Alloyentertainment
by Heather Vee
Elijah Mikaelson is an enigma wrapped in a well-tailored suit, but there’s nothing enigmatic about the talents and work ethic of the man who brings our favorite moral vampire to life. Daniel Gillies is an actor, director, producer, writer, and as bad ass in real life as his vampiric counterpart.
TORONTO STAR
Five years ago, Daniel Gillies had a handful of TV stints and film roles on his resumé, but he hadn’t yet found that breakout hit. Fast forward to today and he’s balancing the vampire life on CW hit The Originals, playing one-third of a salacious love triangle on Canadian original Saving Hope and learning the ropes of fatherhood with wife Rachael Leigh Cook (She’s All That) and their 1-year-old daughter.
His skyrocketing popularity with the young female crowd has become so overwhelming that he’s weary about even taking photos since they “suddenly show up everywhere” online. The Canadian actor is aware these are high-class problems, ones that translate onscreen to his insanely swamped “man-whore” character Dr. Joel Goran on Saving Hope.
Canada.com
With a pediatrician for a father and a nurse for a mother, it’s fitting that Daniel Gillies plays a doctor on TV. The Saving Hope star portrays Dr. Joel Goran on the Canadian medical drama, which returned for its third season on Monday.
“I feel like there’s something in my bones that lets me do this stuff,” he says. “My sister is also a nurse, my uncle is a doctor, my grandfather was a doctor, and my great-great-great grandfather, Sir Harold Gillies, was knighted because he was the first plastic surgeon. He performed the first skin graft for men in combat during the First World War.”
“Medicine never appealed to me,’ he says. ‘Also, I think I’m too lazy.”
TV, eh?
This morning I had the pleasure of chatting with Daniel Gillies, star of both Saving Hope on CTV as well as the upcoming spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals on The CW. Gillies also wrote and directed his first feature film Broken Kingdom which debuted in 2012, starring Gillies and his wife, Rachael Leigh Cook. I asked Gillies about his career, his film, and Saving Hope’s Dr. Joel Goran.
Well if I’m not mistaken, I have it written here that you were born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, you moved to New Zealand at a very early age, from there you went to Australia to work, then to Los Angeles, now you’re back in Canada for Saving Hope … could you tell us a bit about that journey and becoming an actor in so many different places in your career?
You missed one important step in there: between Australia and the United States I actually went to Vancouver and worked there for a year, which is sort of what got me started in North America. That was in 2001. To be honest, it’s fascinating to me to think about how many places I’ve been to in order to have this career. I’m a very lucky guy. But to talk about the last twenty years is a little difficult in a paragraph.
The Arts Guild
The 2013 Lakeshorts International Short Film Festival gave us an opportunity to chat with Canadian-born, New Zealand Daniel Gillies, who gave us quite an insight into projects he’s working on and an amazing shout out to Canadian talent.
Daniel Gillies is best known for playing Dr. Joel Goran on the Canadian series Saving Hope – along side Erica Durance and Michael Shanks – as well as Elijah Mikaelson on The Vampire Diaries. Gillies was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and moved to New Zealand with his parents at the age of five. He moved to Australia to boost his career, returning to Canada for a short bit before finally settling down in Los Angeles. He has guest starred in a number of notable shows, including True Blood, NCISand The Glades. He has been cast in the The Vampire Diaries spin-off The Originals, due to air in late 2013, early 2014.
Broken Kingdom is his directorial debut, a film he wrote as well and launched back in 2012. Now the show has been bought by Showtime and airs until June 24th, along with a documentary that focuses on the making of the film. The schedule for Showtime Showcase is below. For folks who don’t have Showtime, especially Canadians, you can watch/download the movie on their official website for a very small fee (totally worth it!) – Check it out here: brokenkingdomfilm.com
