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Nicholas Lea .... Victor 'Vic' Mansfield
British Columbia native Nicholas Lea was born the youngest of three children in New Westminster and grew up in the eclectic Vancouver neighborhood of Kitsalano. There he attended Prince of Wales Secondary School. He wasn't involved with drama or acting in school, but says, "I had always wanted to be an actor. I grew up in love with movies, actors, actresses and great stories." He excelled at athletics in school, and played soccer "hard core."
He did have a drive to perform, however, and was the front man for five years in a rock band called Beau Monde. "The name means Beautiful World. It's also a translation from the French into English, which describes the elite and trendsetters of the 30's. We did quite a bit of time in the studio. But no albums, just demo tapes that I still listen to." The band covered the songs of David Bowie and U2 in the beginning, but went on to create their own music. Groups like Depeche Mode and Simple Minds heavily influenced their sound.
After graduation Lea spent two years at Art School training to be an illustrator. Although he didn't pursue his art as a career, it has remained a labor of love for him. "I paint and I draw as well. I had a hiatus at the end of this summer from the show I was doing in Toronto, (Once a Thief) and I flew to Vancouver and went out to one of the islands and just painted for two weeks."
Before he became an actor Lea was working as a sales clerk in a clothing store when a friend introduced him to an acting coach. He quit his job the next day to study acting. Since that time he has been one of the fortunate few who have been able to make a living by acting alone.
He studied at the Gastown Actor's Studio and performed in several Vancouver stage productions. Recently, he has come back to his roots. He has joined other Gastown Actor's Studio alums to found the Lyric Studio. The school teaches specialized acting methods to established performers, as well as preparing actors for theatre, film, and TV auditions.
Nick Lea started his small screen career as a regular on the Vancouver based series starring Michael Chicklis, The Commish. "It wasn't a grand position, to be honest with you, but that was a great training ground for me, because I didn't have a really important role on the show, but I was there kind of as a peripheral character, and it gave me the chance to be in a real special situation, on a job, working with other actors, working with other people on the set; it was a great way for me to start working as an actor, yet not be known as a bogus one. So I was really grateful for the situation, for the experience, you know?"
He went on to make guest appearances on a variety of television programs: Taking the Falls, Lonesome Dove, Highlander, Jake and the Kid, The Outer Limits, Madison, and Maloney. He has also been seen in several made for TV movies including Their Second Chance, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye and The Investigation.
His big break came after an early appearance on The X-Files (Gender Bender) lead to his being cast as the double agent Alex Krycek. "It's (X-Files) done so many things for me, for my career, for me personally. I've met a lot of wonderful people. It's helped my bank account, all kinds of things. It's definitely helped my career, and it's taught me that I'm capable of being on screen with some really talented actors, and working with some incredibly talented writers and producers."
After his initial stint as Krycek he was cast in the alternate universe thriller Sliders. Series producer Tracy Torme wanted Nick to be a regular.
"There was s whole mix-up with the producers and the network with Sliders because they wanted to have me back for a couple of episodes. I was in their eighth episode cliffhanger where the character gets shot, and they wanted me to come back for the next episodes. The series was shelved for a while, so when they finally came back the network didn't want them to return to the cliffhanger concept, they wanted them to start afresh, which meant that my part was unnecessary. But the producer really wanted to have me in it, so they brought me back for one scene. They flew me all the way back to Vancouver, first class, booked me into a hotel, gave me all this money, and when I finally got the script I had one line: 'Like Icarus, he flew too close to the sun!' It was embarrassing."
While still an integral part of the X-Files' "myth arch", Lea landed his first leading TV role in John Woo's Once a Thief. The chance to work with Hong Kong action director Woo was a big draw for Lea. His experience with Woo was good and his respect for the man is high. "John is an absolute gentleman. He's very soft spoken, very smart man, yet his films are ultra-violent, but at the same time poetic. It was a real treat to work with him, a definite highlight for me."
