Paul Michael Gross (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian actor, film and television director, screenwriter, playwright, and producer. He rose to fame for his lead role as RCMP Constable Benton Fraser on the popular Canadian television series Due South (1994-1997). He won three Gemini Awards for his work on the series, two for acting and one for writing. Gross subsequently had success with two other Canadian television series, Slings & Arrows and Republic of Doyle. He made his film directorial debut with the cult comedy Men with Brooms, which spawned a television series of the same name. He wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the 2008 war film Passchendaele, which won the Genie Award for Best Motion Picture. At the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards in 2015, he received the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement. That same year, he was awarded the Order of Canada for “his contributions to Canadian film and television, as an actor, writer and director.”

Early life

Gross was born in Calgary, Alberta, the son of Renie Gross (née Dunne), a writer and art historian of Irish descent, and Robert "Bob" Gross, a career soldier, colonel, and tank commander. His family moved to Arlington, Virginia in his adolescence, where Gross attended Yorktown High School. He credits drama teacher Timothy Jecko as his inspiration for becoming an actor: "I'm not sure where I would have ended up otherwise."

Career

Gross studied acting at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, but he left during the third year of his study. He went back later to complete the half-credit needed to receive his fine arts degree. He appeared in several stage productions, such as Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. Other productions in which he appeared include Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and As You Like It. His student work The Deer and the Antelope Play was co-produced by the university's department of drama and Theatre Network, and won both the Clifford E. Lee National Playwriting Award and the Alberta Culture Playwriting Award. After the play Successful Strangers, Gross starred in his first movie, Turning to Stone. He wrote and directed the curling movie Men with Brooms. Gross starred in the television series Slings & Arrows from 2003 to 2006 alongside his wife Martha Burns, which The A.V. Club called "one of TV's greatest shows". In 2008, he attracted widespread attention in Canada when he wrote, co-produced, directed, and starred in the Genie Award-winning film Passchendaele, inspired by stories he heard from his grandfather, a First World War soldier. The film had its premiere at the 2008 Toronto International Film Festival on September 4, 2008, when it also had the honour of opening the festival. The film received a mixed reception upon release. Despite this, it won several awards; namely five awards the 29th Genie Awards, including Best Picture, and the Golden Reel Award for Canada's top-grossing film of 2008. On March 2, 2009, Paul Gross was honoured for his film Passchendaele, winning that year's National Arts Centre Award for achievement over the past performance year. From September 16, 2011, he appeared in a production of Noël Coward's Private Lives in Toronto co-starring Kim Cattrall (the production ended October 30, 2011); the production moved to Broadway where it opened November 6, and closed on December 31, 2011. That year, he also produced a feature film with Akshay Kumar called Breakaway starring Camilla Belle and Vinay Virmani. Between 2011 and 2014, he appeared in nine episodes as Kevin Crocker on Republic of Doyle. More recently, Gross completed work on the contemporary war drama Hyena Road, released on October 9, 2015. Gross starred in the title role of King Lear during the 2023 season of the Stratford Festival.

Due South

His role as upright Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Benton Fraser in the Due South television series (1994–1999) brought him increased recognition. Like fellow actor David Marciano, he didn't want to do the show at first, and creator Paul Haggis didn't even know if he wanted Gross for the role, but following a meeting, he was cast as Constable Benton Fraser. When Due South was revived for the third season, Gross returned in the role of Benton Fraser. He also took on duties as executive producer and writer. He earned an estimated salary of $2–3 million per season, and at the time was the highest-paid performer in Canadian television history. He wrote several episodes of the last season of the series. His favourite episodes include "Gift of the Wheelman" and "All the Queen's Horses" and his episodes "Mountie on the Bounty" and "Call of the Wild" are of a similar style.

Personal life

In September 1988, Gross married Canadian actress Martha Burns. The couple have two children, Hannah Gross, who is also an actress, and Jack Gross.

Theatre

Filmography

Films

Television

Honours

Awards

Discography

Albums

Singles