Unhappy Happy
The Movie
The Cast
Martin Lindquist (Case)
Martin Lindquist was born in North Vancouver, and grew up in Cranbrook, British Columbia. Once hoping for a baseball career, Martin was drawn to the performing arts in his late teens. In 2001, he took a train to New York City and spent two years studying at Circle In The Square Theater School in their Professional Musical Theater Workshop.
Martin moved to Toronto in 2005 and has been working ever since as an actor in theatre, film and television. Martin has been a regular with The Thames Theatre Company for five years, performing new, original comedies.
Music has always been an important part of Martin's life, and he continues to write songs and perform as a musician and singer, both solo and in various bands.
You may have seen Martin on the Bio, Syfy or OWN Canada channels in Ghostly Encounters, Paranormal Witness, Air Aces or Cold Blood. Favourite theatre credits include playing Linus in Something's Cooking For Christmas (Oaks Inn Theatre), Ernie in Born In A Barn (Oaks Inn Theatre), The Count in La Ronde (Circle In The Square Theater), Haman in the world premiere of Miss Persia (Beth Tikvah Synagogue), Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar (Key City Theatre) and Matt in The Fantasticks (Key City Theatre).
Victoria Murdoch (Nellie)
Victoria is an actress, hostess, blogger, gluten-free cook extraordinaire and creator/star of the critically acclaimed one-woman dramedy Dairy-Free Love (www.dairyfreelove.com.). In Winter 2012, Victoria work-shopped her Dairy-Free Love character “Dawn”--hostess of Internet cooking show “Dawn’s Delights”–-on Theatre Row in West Hollywood, before returning to Canada and being awarded “Fave Actress” (The Beat), “Best of 2012 - Theatre” (View Magazine) as well as second runner-up in the Hamilton Fringe Theatre Festival Playwriting Contest (2012).
When she’s not acting, Victoria loves to cook gluten and dairy-free food for her friends and family and regularly posts recipes and tips on living gluten-free on her blog Gluten/Dairy Freedom! (www.glutendairyfreedom.com).
In Summer 2013, Victoria is taking a short break from her regular gig hosting the Food Network Celebrity Stage at The Canadian National Exhibition to join the cast of award-winning play First Hand Woman for her New York City debut! (www.victoriamurdoch.com)
Daina Valiulis (Natasha)
Daina Valiulis is a graduate of the University College Drama Program at The University of Toronto. Having been an artist in many spheres her entire life, Daina is starting to branch out from acting into other areas of interest, using both sides of her brain! On the left (right?): illustration, costume design, animation, painting on clothing; and on the right (left?): producing!
For the past year, she has been involved with Shakespeare At Play in all of the above capacities (she played Juliet last summer in Romeo and Juliet and is now producing/costume designing Hamlet). Shakespeare At Play (www.shakespeareatplay.ca) is a company that produces eBooks of Shakespeare's plays with embedded video of the plays being acted, so that readers can follow along with the audio/visual for a better understanding of the text. Shakespeare has always been one of her great loves and she is thrilled to be a part of this particular machine.
Aaron Michael Reilly (Cary)
Aaron was born in Buffalo but moved to Toronto at the age of two. He began playing guitar at twelve, and has always loved performing. In 1989, Aaron returned to the States, moving to Chicago. He continued to play music and performed in several rock bands over the years. Aaron eventually earned a B.S. in Advertising from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
In 2000, while working for an advertising agency in Old Town in Chicago, Aaron stumbled upon the improv program at Second City and got hit with the acting bug immediately. His love of performing led him to classes at The Second City, Improv Olympic, and The Audition Studio. Aaron immersed himself in the acting scene and over the years has appeared in stage productions, staged readings, commercials, print ads and over two-dozen short and feature-length independent films.
Ryan Anning (Cameron)
Ryan’s recent stage work includes Much Ado About Nothing (2013), Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit (2013), 21 Days (Patron’s Pick, Toronto Fringe Festival 2012), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Royal Academy of Dramatic Art 2011), and Love is a Poverty You Can Sell (Best of Toronto Fringe Festival 2010). He has recently registered his first ACTRA credit, and though he is really looking forward to union health benefits, Ryan will miss the independent freedom that allowed him to participate in Unhappy Happy. See him practise his German accent this summer in Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2 at Toronto Fringe 2013!