Yet, like Sliders he was disappointed with the finished product. Lea wanted the show to be more dramatic and less comedic. "It's (Once a Thief) like an action, comedy, romance kind of thing. It's pretty wacky. I see the potential of the show. And I think sometimes it scratches around the edge. But I also think it could meet its potential a lot more often than it does. It's born of John Woo, but it's not John Woo's. It's John Woo-like. It has the basic essence and framework of a John Woo work, but it's certainly not the real John Woo."
He didn't, however, see Woo as the one taking the show in this direction. "Unfortunately, he (John Woo) hasn't been able to do exactly what he wanted to do. He had a lot of control over what his films were like in Hong Kong, and I think it was a bit of a rude awakening for him to find out that there were other people who were going to make those decisions for him. Woo's input on the show was minimal. I know he watched the show, and made notes, but for the most part it became somebody else's show."
Once a Thief lasted one season, but has been in syndication, somewhere in the world, almost constantly since its premier. During his work on the series Lea kept himself available for The X-Files. "I made it a stipulation in my contract for Once a Thief to be able to continue on The X-Files." As a result he has made the sexy, sinister Alex Krycek into one of the most interesting characters on the series.
Because of his good looks, stirring performances and charisma Nick Lea is an Internet favorite, with many sites dedicated to him. The attention isn't always welcome. He has categorized X-Files' fans as intense. At X-Files's conventions he has jokingly referred to slash writers as people who have way too much time on their hands. As complex as any of the characters he portrays, he has stated that he wants it all and is impatient for success. Yet in an interview with Starburst Magazine he expressed his own discomfort with fandom fame. He thinks it is sad that actors and musicians have been placed on "a sort of bogus pedestal." He went on to say that anyone who gets caught up in the silliness is delusional, but he admits that it's a very complicated issue.
Between television work Lea has done several films. Much of his work has been in low-budget independent films like Xtro-II, The Raffle, From Pigs to Oblivion and The Impossible Elephant. He was an executive producer and star of Lunch with Charles. He also executive produced his friend John Cassini's film, Freedom Park, and most recently co-stars with Cassini in the dark indie comedy Shot in the Face. Lea's commercial films include Star 80, Bad Company, Ignition, and Vertical Limit.
Inspired by the mock documentary film Hard Core Logo, Lea has long talked about his aspirations to combine his five years experience in Beau Monde, with his desire to direct and create a film about a band. In the past he has described it as an Eddie and the Cruisers for the nineties. Most recently, at the Genie Awards, he spoke of his work with a collaborator on a script about a nineteen-forty's crooner set in the seminal Vancouver music nightclub, The Cave.
Nicholas Lea made a brief appearance in the series finale of The X-Files, opposite his friend David Duchovny. Despite his comment in an on-line Q&A session in 1996, "No matter where my career goes in the future, I will always be proud to be on the show (The X-Files). Any time they ask me." Now, Lea seems to want distance from the series that he has been so loyal to in the past, and that has brought him a certain level of recognition. In a quote from TV Guide (May 12-18, 2002) Nick's agent says that he "doesn't talk about the series for whatever personal reasons of his own."
Nick Lea lives the actor's life, reading scripts and going to auditions, in Los Angeles.
Bio by LeFey
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Ivan
Sergei .... Mac Ramsey
Despite the Russian name, Ivan Sergei's sensuous good looks come from his Dutch and Italian Heritage. A native of Hawthorne New Jersey, Sergei got his big break early when he answered an open casting call for Michelle Pfeiffer's inner-city school drama Dangerous Minds. Sporting a goatee he played one of the students, Huero.
Acting was the perfect fit for Ivan. "Every time I saw a movie I always wanted to be the lead character of the movie. So if I saw Rocky I wanted to be a boxer, if I saw something else I wanted to be a spaceship captain. So I figured out I couldn't do that all in real life, but I could play it."
Several television roles followed his movie debut, Cybil, Party of Five, Touched by an Angel and a Jim Morrison-like turn on the short-lived series Kindred the Embraced.
His next movie role was Matt Mateo, the dim, but kind hearted Adonis in Don Roos' dark, redemptive comedy The Opposite of Sex. Ivan says he took the part to show that he could do quality work.
