Michael Ironside: Acting has to be a bit of a challenge

The Light under Stained Glass

Michael Ironside – Scanners – Courtesy of Canadian Film Development Corporation (CFDC),Filmplan International

1428 Elm: If you are an actor or actress you want a career like yours. You aren’t pigeonholed into playing the same role over and over again. Do you have any advice for someone in the business that wants to have your type of career where you are fluid in different genres?

MI: Learn how to act. I am very well trained and I studied with a very good acting teacher from the Actors Studio. Her name was Janine Manatis. She was one of the triumvirates at the Studio. You had to get past her. Elia Kazan was another one.

I was fortunate to get very grounded, very modern, realistic training. I studied with her for 5 years. Honestly, I really like acting. I like to light up stained glass. To me, I feel that actors should be the light underneath the stained glass.

I love working with actors that understand the process of bringing stories to life.