'''Mike McPhaden''' (born February 9, 1972) is a Canadian actor, playwright and television writer and producer,<ref>Matthew Sorrento, [http://filmint.nu/practicable-macdonald-interview/ "Practicable Jokes in Macdonald Hall: An Interview with Mike McPhaden"]. ''[[Film International]]'', March 30, 2017.</ref> most noted for his work on the television series ''[[Corner Gas Animated]]'' and ''[[Jann (TV series)|Jann]]''.
==Theatre career== Originally from [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]],<ref name=nerd>Robert Crew, "Nerd takes off at SummerWorks fest; Flight 198 opens at Factory stage tonight". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', August 2, 2001.</ref> he began his career doing sketch and improvisational comedy with the Higher Than the Ground comedy troupe,<ref name=wizzle>Greg David, [https://www.tv-eh.com/tag/mike-mcphaden/ "Mike McPhaden: What the Wizzle"]. ''TV, eh?'', September 14, 2016.</ref> and began to have stage acting roles in the late 1990s,<ref>"Good ideas left stranded". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', April 18, 1999.</ref> later branching out into writing with his stage play ''Poochwater'' premiering at the 2000 SummerWorks theatre festival.<ref>[[Kate Taylor (Canadian writer)|Kate Taylor]], "The mysterious Mr. Poochwater". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', August 9, 2000.</ref> The play was inspired in part by rummaging through his grandfather's possessions after the older man's death, and discovering a stash of old electronics textbooks from his grandfather's service as a [[radio operator]] during [[World War II]].<ref>[[J. Kelly Nestruck]], "Theatre for channel-flippers: Fast-paced comedy for those who 'watch CP24 to unwind'". ''[[National Post]]'', February 5, 2009.</ref> He returned to SummerWorks the following year both with his own play, ''Flight 198'', and as an actor in Shawne McKeown and Marilo Nuez's play ''North East Side Story''.<ref name=nerd/>
After ''Poochwater'' received a followup staging at [[Theatre Passe Muraille]] in 2002,<ref>[[Kate Taylor (Canadian writer)|Kate Taylor]], "Poochwater smart and delightful". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', November 12, 2002.</ref> McPhaden won two [[Dora Mavor Moore]] awards in 2003, for [[Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Original Play (Independent Theatre)|Outstanding New Play, Independent Theatre]] and [[Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Leading Actor (Independent Theatre)|Best Leading Actor, Independent Theatre]].<ref>Robert Crew and Christopher Hutsul, "Tarragon shows no mercy; Takes 13 of 18 Dora awards in its theatre division Nothing for Mirvish, CanStage, Passe Muraille". ''[[Toronto Star]]'', June 24, 2003.</ref> The play received another follow-up production at Passe Muraille in 2005 due to its popularity.<ref>[[Kamal Al-Solaylee]], "An original returns to light up the stage". ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', February 7, 2005.</ref>
He also received a nomination for [[Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Original Play (General Theatre)|Best Original Play, General Theatre]] in 2007 for ''Noble Parasites'',<ref>Kenneth Jones, [https://playbill.com/article/torontos-seussical-and-we-will-rock-you-are-top-getters-in-dora-nominations-com-141397 "Toronto's Seussical and We Will Rock You Are Top Getters in Dora Nominations"]. ''[[Playbill (magazine)|Playbill]]'', June 8, 2007.</ref> and a second nomination in the independent theatre category in 2009 for ''The Gladstone Variations'', a collaboration with [[Brendan Gall]], [[Rick Roberts (actor)|Rick Roberts]] and [[Julie Tepperman]].<ref>Robert Cushman, "The play is the thing, not artificial categories; Dora stipulations make for some odd award nominees". ''[[National Post]]'', June 27, 2009.</ref>
==Television work== After noting as early as 2005 that his Dora award for writing ''Poochwater'' had opened far more professional doors for him than his award for acting in it did,<ref>[[Kamal Al-Solaylee]], [https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/poochwater-revisited/article974898/ "Poochwater revisited"]. ''[[The Globe and Mail]]'', January 28, 2005.</ref> he enrolled in the television writing program at the [[Canadian Film Centre]] in the 2006-07 cohort,<ref name=wizzle/> and had his first television writing credits on the series ''[[Taste Buds (TV series)|Taste Buds]]''. He is now associated principally with television writing and production,<ref name=wizzle/> although he has continued to appear in occasional guest acting roles.
As a television writer he was a [[Canadian Comedy Award]] nominee for Best Writing in a Television Series at the [[12th Canadian Comedy Awards]] for his work on the writing team for ''[[Men with Brooms (TV series)|Men with Brooms]]'',<ref>Sam Mooney, [https://www.mooneyontheatre.com/2011/06/10/canadian-comedy-awards-nominees-announced/ "Canadian Comedy Awards Nominees Announced"]. ''Mooney on Theatre'', June 10, 2011.</ref> a [[WGC Screenwriting Award]] nominee in 2018 for ''[[Bruno & Boots (TV series)|Bruno & Boots: This Can’t Be Happening at Macdonald Hall]]''<ref>Regan Reid, [https://playbackonline.ca/2018/02/28/kims-convenience-alias-grace-scribes-up-for-wgc-awards/ "Kim’s Convenience, Alias Grace scribes up for WGC Awards"]. ''[[Playback (magazine)|Playback]]'', February 28, 2018</ref> and in 2020 for ''Jann'',<ref>Greg David, [https://www.tv-eh.com/tag/writers-guild-of-canada/page/2/ "WGC Screenwriting Awards 2020 finalists announced"]. ''TV, eh?'', March 5, 2020.</ref> and a [[Canadian Screen Award]] nominee as a producer of ''Jann'' at the [[10th Canadian Screen Awards]] in 2022.<ref>Brent Furdyk, [https://web.archive.org/web/20220215130202/https://etcanada.com/news/867531/2022-canadian-screen-awards-nominees-announced/ "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack"]. ''[[ET Canada]]'', February 15, 2022.</ref>
==Personal life== He is married to actress [[Christine Horne]].
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{IMDb name|0574147}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhaden, Mike}} [[Category:1972 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:20th-century Canadian male actors]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian male actors]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian screenwriters]] [[Category:21st-century Canadian male writers]] [[Category:Canadian male stage actors]] [[Category:Canadian male television actors]] [[Category:Canadian male film actors]] [[Category:Canadian male dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:Canadian male screenwriters]] [[Category:Canadian television writers]] [[Category:Canadian television producers]] [[Category:Canadian Film Centre alumni]] [[Category:Dora Mavor Moore Award winners]]