The high energy role of Mac Ramsey, series lead in John Woo's Once a Thief, was his next foray into television. Ivan enjoyed the martial arts aspect of the series. "I've always wanted to have martial-arts training, and on Once a Thief I actually had the opportunity to have a personal trainer for the whole season, but I was too tired most of the time. All of the fighting I did on the show was rehearsed; I knew what was coming at me and when. The art is called Wing Chun. I really liked it." He was romantically involved with his series co-star Sandrine Holt, but says now that the series is over, "As for Sandrine and I, unfortunately that is over, too."
Ivan spent a season and a half as David "Jill" Jillefsky, on the WB's Jack & Jill. His character started as a free-spirited, appealing toy designer. When the series finished Ivan's character was a photographer. In an art imitating life moment Sergei has a keen interest in photography as well. "I'm doing a lot of photography lately. I've set up a studio and darkroom in my house. I've also been writing."
Sergei has written and directed his own short film called Rebellion. He describes it as an action/adventure piece to show what he can do visually with the camera. Sergei has also sold a pilot concept to Warner Bros. "I was really excited about that. We were trying to get it produced last year, but I was really busy with my short film, so we have extended it to the 2002-2003 season. The short film has great actors in it—Patrick Dempsey is in it, James Avery, Joe Viterelli and Pruitt Taylor Vince are in it."
Most recently Ivan has been in the independent films Playing Mona Lisa, The Big Day and soon will be seen as Alicia Silverstone's love interest in the John Cleese film Scorched.
Ivan's latest role is David Weiss in the ABC fish-out of-water comedy My Adventures in Television. He plays an idealistic, Mid-Westerner who has been hired as an executive at an independent television network.
Bio by LeFey
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Sandrine Holt
.... Li Ann Tsei
French/Chinese Sandrine Holt (Ho) was born November 19, 1972 in England and moved to Toronto when she was five.
From the mid 80's she did modelling which took her around the world.
In her first acting role she won a Genie (Canadian movie award) for Best Supporting Actress playing a Native American in the 1991 movie Black Robe. This was the first of several different ethnic roles (Japanese, Chinese, Polynesian, Caribbean and Spanish) she's played in her relatively short acting career.
She's now also involved with making documentaries and lives in New York.
Bio by Leny
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Jennifer Dale
.... The Director
Jennifer Dale (Ciurluini) was born 1955 in Toronto, Ontario. She and her sister Cynthia started acting as
children when they both got parts in CBC's Emily Carr musical biography The Wonder of it All and they've both been acting ever since.
Dale attended the National Theatre School and apprenticed for two years at the Stratford Festival before her big break in the 1979 movie Suzanne (produced by her future ex-husband Robert Lantos head of Alliance, the company that produced Once a Thief)
She has since appeared in almost 40 movies and TV series, including Atom Egoyan's award winning movie The Adjuster, and many TV guest appearances.
She has two children.
Bio by Leny
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Howard Dell
.... Dobrinsky
 Howard
Dell is from Ontario. Before he moved to Los Angeles to act he was an
all around athlete, excelling in basketball, football and track & field.
After university he competed for Canada in the decathlon and the Bobsled
Team in which he competed internationally for a few years, including
in the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. After a near fatal crash he retired
from bobsledding but was soon offered a chance to play football in the
Canadian Football League. Howard went on to play a few seasons for the
Toronto Argonauts and the Ottawa Rough Riders. He is also an accomplished
musician, singer and he's worked as a basketball scene choreographer.
Bio by Leny
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James
Allodi .... Nathan Muckle
James
Allodi grew up in Toronto, and attended Jarvis Collegiate. He completed
his education at NYU film school, graduating in 1989 with a B.F.A. in
film. 
He was disappointed with his time at NYU, thinking the school was too
mainstream and commercial. He struck out on his own, and at first worked
in the theatre as an actor and playwright. While working on stage he
was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for best actor in the small
theater division, for his part in The Last Supper by Hillar Liitoja.