Matthew R. Lawrence (Barry the boss)
Matthew R. Lawrence has been acting professionally for over ten years and has been featured on stage and screen alike. He has graced the big screen with the likes of Russell Crowe (Cinderella Man) and Meg Ryan (Against the Ropes) and been featured in countless Canadian television series--pretty much every docudrama made here and more--and done select professional theatre. He has done enough commercial work to result in little old ladies stalking him regularly at Walmart, but his greatest pride is his improv troupe, The Canadian Improv Showcase, as well as his educational company, The Knights In The Classroom, which allow him the freedom to continue to pursue his acting dreams. You can learn more about Matthew by visiting: www.matthewrlawrence.com.
Jenna Harris (Sandy)
Jenna is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts Theatre Conservatory Program in New York City. She is an actor, writer/creator, arts educator and dancer, and is the Founder and Artistic Producer of Discord and Din Theatre. As an actor, Jenna has worked in both the United States and Canada, and with such theatre companies as b’current, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and Theatre Passe Muraille. As a writer, Jenna has written everything from radio shows to animated shorts, webseries to feature films, site-specific work to full-length plays, and is also the Editor-in-Chief of City Voices: A Book of Monologues by Toronto Artists. Jenna’s arts education and teaching background includes teaching dance at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Tech and the 92nd Street Y in New York, and here in Toronto at numerous theatre schools and youth collectives.
The Crew
Rob Shaw (Writer, Director)
Toronto-based filmmaker Rob Shaw grew up in Kitchener, Ontario as a second generation Chinese Canadian. His older brother and sister were his first artistic influences, and they cast him as Luke Skywalker in an audio tape Star Wars parody. Inevitably, this led to Rob getting a degree in film from Ryerson University. Rob finally "found" himself in his forties and directed episodes of children's TV show Big & Small. Unhappy Happy is Rob's first feature film.
John Minh Tran (Director of Photography)
John Minh Tran is an award-winning cinematographer. Born in Vietnam and raised in Calgary, John moved to Toronto to attend Ryerson University for film studies. Since graduating in 1995, he has remained in Toronto working as a cinematographer in both documentary and drama. A recent winner of the Canadian Society of Cinematographer’s (CSC) Best Documentary Cinematography Award for Waterlife (dir. Kevin McMahon), he has also received a Gemini nomination for Cheating Death (NFB, dir. Eric Geringas), and a CSC Best Documentary Cinematography nomination and Yorkton Golden Sheaf nomination for Mozartballs (Rhombus, dir. Larry Weinstein). He recently received his third CSC nomination for the documentary Standing Waves (dir. Kevin McMahon).
Ian Bent (Composer, Music Supervisor)
Ian Bent is in high demand as a pianist/keyboardist and arranger in nearly every corner of Halifax’s kaleidoscopic music scene.
Since returning to Halifax after completing his Masters of Music at the University of Montreal, Ian has performed with dozens of projects in a tremendous range of styles, from Klezmer (with Oy Gevalt, and the Halifax Klezmorim) to Tango (Libertango), Chamber music, 16th-century sacred polyphony, Jazz, Indie Rock, Contemporary Folk and Blues.
With his band, Caledonia, Ian has performed across Canada and in the United States, packing venues in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The band’s latest album, We Are America, was nominated for five ECMA awards in 2010.
In addition to his work as a collaborative musician, performing alongside artists such as songwriter and poet Tanya Davis, and recording and performing with the band Acres and Acres, and songwriters Keith Mullins, Steve Gates, Zac Crouse, Alana Yorke, and Morgan MacDonald, Ian has been busy developing his career as a solo artist.
Alana Yorke (Composer, Music Supervisor)
Singer-songwriter Alana Yorke uses dream-like vocals and a minimalist piano style to draw listeners into her hypnotic and haunting work. Raised on mid-80’s synth-pop, and acknowledging the diverse influences of musical visionaries from Philip Glass to Beach House, Alana has a sound all her own, and is an exciting new voice in Canadian independent music.
In spring 2012, Alana released The Weight, a powerful live performance video created in response to her experience running out of air while working underwater. Alana is currently recording her debut album, Moving Pictures, which is set to be released in the fall of 2013. Inspired by found-footage home movies from 1950’s America, the songs delve into the nostalgic dream-world of a collective unconscious.