Tyrone Benskin
Birthday: Born in 1958-12-29 in Bristol, England, UK
Deathday: Alive
Tyrone Benskin has been a significant presence in theatre, film, television and music for over 30 years. As part of the Canadian and International cultural landscape Tyrone has amassed an impressive resume and acclaim for a significant and varied body of work;, from no-nonsense cop to caring and devoted father, from ancient warrior to the characters showing the darkness of human nature. His numerous theatre credits include appearances on many of the celebrated stages across Canada. His over 100 film and television credits include co-starring with Tori Spelling in the TV movie "Mind over Murder", the new Christmas classic "The Christmas Choir", "The Wool Cap" and the civil rights drama "Deacons for Defense" opposite Forrest Whitaker and Mr. Ossie Davis. Mr. Benskin also appeared in the NBC mini-series 10.5: Apocalypse and starred as Karl Lubinsky in the cult science fiction series "Charlie Jade" which aired in Canada, the US and internationally including South Africa, France, England and Japan. Feature films include the blockbuster hit "300", Bob Dylan bio-pic "I'm not There" and acclaimed independent films "Peepers" and "Adam's Wall." For over 5 years, Mr. Benskin served as Artistic Director of Black Theatre Workshop, Canada's oldest Black theatre company. He served President of the Board of Creations Etc., a youth arts and outreach organization as well as serving on the board several community based non-profit organizations. Mr. Benskin was twice elected to the post of National Vice President of ACTRA, Canada's national film and television actors union. On May 2nd, 2011 Mr. Benskin was elected to the 41st Parliament of Canada as the Member for the diverse riding of Jeanne-Le Ber. Mr. Benskin was subsequently appointed to the post of "Official Opposition Critic for Canadian Heritage" by the Honorable Jack Layton. Mr. Benskin also serves as Deputy Critic for Official Languages and served on the Sub-Committee for International Human Rights. Benskin served as a Member of Canada's House of Commons for four and a half years returning to the big screen in 2016 in Bad Santa 2 and the small screen as recurring character Rev. Wardell Cobb in season 2 of The Art of More opposite Denis Quaid.
TV Credits
The Dead Zone
Character: Orderly Dewey Morris
Johnny Smith discovers he has developed psychic abilities after a coma....
Due South
Character: Mr. Shawl
Constable Benton Fraser, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is attached to the Canadian consulate but works with Chicago Police Department to solve crimes....
Forever Knight
Character:
Forever Knight is a Canadian television series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old vampire working as a police detective in modern day Toronto. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a homicide detective on the night shift while struggling to find a way to become human again. The series premiered on May 5, 1992 and concluded with the third season finale on May 17, 1996....
Charlie Jade
Character: Karl Lubinsky
Charlie Jade is a science fiction television program filmed mainly in Cape Town, South Africa. It stars Jeffrey Pierce in the title role, as a detective from a parallel universe who finds himself trapped in our universe. This is a Canadian and South African co-production filmed in conjunction with CHUM Television and the South African Industrial Development Corporation. The special effects were produced by the Montreal-based company Cinegroupe led by Michel Lemire. The show started in 2004 and ...
Big Wolf on Campus
Character:
Tommy is bitten by a werewolf during a camping trip a week before the start of his senior year. After becoming a werewolf, he fights against supernatural entities to keep his hometown of Pleasantville safe....
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Character:
This spooky anthology series for kids recounts ghost stories told by the young members of the Midnight Society as they gather around a campfire. Each episode opens with members of the Midnight Society at their secret spot in the woods, where they prepare their fire and the night's storyteller announces the title of the his or her offering. However, the cameras soon leave the storyteller and switch to the tale being told....
Jupiter's Legacy
Character: Willie Small
As the world's first generation of superheroes (who received their powers in the 1930s) become the revered elder guard in the present, their superpowered children struggle to live up to the legendary feats of their parents....
