Dean Armstrong
Encyclopedia
Dean Armstrong is a Canadian actor
and coach for performers in film and television.
Dean works in film, TV and stage. His credits include lead + guest starring roles in HIDING, Alphas
, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings
, The Listener (TV series)
, Haven (TV series)
, Saw 3D, 5 seasons on Showtime
’s Queer as Folk (2000 TV series), the season 2 host of the CBC 6 part mini-series Triple Sensation
as well as 2 years on Broadway in Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize + Tony Award winning musical Rent (musical)
.
The Instructor.
Director of Armstrong Acting Studios, Dean is one of North America’s most sought after episodic and feature film preproduction and on set acting coaches. Some of his alumni include Miley Cyrus
(Hannah Montana
), Nina Dobrev
(Vampire Diaries), Devon Bostick
(Diary of a Wimpy Kid
), Miriam McDonald
(Degrassi: The Next Generation
), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood
(The Bold and the Beautiful
) and Daytime Emmy winner Brittany Allen
(All My Children
).
The Producer.
Dean is the Founder and Executive Producer of APPULSE FILMS. The company’s first film entitled VERONA (The Short), directed by Laurie Lynd
(Breakfast with Scot
), was shot in the fall of ’09. Trailers for the movie can by found on YouTube or by visiting veronathemovie.com.
and Los Angeles
.
Native to Canada
, Dean’s ancestry includes roots in Ireland
, Scotland
and England
. In 1992, with an early passion for law and politics, Dean began following in the footsteps of family members and renegade politicians Edward Henry Carson (9 February 1854, Dublin, Ireland – 22 October 1935, Kent, England), often known as Sir Edward Carson or Lord Carson, a barrister, judge and politician from Ireland, and Edward Carson (Eddie) Sargent (April 11, 1915 - January 28, 1998), a Canadian politician. Sargent served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1987, as a member of the Liberal Party.
In 1993, 1 year after acceptance and studies at Queen’s University, Kingston
, Dean’s pursuit of law gave way to a growing passion for the performing arts.
Dean graduated from Queen’s University with degree(s) in Theater Arts (BAH) 1996 and Education (Bed) 1997.
Dean’s passion and commitment for the arts and education began in 1996 after directing a production of West Side Story
at the Grand Theater, in Kingston. It was through directing, that Dean correlated his skill-sets with teaching.
Dean laid the first foundation blocks of what today is known as Armstrong Acting Studios in 1997; originally Players Workshops, later Dean Armstrong Acting Studio. In 2011, AAS reached the status of one of Canada
’s largest independent film + television training studios with over 10,000 actors as graduates and ongoing students.
Dean entered into the world of professional acting in his late 20’s; making his impact on an international audience only 2 short years after his graduation.
2000 marked Dean’s Showtime (2000–2005) and Broadway (2000–2002) simultaneous debut(s) in the US, denoting his diversity and marketability as both a screen and stage actor.
“Dean Armstrong, giving the best performance in the series!” – The Washington Post, an article entitled “Queer as Folk, A Firecracker of a Season Finale"
In 2003, after a year hiatus from Broadway’s Rent (musical)
, Dean returned to the stage starring as Jonathan Larson in the Canadian Premiere of Tick, Tick... Boom!
From 2004 onward, failing vocal chords and a shift into screen studies and practice prevented Dean from returning to the world of Musical Theater; although considered and a finalist for title roles in the Mirvish productions of WE WILL ROCK YOU
and ROCK OF AGES
in Toronto, Canada.
2005-2009 Were hibernating years for Dean; spent behind the scenes building what today is known as Armstrong Acting Studios. It was during this time, that Dean logged hundreds of episodes as well as feature credits as a screen-test advisor, preproduction and on-set acting coach. Dean’s work includes collaboration with Showtime
, Disney, Paramount Pictures
, Alliance/Atlantis, Discovery Channel
, Impossible Pictures
, Global
and CTV
. Highlights include his work alongside Jeremy Podeswa
on FUGITIVE PIECES
and Annmarie Morais
on HOW SHE MOVE
.
Dean’s own production company, Appulse Films, was founded in 2009 as a continued commitment to bridging the gap between education and the industry. The production company holds a mandate to create, facilitate and extend opportunities to actors and crew alike in film + television.
Dean continues to be active and groundbreaking as an artist in film and TV. As an instructor, he continues to look after private clients as well as to guest lecture at various schools, programs, workshops and venues across the US and Canada.
Dean’s daughter, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, daughter of Dr. Berta Bacic, was born in New York City
on March 10, 2010.
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
and coach for performers in film and television.
Career
The Actor.Dean works in film, TV and stage. His credits include lead + guest starring roles in HIDING, Alphas
Alphas
Alphas is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Zak Penn and Michael Karnow. The series follows a group of people with superhuman abilities, known as "Alphas", as they work to prevent crimes committed by other Alphas....
, Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings
Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings is an American horror film and the fourth installment in the Wrong Turn horror/slasher franchise that began with Wrong Turn then continued with Wrong Turn 2: Dead End and Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. The fourth film serves as a prequel to the previous three...
, The Listener (TV series)
The Listener (TV series)
The Listener is a Canadian science fiction drama set in Toronto about a young paramedic named Toby Logan with the ability to listen to people's minds. The series premiered on Fox International Channels beginning with the Arabic-speaking area of northern Africa and south-western Asia on March 1, 2009...
, Haven (TV series)
Haven (TV series)
Haven is a supernatural drama television series loosely based on the Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid. The show, filmed on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, Canada, is an American/Canadian co-production. The one-hour drama premiered on July 9, 2010, on Syfy...
, Saw 3D, 5 seasons on Showtime
Showtime
Showtime is an American premium cable television service featuring programming that consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures, along with original series, made-for-cable movies, and occasional boxing and mixed martial arts matches...
’s Queer as Folk (2000 TV series), the season 2 host of the CBC 6 part mini-series Triple Sensation
Triple Sensation
Triple Sensation is a reality television series produced by multi-Tony Award winning producer Garth Drabinsky. Its first season debuted October 7, 2007 on CBC Television, and its second season debuted June 22, 2009....
as well as 2 years on Broadway in Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer Prize + Tony Award winning musical Rent (musical)
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
.
The Instructor.
Director of Armstrong Acting Studios, Dean is one of North America’s most sought after episodic and feature film preproduction and on set acting coaches. Some of his alumni include Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
(Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana
Hannah Montana is an American television series, which debuted on March 24, 2006 on the Disney Channel. The series focuses on a girl who lives a double life as an average teenage school girl named Miley Stewart by day and a famous pop singer named Hannah Montana by night, concealing her real...
), Nina Dobrev
Nina Dobrev
Nina Dobrev is a Bulgarian-Canadian actress. She played the role of Mia Jones, the single teenage mother, on Degrassi: The Next Generation, from the show's sixth to ninth season...
(Vampire Diaries), Devon Bostick
Devon Bostick
Devon Bostick is a Canadian actor, best known for playing the lead role in the Atom Egoyan-directed film Adoration and Rodrick Heffley in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies.- Life and career :Bostick was born in Toronto, Ontario...
(Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a realistic fiction novel by Jeff Kinney. It is the first book in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The book is about a middle-school child named Greg Heffley and his struggles in middle school. Greg also had problems with his best friend, Rowley Jefferson. The books focuses...
), Miriam McDonald
Miriam McDonald
Miriam Katherine McDonald is a Canadian actress and occasional dancer. She is best known for playing Emma Nelson on the television series Degrassi: The Next Generation.-Career:...
(Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation
Degrassi: The Next Generation is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979. Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, and follows The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and...
), Jacqueline MacInnes Wood
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood
Jacqueline MacInnes Wood is a Canadian actress perhaps best known for her role as Steffy Forrester on the long-running American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. She is also known for her role in the Disney XD television movie Skyrunners and appeared in Horror film Final Destination 5...
(The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful
The Bold and the Beautiful is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS Daytime. It premiered on March 23, 1987....
) and Daytime Emmy winner Brittany Allen
Brittany Allen
Brittany Allen is a Canadian actress best known for her role as Marissa Chandler on All My Children for which she received an Emmy Award.-Personal life:She attended Etobicoke School of the Arts in Toronto, Canada....
(All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
).
The Producer.
Dean is the Founder and Executive Producer of APPULSE FILMS. The company’s first film entitled VERONA (The Short), directed by Laurie Lynd
Laurie Lynd
Laurie Lynd is a Canadian film and television director, best known as the director of the feature film Breakfast with Scot.He also directed the feature film House, the short film The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore, and the television films Sibs, Open Heart and Virtual Mom, as well as...
(Breakfast with Scot
Breakfast with Scot
Breakfast with Scot is a 2007 Canadian comedy film. It is adapted from the novel by Tufts University professor Michael Downing.The screenplay was adapted by Sean Reycraft from the book by Michael Downing, and the film was directed by Laurie Lynd...
), was shot in the fall of ’09. Trailers for the movie can by found on YouTube or by visiting veronathemovie.com.
Personal Life
Dean has been a permanent resident of the US since 2010, residing in both New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
.
Native to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Dean’s ancestry includes roots in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
and England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1992, with an early passion for law and politics, Dean began following in the footsteps of family members and renegade politicians Edward Henry Carson (9 February 1854, Dublin, Ireland – 22 October 1935, Kent, England), often known as Sir Edward Carson or Lord Carson, a barrister, judge and politician from Ireland, and Edward Carson (Eddie) Sargent (April 11, 1915 - January 28, 1998), a Canadian politician. Sargent served in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1963 to 1987, as a member of the Liberal Party.
