Early life

Azman was born in a displaced persons camp

Displaced persons camp

A displaced persons camp or DP camp is a temporary facility for displaced persons coerced into forced migration. The term is mainly used for camps established after World War II in West Germany and in Austria, as well as in the United Kingdom, primarily for refugees from Eastern Europe and for the...

 in Bad Wörishofen

Bad Wörishofen

Bad Wörishofen is a spa town in the district Unterallgäu, Bavaria Germany known for the water-cure developed by Sebastian Kneipp , a Catholic priest, who lived there for 42 years...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 to Cesia (née Waishand), a sales clerk and Kuba Zajfman, a tailor and furrier, Holocaust survivors  from Chmielnik

Chmielnik

Chmielnik is a town in Kielce County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, Poland. It has a population of 4,005 . Town's name is derived from hop .- History :...

, Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. They emigrated to Canada in 1948 and settled in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

 where he attended Harbord Collegiate Institute

Harbord Collegiate Institute

Harbord Collegiate Institute is a public secondary school located in downtown Toronto, Canada. Specifically, the school is located in the Palmerston-Little Italy/The Annex neighbourhood, situated on the north side of Harbord Street, between Euclid Ave. and Manning St...

, William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute

William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute

William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute is a semestered secondary school located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 20 Tillplain Road. It was built in 1960 to accommodate the skyrocketing number of new students in what was then known as North York, and to ease overcrowding at Northview Collegiate...

 and later the Ontario College of Art (now known as OCAD University) and the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

.

Career

Although his first stage appearance was at age six, his professional acting career began with the CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

 series Toby

Toby (TV series)

Toby was a Canadian sitcom, which aired on CBC Television in the 1968-69 television season. The show starred Susan Petrie as Toby Mitchell, a teenage girl juggling her family life and her friendship with Quebec exchange student J. J. Roberge...

in 1969. By the 1970s after training at Young People's Theatre and The Second City

The Second City

The Second City is a improvisational comedy enterprise which originated in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood.The Second City Theatre opened on December 16, 1959 and has since expanded its presence to several other cities, including Toronto and Los Angeles...

, he was working in improvisational and children's theatre with Gilda Radner

Gilda Radner

Gilda Susan Radner was an American comedian and actress, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, for which she won an Emmy Award in 1978.-Early life:...

 and in 1974 was cast as one of an ensemble (which included Valri Bromfield

Valri Bromfield

Valri Bromfield is a Canadian comedian, actor, writer, and television producer who started her career as one half of a comedy team with Dan Aykroyd. Together, they joined the first Toronto company of The Second City where she was one of the original players.-Television appearances:Bromfield was a...

 and Jayne Eastwood

Jayne Eastwood

Jayne Eastwood , also credited as Jane Easton or Jane Eastwood, is a Canadian actress most famous for appearing in the 2002 film Chicago. She was one of the original cast members of the Toronto branch of The Second City, and was a semi-regular on SCTV...

) to star on the 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...

 comedy series Funny Farm

Funny Farm (TV series)

The Funny Farm was a Canadian television series shown on CTV during the 1974-1975 season.Blake Emmons was host of the half-hour series, which was derivative of the more successful American Hee Haw series. The first episode was broadcast on September 12, 1974 and only one season was produced...

. During the 1970s he appeared on stage at: Factory Theatre

Factory Theatre

Factory Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, founded as Factory Theatre Lab in 1970 by Ken Gass and Frank Trotz.Factory was the first theatre to announce that it would exclusively produce Canadian plays, but it soon became a widely emulated policy by other theatre companies...

's Hurray for Johnny Canuck

Johnny Canuck

Johnny Canuck was a Canadian cartoon hero and superhero who was created as a political cartoon in 1869 and was later re-invented, most notably as a Second World War action hero in 1942...

with Maury Chaykin

Maury Chaykin

Maury Alan Chaykin was an American-born Canadian actor. Best known for his portrayal of detective Nero Wolfe, he was also known for his work as a character actor in many films and on television programs.-Personal life:...

 and Jim Henshaw

Jim Henshaw

Jim Henshaw is a professional actor, screenwriter and film and television producer.The first Actor graduate of the University of Saskatchewan, he began his professional career in 1971...

; Theatre Passe Muraille

Theatre Passe Muraille

Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Canada.-Brief history:One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Garrard, who started the company out of Rochdale College.Its radical intention was create a...

 in Bethune; and Theatre New Brunswick

Theatre New Brunswick

Theatre New Brunswick is the only professional theatre company in New Brunswick Canada. It began operation in 1968, and has been successfully operating since that time.-Artistic directors:*Walter Learning *Malcolm Black...

 as Brighella

Brighella

Brighella is a comic, masked character from the Commedia dell'arte. His early costume consisted of loosely-fitting, white smock and pants with green trim and was often equipped with a battachio or slapstick, or else with a wooden sword. Later he took to wearing a sort of livery with a matching cape...