Wimzie's House
Character: Rousso (voice)
Wimzie's House is a Canadian children's television program which ran on YTV from 1995 to 1996, and in the United States on Public Broadcasting Service from October 1, 1997 to September 28, 2001. The show has also aired at least as early as 1995 and through the late-1990s on CBC Television, and on Radio-Canada. The show also aired on Nickelodeon's preschool programming block Nick Jr. from January 21, 2000 – April 26, 2002, and on CBS as part of Nick Jr. on CBS from September 16, 2000 – September ...
FX: The Series
Character: Judge
Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?...
Radio Active
Character:
Radio Active was a Canadian television program broadcast on YTV, based on the Quebec French series Radio Enfer, about group of students at Upper Redwood High managing their own school radio station, called Radio Active. Radio Active had a total of 78 episodes and three seasons dating from 1998–2001....
Sophie
Character:
Sophie is a Canadian television sitcom that aired on CBC from January 9, 2008 to March 23, 2009. It stars Natalie Brown as Sophie Parker, an unmarried single mother and talent agent. The show is an English-language adaptation of Télévision de Radio-Canada's show Les Hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin. The show was created by Richard Blaimert and its executive producer is Jocelyn Deschênes, the same creative team behind the original series. It was the CBC's second attempt in as many years to cre...
Alert: Missing Persons Unit
Character: Isaiah Danzomo
When police officer Nikki Batista’s son goes missing, she joins the Philadelphia Police Department's Missing Person’s Unit (MPU) to help other people find their loved ones, even as she searches for her own. Six years later, her world is turned upside-down when her ex-husband, Jason Grant, a former police officer, shows up with a proof-of-life photo of their missing boy. Or is it?...
Faits divers
Character: US Investigator
Chief inspector Constance Forest and her team match wits with petty criminals of all kinds in the fog-shrouded North Shore of Montreal....
Blood & Treasure
Character: MC Jesuit Priest
An antiquities expert teams up with an art thief to catch a terrorist who funds his attacks using stolen artifacts....
Earth: Final Conflict
Character: Frank Rice
Years ago, the Taelons came to Earth, offering friendship and technology to humanity. But there are those who believe the Taelons have more sinister motives....
Transplant
Character: Eddie Jennings
Dr. Bashir Hamed, a Syrian doctor with battle-tested skills in emergency medicine, makes the difficult decision to flee his country and build a new life in Canada with his younger sister Amira. Bash works to navigate a new environment after earning a coveted residency in the Emergency Department of one of the best hospitals in Toronto, York Memorial....
Cagney & Lacey
Character: Dr. Nasser
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time....
The Boys
Character: Elijah
A group of vigilantes known informally as “The Boys” set out to take down corrupt superheroes with no more than blue-collar grit and a willingness to fight dirty....
Real Detective
Character:
With narrative driven exclusively by the detectives themselves, each episode ventures deep into the mind of a homicide detective as they describe in vivid detail the one case forever ingrained in their memory....
Debris
Character: George Jones
Two federal agents from two different continents, and two different mindsets, must work together to investigate when wreckage from a destroyed alien spacecraft has mysterious effects on humankind....
Movie Credits
Beau Is Afraid
Character: Rattled Businessman
Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home....
Candy the Stripper
Character:
The owner of a seedy, run-down strip club in New Orleans tries to save the building from being torn down by having it declared a historical landmark. The architect who visits in order to inspect the building, not realizing that its main use is as a joint so seedy that "dive" would be a step up, falls in love with the club's headline stripper......
Sci-fighters
Character: Dr. Gene Washington
A renegade police officer tracks a rapist spreading a deadly virus around 2009 Boston....
Moonfall
Character: Judge
A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it....
Mind Over Murder
Character: Julian Hasty
Holly Winters (Tori Spelling) is an unhappy-in-love, prosecuting attorney. After suffering a serious head injury, she gains the psychic power to read minds and decides to use this new-found power to catch a killer......
