BIO
At the age of 17, Darrell Dennis walked into his first professional audition and walked out with the lead role of Brian Potter on the hit CBC drama Northwood. Since then, Darrell has gone on to become an award winning Native American (First Nations) actor, writer and comedian.
For over two decades, Darrell has been at the forefront of Native theatre. His one man show Tales of an Urban Indian was nominated for two Dora Awards (Best Original Play and Best Performance by an Actor) and produced for multiple tours across North America including the legendary Public Theater in New York City and the Autry Theatre in Los Angeles. Darrell’s feature film adaptation of “Tales” was one of 13 international screenplays accepted into the prestigious Sundance Screenwriters Lab. A T.V. pilot based on “Tales” was also produced and broadcast on the Aboriginal People’s Television Network.
As an actor, Darrell has gone from classic theatre roles in Shaw’s Arms and the Man, Strindberg’s Miss Julie, and Pinter’s Betrayal to film and television roles in Universal's Leaving Normal opposite Meg Tilly and Christine Lahti, to the hit TV series Degrassi, to Shania Twain’s lover in Shania: A life in Eight Albums. However, it wasn’t until Darrell won the lead role of Frank Fencepost on the CBC TV series The Rez that his comedy career exploded...
Darrell received a scholarship to train at the world famous Second City and was the first ever Native comedian to be hired as a cast member in any of the Second City companies. Darrell then co- founded the all- Native comedy troupe Tonto’s Nephews which toured North America and the all- Native American comedy troupe The Mayflower Welcoming Committee.
In addition to acting and comedy, Darrell is a prolific writer. His first play, Trickster of Third Avenue East was produced by Native Earth Performing Arts, which twice named Darrell their “Writer-in- Residence”. On APTN, Darrell was the head comedy writer on the talk/variety show Buffalo Tracks and went on to host the APTN smash hit Bingo and a Movie. Darrell then wrote the T.V. pilot Moccasin Flats which was an official selection at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival and was picked up by Showcase Television and APTN for three seasons. Darrell was also a key writer on that series.
On CBC Radio, Darrell was the comedic Native voice on the election series Spin Off and the T.V. special The American Empire. He then co- wrote and hosted the ground breaking CBC Radio program Revision Quest which ran for four seasons and won the prestigious New York Festival Award. At this time, Darrell’s stand up career flourished and he performed in televised galas at the Winnipeg Comedy Festival and the world famous Just For Laughs Festival.
Darrell is currently the Director, Writer and Series Regular on the APTN comedy/ variety series The Guilt Free Zone. In additon, he is also a series regular on the Teen Nick/ YTV series Open Heart and the APTN/ HULU series Blackstone. His book Peace Pipe Dreams: The Truth About Lies About Indians is available in bookstores and online. He performs stand up in venues all over North America and is developing numerous T.V. series, a T.V. movie, a feature film, a web series, and a U.S. radio program.
Darrell's mom is really proud of him.