Allodi went back to the film industry, and worked steadily as a film
editor, cinematographer and director. He became involved in television
and film acting because he could make more money for fewer hours worked,
and this would leave more time for his writing. His TV credits include
roles on Due South, Once a Thief, Outer Limits and the live television
movie American Whisky Bar. His films include several short films
that he wrote and directed: Persians, Link UP, and Fragments.
In 1997 Allodi was a director in resident at the Canadian Film Centre’s
Director’s Lab where he made another short film Cold Feet.
He has appeared in several features including Glitter, Good Will
Hunting, Top of the Food Chain and most recently Men with Brooms.
He has also written and directed his own feature called Uncles.
The film is a touching comedy set in the downtown Toronto’s Italian
section. Uncles has done well at film festivals, and was nominated
for two Canadian Comedy Awards: Pretty Funny Writing and Pretty Funny
Directing.
Allodi is currently working on another self written and directed project
Ditch, the story of situations that arise when grifter’s
and ordinary people’s lives collide.
Bio by LeFey
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Julian Richings .... Camier
Julian Richings has had a career that spans two decades, and includes
a variety of stage and television roles in both Europe and North America.
His stage work ranges from Ibsen, he appeared in a production of the
Dollhouse featuring Megan Follows, to children's theatre; he
was one of the rats in Piper a reworking of the legend of the
Pied Piper of Hamlin. He has also worked in experimental theatre. He
played one of Lear's daughters in the gender shifting workshop production
of King Lear at the Berkley Street Theatre in Toronto. He also
appeared in the 1999 Canadian production of the gay centric play
Shopping and Fucking. He has won the Dora Mavor Moore award twice
for outstanding performance by a male in a featured role.
His television and movie roles are numerous, as well. He has been a
regular on the series War of the Worlds, Once a Thief,
Amazon, The Raven, and I Was a Sixth Grade Alien.
His guest appearances are many and include Due South, The
Nero Wolfe Mysteries, Highlander and The Pretender 2001.
His films include Cube, Urban Legend, The Red Violin,
and his role as Bucky the rock legend, in the cult classic Hard
Core Logo . Most recently, he was nominated for a 2001 Genie award
as best supporting actor for his role in The Claim.
When he is not on location, Richings lives in Toronto.
Bio by LeFey
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Greg Kramer
.... Murphy
Greg Kramer is a true Renaissance man. He is an actor, director, artist,
writer, and magician. Kramer attributes his artistic diversity to his
mother who was an art teacher. Devastated by her death, that occurred
when he was twelve, British born Kramer ran away from home at an early
age.
After living for a time on the streets of London, he attended Mountview
Theatre School. After graduation he joined a government funded theater
company, but the funding was quickly cut. This prompted his move to
Vancouver, B.C. Canada in 1981, where he lived for seven years. After
that he lived and worked in Toronto for a decade.
Greg Kramer's career has been full and varied. He has been involved
in over 120 productions. His theatrical credits include directing Marat/Sade,
playing theRingmaster in Barnum, and bringing to life Gollum and
the voice of Smaug in The Hobbit at the Young People's Theatre.
His television appearances are just as diverse. Besides his appearances
as part of the assassin duo, The Cleaners, in John Woo's Once a Thief,
he has a devoted following for his portrayal of the rat draining
Screed in the vampire series Forever Knight.
Kramer is also a successful author with three published books. Couchwarmer:
a Laundromat Adventure, and The Pursemonger of Fugu (short
listed for the City of Toronto Book award) both explore the "skanky
side of Toronto." His hero/heroine, Cherry Beach, who was born with
gender ambiguity, survives the dark underbelly of the city with a quirky,
amusing humanity. His third book, Hogtown Bonbons is a collection
of short stories originally serialized in the Toronto Gay and Lesbian
paper Xtra! In these stories he revisits the colorful and tawdry territory
of his two novels.
Greg Kramer, fire eater, street performer and all around Renaissance
man currently has a recurring role in the series The Never Ending
Story, and lives in Montreal with his cat Cosmo.
