Two Appearances at this week's ACTRA conference

I've been asked to appear on two different panels this week at the upcoming ACTRA conference, Wednesday through Friday of this week, February 18-20.

The first is on Wednesday where I'll join the stars of the CBC sitcom "Little Mosque on the Prairie" and act with ACTRA members in scenes from the show. I play Faisal on the show and I'll do a scene I did with Manoj Sood in an episode called "Baber Makes an Entrance" and then I'll play Baber, (I guess ACTRA wasn't willing to fly Manoj in from Vancouver), in another scene. ACTRA members have applied to play scenes opposite me as well as series stars Derek McGrath, Neil Crone, Arlene Duncan and Sheila McCarthy observed by upwards of 100 conference-goers. Michael Kennedy will direct us and the whole thing's moderated by Art Hindle.

The second panel is on Thursday where I'll be joining others to thrash out the topic of accents in something called "Where Are You From? Adjusting your accent workshop". As an actor, I'd estimate 50 % of my income has come from parts where I used some kind of accent, superimposed on my normal Canadian one, so I have a fair amount of experience I can share. I know there are several high-profile Indo-Canadian performers who staunchly object to putting an accent on--so it's an interesting and potential controversial topic.