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Eric McCormack is an award-winning actor.
Photo courtesy Our City Tonight
Actor McCormack reflects on career
By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins
Published 2:34 PST, Fri February 18, 2022
Last Updated: 3:26 PST, Fri March 4, 2022
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The Richmond Sentinel and Our City Tonight are joining forces to bring entertainment and local business stories to the Sentinel’s readers. Segments from episodes airing nationally on CHEK TV, CHEK’s streaming app, and Our City Tonight’s YouTube Channel will also appear on the Richmond Sentinel’s website, print edition, and social media.
In partnership with the Richmond Sentinel, Our City Tonight hosts Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins sat down at the recent Whistler Film Festival with award-winning actor Eric McCormack.
McCormack, who is well known for his TV role in Will & Grace, reflected on his successful career in television and movies as well as on the Broadway stage.
What was it like being a part of the Stratford (Shakespeare) Festival as a young actor?
When I started acting in high school and studying at Ryerson (University), it all became about Shakespeare. I got an apprenticeship at the festival and although I had no lines the first year, I studied under the tutelage of Douglas Campbell, Colm Feore, Seana McKenna, as well as John Hirsch during his last year at Stratford. At 21, I got to tour with (King) Lear and Twelfth Night across the United States for three months. Then John Neville came to Stratford, mentored so many of us and brought me along very slowly.
Talk about the steps of your career that resulted in landing you the role of Will on the iconic TV show Will & Grace.
It begins when I left Toronto and moved to Vancouver in 1992. I worked in television a lot, not always great shows. I had many guest starring roles and while building a resume, I did the show Lonesome Dove in Canada for two years. All through the 1990s I was watching (sitcoms like) Seinfeld, Friends, and Mad About You, all the while thinking: ‘that’s what I really want.’ Seven months after being summarily fired from a less than stellar sitcom, we started shooting the Will & Grace pilot. Debra Messing and I were sitting and looking at each other and we just knew it would be one of those shows.
Your latest film is Drinkwater, a Canadian film shot in Penticton. Describe your character Hank Drinkwater.
Drinkwater is an unapologetically Canadian film. It’s small-town Canadian but not overly cliché. There’s a poor side of town and there’s a rich side of town, and of course there is hockey. Hank is a bit of a scoundrel who makes a job out of defrauding the system. I don’t think of him as a deadbeat dad, but he is definitely a deadbeat.
Drinkwater will be available later in 2022.
For the video interview, click here.
Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins are contributing writers to the Richmond Sentinel.
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