Biografia
John R. Taylor graduated from Ryerson University, Toronto, in Design in 1961. He dedicated many years to the visual arts, serving as Founding Director of the Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery; Assistant to the Director at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Curator of the Collection at the Ontario College of Art; Director of the Art Gallery of Cobourg; and Director of the Penticton Art Gallery.
In the 1980s, John began his film career with the Simon Fraser University student film "One Step, Two Step Waltz." Represented for over 25 years by Murray Gibson at Characters and later RED Management, he has played numerous lead, supporting, and principal roles in productions such as X-Files, The Pledge, Smokin' Aces, Watchmen, Supernatural, The Killing, and Stargate. He has acted alongside renowned figures like Robert DeNiro, Ellen Barkin, Henry Winkler, Diane Keaton, Peter Sarsgaard, and Jack Nicholson, and worked with directors including Ken Russell, Zack Snyder, Zack Lipofsky, Larry Kent, and Sean Penn.
John received two Best Actor Leo Award nominations for lead roles in "The Grey Matter" (2010) and "Backward Fall" (2013). Additionally, he won Best Performance by a Male Actor awards for "Backward Fall" at the Vancouver Short Film Festival (2013) and the Vancouver Island Short Film Festival (2014).
As a Production Designer, John’s work spans over 30 indie shorts, two feature films—"Dark Arc" and "Deep Evil" (as Art Director)—and three Comedy Network television series: "Skullduggery," "Suckerpunch," and "Rockpoint PD." He earned a Nickel Award for "Dark Arc" and a Leo Award for the short indie film "Evirati."
In 2012, John wrote and directed his first short film, "Says Who?," which was nominated for a screenwriting Leo Award. The film was showcased at festivals in British Columbia, Pennsylvania, and Italy, where it won the Best Director Award (Foreign Film Division) at the Shortini International Film Festival in Augusta, Italy, in 2013.