The Kiss
Character: Train Station Conductor
After the death of her mother, a teenage girl is faced with bizarre supernatural occurrences when her mother's estranged sister arrives and begins to infiltrate her and her father's lives....
The Christmas Choir
Character: Bob
A chance encounter with a homeless man named Bob inspires a workaholic accountant to start a choir at a homeless shelter, allowing him to find a purpose to his life and discover the power of music, while providing the choir members with a chance at a new, better life....
The Fire Inside
Character: AJ
Claressa Shields, a high school junior from Flint, Michigan, aided by her tough-love coach, Jason Crutchfield, pushes past all limitations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. But even at the pinnacle of success, Claressa has to reckon with the fact that not all dreams are created equal, and the real fight has only just begun....
Lotto 6/66
Character: Landlord
In LOTTO 6/66, a down on his luck Wretch is offered a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a million dollars from a government sponsored lottery program. To claim his prize the participant must test the limits of his morality and discover how far into his own personal abyss he's willing to go in order to get rich quick. And so begins a treacherous journey in which nothing is what it seems and the shortcut to untold fortune is paved with blood....
Jack Paradise (Les nuits de Montréal)
Character: Winston White
...
Flash Gordon: Marooned on Mongo
Character: Additional Voices (voice)
Earth teenagers Alex 'Flash' Gordon and Dale Arden, and their reluctant friend Dr. Hans Zarkov, journey to the fantastic planet Mongo where they fight to defeat the evil planetary dictator, Ming the Merciless....
300
Character: Persian Emissary
Based on Frank Miller's graphic novel, "300" is very loosely based the 480 B.C. Battle of Thermopylae, where the King of Sparta led his army against the advancing Persians; the battle is said to have inspired all of Greece to band together against the Persians, and helped usher in the world's first democracy....
The Christmas Checklist
Character: George
A grieving daughter discovers a red envelope from her mom that contains a final request: for her to complete a Christmas Checklist of twelve activities before Christmas, the last one being “Find Love”....
A Husband, a Wife and a Lover
Character: Dr. Carpenter
When her cheating husband has a debilitating stroke, a woman invites her lover to move in with them....
Naked City: Justice with a Bullet
Character: Donovan
A pair of taxi-driving NYC detectives take up the case of tourists who are robbed of their money and luggage by a shady limo driver. Things get dicey when the tourists accidentally get mixed up in a drug dealer's murder and money heist, while the detectives go after a hit man posing as a friend from the `hood'....
EVERGREEN$
Character: Morgan
21 year-old Rémi leaves his small town in Quebec for the first time to go sell Christmas trees in New York City in order to pay off a debt that threatens his future. Dumped in the heart of the Bronx, he meets Laura, a deadpan French activist, who will be his colleague for the next month. Together they will meet the vibrant community around their street corner and learn to survive the absurd trials of Christmas tree sales....
Sunday Afternoon
Character: Monty
It is a Sunday afternoon in the universe. When a mysterious musical force causes scorching heat, tornadoes, and raging fires to devastate our planet, four very different people await the impending disaster at a local corner store. A film about the human ties that bind us when catastrophe is imminent....
Race to Freedom: The Underground Railroad
Character: Ward
A number of slaves risk their lives to escape their masters with their only help coming from the famous secret slave escape network....
The Long Island Incident
Character: Colin Ferguson
On December 7, 1993, a gunman opened fire in a crowded commuter train on Long Island. This fact-based story focuses on the events that swell around Carolyn McCarthy, a woman whose husband is killed and her 26 year old son is severely wounded in the massacre. The result is she is forced out of her comfortable suburban existence and she becomes an out-spoken crusader against assault weapons. The film shifts from her perspective to the mind of the killer and finally to the media frenzy that surroun...
Marked Man
Character: Boyd
A jailed auto mechanic must run for his life after he witnesses the murder of a fellow inmate by two prison guards....
