KEVIN DURAND
FROM AUSTIN POWERS TO LOCKE & KEY
By Kirsten Howard
Canadian actor Kevin Durand has made quite the career out of being the kind of character actor you never see coming.
The Strain
Kevin Durand was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1974, and is of French-Canadian descent.
His first acting break came in 1999 when he was cast opposite Russell Crowe in Mystery, Alaska. Durand came equipped with his own French-Canadian accent!
From Austin Powers director Jay Roach, the film follows an amateur ice hockey team that plays an exhibition game against the New York Rangers.
The actor admitted he knew way more about hockey than he did acting back then, and said he was struggling to find roles at the time.
But after landing the small part of hockey player "Tree" Lane in Mystery, Alaska, Durand knew it was kismet, and that he’d been given the opportunity to marry his two passions.
Durand and Crowe became fast friends on the movie, and they would go on to work together again in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood and Darren Aronofsky's Noah.
He also snagged a cameo in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999 while working with Roach.
He’s starred opposite Hugh Jackman twice, first in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Blob, and then in Real Steel.
Most people recognize him from his prolific sci-fi TV parts, playing Joshua in Dark Angel, Vasiliy Fet in The Strain, Zippy in Stargate SG-1, Jason Woodrue in Swamp Thing and Martin Keamy in Lost.
Lost
Now, Durand has another major role in genre television, starring as Captain Frederick Gideon in Netflix’s smash hit fantasy series, Locke & Key.
The show centers on a grieving family who move back to their late patriarch’s hometown and discover a world of magic and horror awaiting them.
The history of their family home is explored in Locke & Key Season 2, and Durand’s Frederick Gideon emerges as a disturbing focal point of that history during the American Revolutionary War.
It’s another major TV role for the character actor, who we will no doubt see again and again until he eventually becomes a household name.