yourself relevant? I know some actors struggle as they get older.

I see this business (and life) as a journey and I don’t compare myself to anyone else because honestly speaking, no two actors have the same journey in their perspective careers or their lives.

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