Bears
Character: Narrator (voice)
From polar bears in the arctic tundra to black bears in the Northern Rockies, you'll see some of the most spectacular footage ever shot of these enterprising omnivores. Catch salmon with a group of hungry grizzlies on the McNeil River in Alaska. Crawl inside a den with a mother black bear and her cubs. Learn about the challenges facing each of these species as their habitat diminishes....
Deacons for Defense
Character: Archie
Inspired by a true story, this drama is set in 1965, not long after passage of the Civil Rights Act. Despite the Act, the African-American citizens of Bogalusa are still treated like third-class citizens, their fundamental rights as human beings persistently trampled by the white power structure, in general, and the local branch of the KKK. The story follows the formation of local black men, particularly ex-war veterans who after the struggles become too overbearing organizes the group, "Deacons...
Criminal Law
Character: Jackson
Ben Chase is an on-the-rise Boston attorney currently defending a wealthy client in a high-profile murder case. Martin Thiel is the wealthy young man on trial for a particularly brutal murder. The verdict sets Thiel free. Within 24 hours another grizzly and all-too-familiar murder has taken place with striking similarities to the first crime. Chase inexplicably agrees to act as his defense attorney; but this time it will be to gather evidence that will put away his client for good....
Aftermath
Character: Arnold Ross
Special Agent Rachel Anderson is charged with protecting a key witness, Richard Harper. But Harper himself is a suspect in several bomb attacks, one of which killed Rachel's partner. Stars Sean Young and Tim Post....
Peepers
Character: Helman
A rag-tag group, led by the eagle-eyed Steve, take to Montreal's chilly rooftops under cover of night. They're on the prowl for the perfect peep desperate to glimpse a "hottie hookup," a "panty party" or a "big booty buffet" through unshuttered windows. But their lives are about to change. Enter Annette, a brazen academic who turns the tables by setting her sights on the peepers themselves. Soon it's a battle royale for rooftop supremacy will these die-hard obsessives manage to defend their turf...
My Breast
Character: Dr. Henry Balmer
Meredith Baxter plays Joyce Wadler in this heartwarming story of hope, courage and redemption inspired by the New York City journalist's real-life struggle with breast cancer. Stuck in a lackluster relationship with her boyfriend, she's forced to re-examine her life when she receives the troubling diagnosis....
Mémoires Métissées
Character:
...
40 Acres
Character:
In a post-apocalyptic future where food is scarce, the last descendants of a Black family of farmers who settled in Canada after the American Civil War must protect their homestead from a band of hungry cannibals....
Spenser: A Savage Place
Character: Stevenson
Candy Sloane, a news reporter that Spenser used to date, hires him out as backup while she investigates a credit card fraud ring that might be operating out of a previously-bankrupt movie company...
A Woman's Rage
Character: Officer Kingman
Beautiful Allison, 30, has no trouble finding a man. It's keeping them that's the problem......
The Glass Castle
Character: Ronnie
A young girl is raised in a dysfunctional family constantly on the run from the FBI. Living in poverty, she comes of age guided by her drunkard, ingenious father who distracts her with magical stories to keep her mind off the family's dire state, and her selfish, nonconformist mother who has no intention of raising a family, along with her younger brother and sister, and her other older sister. Together, they fend for each other as they mature in an unorthodox journey that is their family life....
Redeemer
Character:
When a Black Panther raid on the house of a dope dealer goes awry, an innocent young man is killed and the leader of the raid team, a Panther named Charles Henderson (Obba Babatunde), is sentenced to life in prison. Bestselling author Paul Freeman (Modine) offers a creative-writing class in Henderson's prison, initially looking for a story for his next book; but when Henderson becomes his student, Freeman starts to investigate Henderson's case and becomes convinced that, after 20 years, Henderso...
Small Crimes
Character: Chaplin
A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind....