Bio
by LeFey
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Victoria Pratt .... Jackie Janczyk
Victoria Pratt was born December 18, 1970 in Ontario. After finishing
a degree in kinesiology she began her career as a fitness expert.
All through her life she's been extremely athletic, excelling in Soccor,
Karate and Track & Field.
She has written books on fitness and bodybuilding, and graced the covers
of numerous fitness magazines. Soon after taking up acting she broke
into television as the on-air trainer on Go For It, a series
about non-traditional sports. She's since had roles in Cleopatra
2525, Forbidden Island, Xena: Warrior Princess, the
HBO movie Blacktop, and more recently Mutant X.
She's married to Director TJ Scott.
Bio by Leny
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Michael Wong .... Michael Tang
Michael Wong (sometimes credited as Man-Tak Wong or Michael Fitzgerald
Wong) was born in Shangdong, China on April 16, 1965. He moved to New
York with his Chinese father and Dutch/American mother when he was a
child. Although he's never learnt how to speak Cantonese, has no martial
arts skills or formal acting skills he's still managed to have an extensive
movie career (spanning 20 years) in Hong Kong where he lives in with
his wife Janet Ma. He has two brothers, Declan and Russell (Romeo
Must Die) who are also actors. Once a Thief was his first
English languge role.
Bio by
Leny
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Robert Ito
.... Tang Godfather
 Born
in Vancouver, BC on July 2, 1931, Robert Ito started his stage career at
five when he won $25 in an amateur tap-dancing contest. He was eventually
accepted at the National Ballet of Canada and performed with them for
10 years.
After leaving the ballet he featured in a Broadway production of Rodgers
& Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song.
He eventually gave up dancing and headed for Hollywood where he scored
a series of roles in B grade sci-fi films and guest appearances.
He's probably best known for his seven year stint as Sam Fujiyama
in Quincy ME.
More recently he's worked as a voice actor in many popular animated
TV shows.
Bio by
Leny
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Cynthia Preston
.... Ivy
Scarborough, Ontario native Cynthia Preston's road to acting started at an unlikely source; severe shyness. She refers to herself as "morbidly shy" when she started high school.
"If anybody looked at me when I walked down the hall, I'd have to go to the bathroom to compose myself. I'd be hyperventilating, my heart would be beating and I'd almost cry."
"Her mother sent her to a self-improvement and modeling course. Preston, the youngest of six children, gained poise. "It gave me an interest of my own and sort of confidence-building thing." By fifteen she was a model doing catalogue and magazine work. At eighteen, after graduating from high school, she found work in Japan as a model and stayed there for six months.
 "Still not looking to be an actress, Preston went on to university. On her first day at school she was called, by a talent agency that had seen her photo, to audition for the CBS television movie Miles to Go starring Jill Clayburgh. Her audition, as the daughter of terminally ill women, went well. "I cried, and they gave me the part, so acting just sort of fell into my lap."
Her career was barely underway when she was involved in a serious automobile accident. In the spring of 1988, at the age of twenty-one she was starting her third film Cold Comfort. After her first day of work she was being driven back to her hotel when her car was broadsided by another vehicle. She suffered severe injuries to her legs and pelvis and was unconscious for ten days.
"Before the accident, life was maybe going a little too smoothly. But that experience enriched me so much. It brought me back to the important things and important people in my life."
Recovered almost completely, except for some back pain and nerve damage to her left leg, Preston has gone on to perform in many movies and televisions shows.
Her television appearances are numerous including The Outer Limits, Once a Thief, The X-Files, Andromeda and a series lead on Total Recall 2070.
Her films include suspense/horror films such as PIN, The Brain, Facing The Enemy and Prom Night Three. She was the troubled runaway in the critically praised Whale Music and is currently working on director Thom Fitzgerald's gritty new AIDS drama The Event.
Cynthia Preston currently lives in Los Angeles.
Bio by LeFey
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Nathaniel
DeVeaux .... Dobrinsky (in the movie)
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