Getting Personal with Graham Abbey

What was your first job?

My first job was at the age of 12, playing a forest gnome in John Hirsch's production of As You Like It. He didn't think I was conveying enough misery, and so he made me bang my head against the centre pillar on the stage until he was satisfied.

09.27.2008 | Source: TheStar.com | Full Article

Border star steady with sword as well as gun

Relax, fellow Canadians.

You can sleep securely as long as Graham Abbey is standing on guard for thee, which he will continue to do as agent Gray Jackson in the popular CBC TV series The Border, which starts its second season Monday at 9 p.m.

Four years ago at Stratford, I described him as "boyishly handsome." Abbey is 37 now and he has a leaner, meaner edge to his appearance. Underneath, he remains the nice guy he's always been.

09.27.2008 | Source: TheStar.com | Full Article

Crossing those acting borders

He's a member of a crack unit of immigration officers who brandishes a gun, loves the ladies, and has a fondness for gaming tables. How could Graham Abbey not like his character on CBC-TV's new series, The Border?

It's just that it's quite a change from the rarefied atmosphere of the Stratford Festival of Canada where Abbey spent 10 seasons playing some of Shakespeare's greatest roles, from Macbeth to Henry.

01.07.2008 | Source: Windsor Star | Full Article

Investigating The Border

Every crime series has them: An investigative team that oozes on-screen chemistry. In the case of The Border, two illustrious Stratford theatrical talents tackle two of the lead roles in the pulsating new drama series that makes its debut tonight on the CBC at 9.

Nazneen Contractor, 25, plays Sgt. Layla Hourani, the new kid on the elite Canadian Immigration and Customs Security (ICS) squad with something to prove — a brown woman in a white man’s job; a Muslim agent, who locks up Muslim criminals. Her sidekick is Graham Abbey (a.k.a. ICS Det.-Sgt. Gray Jackson), a rough-and-tumble womanizer, gambler and all-round cowboy with a legendary track record for chasing down criminals along the world’s largest undefended border, the Canada--U.S. 49th parallel.

01.07.2008 | Source: MetroNews.ca | Full Article

Abbey not pessimistic as he leaves Stratford

When spring finally arrives, some people tend their gardens or clean off their barbecues, while others open their cottages. Graham Abbey gets ready to do a show.

That's why, in some ways, Tuesday night's opening of Morwyn Brebner's The Pessimist at Tarragon Theatre should seem perfectly natural to him. But it marks the first time in 11 years that Abbey hasn't been working at the Stratford Festival.

04.22.2007 | Source: TheStar.com | Full Article