Final Verdict
Character: Detective Lewis
The successful prosecution of a man accused of murdering his wife catapults a young attorneys career into the position of assistant D.A. for a major city. Eight years later, alarming new evidence suggests that the jailed man may actually be innocent of the murder, and now hes gunning for the woman who put him away. Eight years ago, State’s Attorney Megan Washington (Erica Durance) made her career with the high profile conviction of restaurateur William McCauley for the murder of his wife. When ...
Manivald
Character: Moose (voice)
Manivald is a fox in his early 30s. He is still living at home with his mother. One day a young hot wolf called Toomas comes to fix the washing machine. A love triangle develops between the three of them. Things get out of hand and Manivald realizes that it is time to move out....
The Final Heist
Character: Juan
David King is an art thief who has retired to devote his time to his daughter on whom he dotes. He hasn't counted, however, on a mysterious gang who don't believe he is ready for retirement and who kidnap his daughter Gillian. If he doesn't do one more heist for them Gillian will be murdered....
Adam's Wall
Character:
As another Middle East crisis explodes, Adam, a Jewish teenager and Yasmine a Lebanese girl fall in love in Montreal. But the crisis overseas effects their relationship in ways they never expected....
Summer Villa
Character: Dominic Barone
Although a successful romance novelist, Terry Russell hasn't had luck in her own love life. After a disastrous first date with cocky, hot-shot New York chef Matthew Everston, she retreats to her friend's French villa for the summer to finish her latest novel, with her reluctant teenage daughter in tow....
Island of the Dead
Character: Dwight Truman
Stranded on a deserted island, a group of people struggle to survive against a swarm of supernatural flies....
Tales from the Neverending Story: Resurrection
Character: Cairon
The Childlike Empress lies in limbo between life and death and the only hope for her kingdom lies in the ability of a young boy to transcend the boundaries of fantasy in this tale of myth and magic that is certain to capture the imagination. As young Bastian opens the pages of "The Neverending Story," he learns that the Childlike Princess is near death and Fantasia is in danger of falling prey to the Dark Princess Xayide. Soon falling through the written page and into a world beyond his wildest ...
Tales from the Neverending Story: The Beginning
Character: Cairon
The Childlike Empress lies in limbo between life and death and the only hope for her kingdom lies in the ability of a young boy to transcend the boundaries of fantasy in this tale of myth and magic that is certain to capture the imagination. As young Bastian opens the pages of "The Neverending Story," he learns that the Childlike Princess is near death and Fantasia is in danger of falling prey to the Dark Princess Xayide. Soon falling through the written page and into a world beyond his wildest ...
Tales from the Neverending Story: The Gift
Character: Cairon
The Childlike Empress lies in limbo between life and death and the only hope for her kingdom lies in the ability of a young boy to transcend the boundaries of fantasy in this tale of myth and magic that is certain to capture the imagination. As young Bastian opens the pages of "The Neverending Story," he learns that the Childlike Princess is near death and Fantasia is in danger of falling prey to the Dark Princess Xayide. Soon falling through the written page and into a world beyond his wildest ...
Tales from the Neverending Story: Badge of Courage
Character: Cairon
The Childlike Empress lies in limbo between life and death and the only hope for her kingdom lies in the ability of a young boy to transcend the boundaries of fantasy in this tale of myth and magic that is certain to capture the imagination. As young Bastian opens the pages of "The Neverending Story," he learns that the Childlike Princess is near death and Fantasia is in danger of falling prey to the Dark Princess Xayide. Soon falling through the written page and into a world beyond his wildest ...
The Amityville Curse
Character: Video Technician
After purchasing a property in Amityville, New York, Debbie and her husband invite three of their closest friends to help renovate. Immediately uneasy in her new surroundings, she begins experiencing shockingly vivid nightmares....
Stranger in the House
Character: Slovitz
A botched diamond burglary and a dead publishing company executive set off a string of murders and betrayal....