In 1993, 1 year after acceptance and studies at Queen’s University, Kingston
Kingston
Kingston is widely accepted as a contraction of the English "King's Town", of which there are many examples. It may refer to:-Australia:*Kingston, Australian Capital Territory, suburb of Canberra*Kingston, Norfolk Island, capital of the territory...
, Dean’s pursuit of law gave way to a growing passion for the performing arts.
Dean graduated from Queen’s University with degree(s) in Theater Arts (BAH) 1996 and Education (Bed) 1997.
Dean’s passion and commitment for the arts and education began in 1996 after directing a production of West Side Story
West Side Story
West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
at the Grand Theater, in Kingston. It was through directing, that Dean correlated his skill-sets with teaching.
Dean laid the first foundation blocks of what today is known as Armstrong Acting Studios in 1997; originally Players Workshops, later Dean Armstrong Acting Studio. In 2011, AAS reached the status of one of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
’s largest independent film + television training studios with over 10,000 actors as graduates and ongoing students.
Dean entered into the world of professional acting in his late 20’s; making his impact on an international audience only 2 short years after his graduation.
2000 marked Dean’s Showtime (2000–2005) and Broadway (2000–2002) simultaneous debut(s) in the US, denoting his diversity and marketability as both a screen and stage actor.
“Dean Armstrong, giving the best performance in the series!” – The Washington Post, an article entitled “Queer as Folk, A Firecracker of a Season Finale"
In 2003, after a year hiatus from Broadway’s Rent (musical)
Rent (musical)
Rent is a rock musical with music and lyrics by Jonathan Larson based on Giacomo Puccini's opera La bohème...
, Dean returned to the stage starring as Jonathan Larson in the Canadian Premiere of Tick, Tick... Boom!
Tick, Tick... BOOM!
Tick, Tick... Boom! is a musical written by American composer Jonathan Larson, who won a Pulitzer and two Tony Awards for his musical Rent. Tick Tick Boom tells the story of an aspiring composer named Jon, who lives in New York City in 1990. Jon is worried he has made the wrong career choice to...
From 2004 onward, failing vocal chords and a shift into screen studies and practice prevented Dean from returning to the world of Musical Theater; although considered and a finalist for title roles in the Mirvish productions of WE WILL ROCK YOU
We Will Rock You
"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
and ROCK OF AGES
Rock of Ages
"Rock of Ages" is a popular Christian hymn by Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady written in 1763 and first published in The Gospel Magazine in 1775....
in Toronto, Canada.
2005-2009 Were hibernating years for Dean; spent behind the scenes building what today is known as Armstrong Acting Studios. It was during this time, that Dean logged hundreds of episodes as well as feature credits as a screen-test advisor, preproduction and on-set acting coach. Dean’s work includes collaboration with Showtime
Showtime
Showtime is an American premium cable television service featuring programming that consists primarily of theatrically released motion pictures, along with original series, made-for-cable movies, and occasional boxing and mixed martial arts matches...
, Disney, Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
, Alliance/Atlantis, Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
, Impossible Pictures
Impossible Pictures
Impossible Pictures Ltd. is a London-based independent TV production company founded in 2002 by Tim Haines, creator of Walking with Dinosaurs and Jasper James....
, Global
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:-Entertainment:* Global , 2003* Global , 2007* Global , 1989* Global Underground, music label* Bruno J...
and CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
. Highlights include his work alongside Jeremy Podeswa
Jeremy Podeswa
Jeremy Podeswa is a Canadian/American film and television director. He is best known for directing the films The Five Senses and Fugitive Pieces . He has also worked as Director on the television shows Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Tudors, Queer as Folk, and the HBO World War II miniseries The...
on FUGITIVE PIECES
Fugitive Pieces
Fugitive Pieces is a novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels. First published in 1996 , it was awarded the Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Trillium Book Award, Orange Prize for Fiction and the Guardian Fiction Prize....
and Annmarie Morais
Annmarie Morais
Annmarie Morais is a Jamaican-Canadian screenwriter best known for writing the film How She Move. She earned a BFA from York University in Film and Video in 1995....
on HOW SHE MOVE
How She Move
How She Move is a 2007 drama film directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid and starring Rutina Wesley, Clé Bennett and Romina D'Ugo. The film showcases the street culture of step dancing...
.
Dean’s own production company, Appulse Films, was founded in 2009 as a continued commitment to bridging the gap between education and the industry. The production company holds a mandate to create, facilitate and extend opportunities to actors and crew alike in film + television.
Dean continues to be active and groundbreaking as an artist in film and TV. As an instructor, he continues to look after private clients as well as to guest lecture at various schools, programs, workshops and venues across the US and Canada.
Dean’s daughter, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, daughter of Dr. Berta Bacic, was born in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on March 10, 2010.