 in Goldoni's Servant of Two Masters

Servant of Two Masters

Servant of Two Masters is a comedy by the Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni written in 1743. Goldoni originally wrote the play at the request of actor Antonio Sacco, one of the great Truffaldinos in history...

among others. Since then he has worked steadily in film and television with such roles as Tom Shaughnessy on My Life as A Dog

My Life as a Dog (TV series)

My Life as a Dog is a contemporary, half-hour Canadian TV series that aired in 1996 and ran for 22 episodes. It was based on the 1985 Swedish movie of the same name and developed for Canadian television by, among others, Reidar Jönsson, author of the original autobiographical book.It is the coming...

and frequent guest appearances on such shows as Little Mosque on the Prairie

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Little Mosque on the Prairie is a Canadian sitcom on CBC, created by Zarqa Nawaz and produced by WestWind Pictures. It is filmed in Toronto, Ontario and Indian Head, Saskatchewan...

and Warehouse 13

Warehouse 13

Warehouse 13 is an American fantasy television series that premiered on July 7, 2009 on the Syfy network.Executive-produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins, the dramatic comedy from Universal Media Studios has been described as borrowing much from 1980s television series Friday the 13th: The...

.

Second career

He began a lifelong interest in art and antiques after being inspired by Painters Eleven

Painters Eleven

Painters Eleven was a collective of abstract artists active in Canada from 1954 to 1960.-History:...

 artist Harold Town

Harold Town

Harold Town was a Canadian abstract painter. He is best known as a member of Painters Eleven a group of abstract artists active in Toronto from 1954-1960. Town coined the name of the group, which was based simply on the number of artists that were present the first meeting...

 while working together on the Canadian Centennial

Canadian Centennial

The Canadian Centennial was a year long celebration held in 1967 when Canada celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation. Celebrations occurred throughout the year but culminated on Dominion Day, July 1. 1967 coins were different from previous years' issues, with animals on each...

 project at William Lyon Mackenzie C.I. In 1979, he started supplying antiques as props

Theatrical property

A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...

 for the movies and to retail stores such as Polo Ralph Lauren

Polo Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren Corporation is a luxury clothing and goods company of the American fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Ralph Lauren specializes in high-end casual/semi-formal wear for men and women, as well as accessories, fragrances, home and housewares...

 and then opened a shop at the Harbourfront

Harbourfront

Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within the downtown core of the city of Toronto, Canada. Part of the Toronto Waterfront, Harbourfront extends west from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street along Queen's Quay. East of Yonge to Parliament St...

 Antique Market. Toronto Life Magazine called him the "friendliest dealer in town." He has made numerous guest appearances as an antiques expert on such television shows as Room Service

Room Service (TV series)

Room Service is the first of four home renovation television series hosted by Canadian designer Sarah Richardson. In each episode, Richardson remakes one room of a person's house. It aired on HGTV in both the United States and in Canada.-External links:...

with Sarah Richardson

Sarah Richardson

Sarah Richardson is a Canadian interior decorator and television personality who started out her career as a prop stylist in 1994. Since then, Richardson has hosted the design series' Room Service, Design Inc., Sarah's House and Sarah's Cottage for HGTV in Canada.-Personal life:Richardson was born...

 on HGTV

HGTV

HGTV , is a cable-television network operating in the United States and Canada, broadcasting a variety of home and garden improvement, maintenance, renovation, craft and remodeling shows...

, Breakfast Television

Breakfast Television

Breakfast Television is a Canadian morning news and entertainment program which airs on the Citytv stations . Each station produces its own local edition of Breakfast Television....

on Citytv

Citytv

Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...

 and in 2002 he hosted a television pilot

Television pilot

A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...

 called Flea Market Millionaire for the 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...

.
Azman has also lectured on antiques at the CITT (Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology) at Ryerson University

Ryerson University

Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...

 and on Material Culture

Archaeological culture

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place, which are thought to constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and...

 at the Faculty of Liberal Studies at Ontario College of Art & Design

Ontario College of Art & Design

OCAD University is Canada's largest and oldest educational institution for art and design. It is located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on McCaul Street beside the Art Gallery of Ontario...

.

Voice Acting

Azman has long worked as a voice actor and has voiced several characters in animated series such as Starcom: The U.S. Space Force and The Adventures of Tintin

The Adventures of Tintin (TV series)

The Adventures of Tintin is an animated television series based on The Adventures of Tintin, a series of books by Hergé. It debuted in 1991, and 39 half-hour episodes were produced over the course of three seasons...

.

Personal life

Azman is married to Canadian artist& antique dealer Pulver Zajfman and lives in Toronto and Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

. He is a member of Mensa

Mensa International

Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test...

 and has a mild form of dyscalculia

Dyscalculia

Dyscalculia is a specific learning disability involving innate difficulty in learning or comprehending simple arithmetic. It is akin to dyslexia and includes difficulty in understanding numbers, learning how to manipulate numbers, learning maths facts, and a number of other related symptoms...

.

External links