Dead Like Me: Life After Death
Character: Police Commissioner Cusek
When George and her colleagues get a new boss whose focus is on moving souls quickly and enjoying life without consequences, the team begins to break the strict reaper rules. While her friends fall victim to their desires for money, success, and fame, George breaks another rule by revealing her true identity to her living family....
Cagney & Lacey: The View Through the Glass Ceiling
Character: Dr. Nasser
Cagney and Lacey work a case involving police corruption and document forgery. Chris seeks a prestigious promotion, while Mary Beth has to deal with the return of her sickly, aged father....
Clouds
Character: Doctor
Young musician Zach Sobiech discovers his cancer has spread, leaving him just a few months to live. With limited time, he follows his dream and makes an album, unaware that it will soon be a viral music phenomenon....
The Killing Yard
Character: Haywood Burns
Lawyers must defend a prisoner accused of murdering two of his inmates during the Attica prison riots in 1971....
Johnny and Clyde
Character: Hadley
When a young boy dogsits Clyde, a criminal canine trying to go straight, he ends up facing down the school bully, catching a criminal, and learning valuable lessons about life from his new best friend....
Pieces of a Woman
Character: Judge
When a young mother's home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss....
Birthmarked
Character: Dr. Metcalfe
Two scientists raise three children contrarily to their genetic tendencies in order to prove the ultimate power of nurture over nature....
Christie's Revenge
Character: Detective Hogue
After years of plotting, Christie vows to get revenge on her uncle, whom she blames for her father's demise....
Scanners II: The New Order
Character: Store Owner
A breed of humans with dangerously powerful telepathic abilities -- the scanners -- are being recruited by a corrupt police commander, John Forrester, in his crusade to take over the city....
Immortals
Character: Hoplite Captain
Theseus is a mortal man chosen by Zeus to lead the fight against the ruthless King Hyperion, who is on a rampage across Greece to obtain a weapon that can destroy humanity....
The Legend of Sarila
Character: Itak (voice)
Three young Inuits set off in search of a promised land to save their clan from starvation....
Chaos Walking
Character: Hammer
Two unlikely companions embark on a perilous adventure through the badlands of an unexplored planet as they try to escape a dangerous and disorienting reality, where all inner thoughts are seen and heard by everyone....
I'm Not There
Character: Mr. Arvin
Six actors portray six personas of music legend Bob Dylan in scenes depicting various stages of his life, chronicling his rise from unknown folksinger to international icon and revealing how Dylan constantly reinvented himself....
Cyberbully
Character: Principal Wasney
A woman tries to help her teenage daughter when she becomes the victim of online bullying....
Boys On Film 20: Heaven Can Wait
Character: Moose (segment "Manivald") (voice)
On the cusp of adulthood, the world's longest running gay short film series is only getting started. Boys On Film 20: Heaven Can Wait includes eleven complete films: Bassem Ben Brahim's animated "Chromophobia"; Jimi Vall Peterson's "Sleepover" starring Hjalmar Hardestam and Simon Eriksson; Mickey Jones's "Just Me" starring Philip Olivier and Carl Loughlin; Matthew Jacobs Morgan's "Mine" starring Joshua McGuire and John Macmillan; Dale John Allen's "Don't Blame Jack" starring Jordan Tweddle and K...
Deadly Surveillance
Character: Pool side cop
A detective investigates a series of murders that he begins to suspect are being committed by a woman involved in prostitution and narcotics trafficking....
Bad Santa 2
Character: AA Group Leader
Fueled by cheap whiskey, greed and hatred, Willie Soke teams up with his angry little sidekick, Marcus, to knock off a Chicago charity on Christmas Eve. Along for the ride is chubby and cheery Thurman Merman, a 250-pound ray of sunshine who brings out Willie's sliver of humanity. Issues arise when the pair are joined by Willie's horror story of a mother, who raises the bar for the gang's ambitions, while somehow lowering the standards of criminal behavior....