Who We Were - in 2012
GILLIAN BENNETT - Actor/Writer
Gillian Bennett graduated from The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York City. She has a BFA in Creative Writing from UBC. She is an award-winning playwright and actress. She is passionate about creating stories for the stage and screen.
RUSSELL BENNETT - Director/Actor/Producer
Russell Bennett is an award-winning playwright, filmmaker and actor.
Born and raised in the Big Smoke (Toronto), Russell became a lawyer at 26 years of age. One month later, he directed and produced his first documentary film, STONED: Hemp Nation on Trial. STONED premiered on CBC Newsworld’s Rough Cuts, becoming the show’s most popular documentary and was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.
After graduating from New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 2000, Russell began writing, acting and producing his own plays with Gillian Bennett for Canada’s Fringe Festival circuit receiving many awards and critical acclaim for THE REEFER MAN, ROCKET MAN, SELF-STORAGE and CRUDE LOVE: Love in the Time of the Oil Sands. Russell has starred in several short films including THE SCHOOL, which premiered at Sundance and won the Volkswagen Audience Award at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival, and in Emmanuel Shirinian’s THE LAST BANG, which screened at many festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal, Tribeca, AFI Dallas, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Venice and Houston (where it won the Gold Remi Award for Best Original Comedy) and was broadcast on the CBC, IFC, and Moviola.
Russell returned to directing films with Shirinian, who co-wrote, co-produced, co-directed and co-starred with Russell in the short film LES SOFTIES, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Russell won the 2011 NSI Drama Prize to direct the short film HENRY, and directed the short film FUNNY BUSINESS, a winner of Vancouver's Crazy 8s Film Festival where it premiered to a sold-out crowd of over 1200 people at Vancouver's Vogue Theatre, premiered at the Edmonton International Film Festival and New York City's Hells Kitchen Film Festival. Russell creates web videos for non-profit organizations like Seva, Forest Ethics, and Greenpeace. Kate Kellner at The George Agency represents Russell for acting.
Russell teaches the Sanford Meisner Acting Technique. He taught for four years in Vancouver, and taught the technique with Jason Fraser at Fraser Studios in Russell's workshop, Foundation.
Born and raised in the Big Smoke (Toronto), Russell became a lawyer at 26 years of age. One month later, he directed and produced his first documentary film, STONED: Hemp Nation on Trial. STONED premiered on CBC Newsworld’s Rough Cuts, becoming the show’s most popular documentary and was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.
After graduating from New York City’s Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in 2000, Russell began writing, acting and producing his own plays with Gillian Bennett for Canada’s Fringe Festival circuit receiving many awards and critical acclaim for THE REEFER MAN, ROCKET MAN, SELF-STORAGE and CRUDE LOVE: Love in the Time of the Oil Sands. Russell has starred in several short films including THE SCHOOL, which premiered at Sundance and won the Volkswagen Audience Award at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival, and in Emmanuel Shirinian’s THE LAST BANG, which screened at many festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Montreal, Tribeca, AFI Dallas, Los Angeles, Barcelona, Venice and Houston (where it won the Gold Remi Award for Best Original Comedy) and was broadcast on the CBC, IFC, and Moviola.
Russell returned to directing films with Shirinian, who co-wrote, co-produced, co-directed and co-starred with Russell in the short film LES SOFTIES, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Russell won the 2011 NSI Drama Prize to direct the short film HENRY, and directed the short film FUNNY BUSINESS, a winner of Vancouver's Crazy 8s Film Festival where it premiered to a sold-out crowd of over 1200 people at Vancouver's Vogue Theatre, premiered at the Edmonton International Film Festival and New York City's Hells Kitchen Film Festival. Russell creates web videos for non-profit organizations like Seva, Forest Ethics, and Greenpeace. Kate Kellner at The George Agency represents Russell for acting.
Russell teaches the Sanford Meisner Acting Technique. He taught for four years in Vancouver, and taught the technique with Jason Fraser at Fraser Studios in Russell's workshop, Foundation.
