Personal Narrative: A Career As Character Actors

Periodically, you might see an actor in a film or TV show and stop and marvel, "Where have I seen him before?" Thanks to our beloved digital age, we often have instant access, and it does appear that "character actors" are making a resurgence in recent times. And oftentimes, actors who class themselves in this genre have more works than we ever dreamed, and so it was when Paulino Nunes popped up in a recent Hallmark feature, I went on a mini-investigation. In my unending pursuit to highlight those who are inadvertently overlooked by the general public, I was overjoyed when he agreed to answer a few questions about his career, his works, and his general outlook on the world of entertainment itself.

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RH: What inspired you to become an actor?
Then I attended York University in Toronto and completed four years of theatre training before I started working professionally.

You have played such a wide variety of roles throughout your career. Do you have a preferred genre or type of role?

I really love playing comedy, although I don't get much opportunity to do so these days. I did loads of gigs with a sketch comedy troupe in the early 90's, and it would be great to do something like that again. In terms of types of roles - I do enjoy the quietly powerful types, serious and brooding, possibly even cruel and domineering - because that is quite the opposite of who I am day to day. Also, playing characters that have strong and compelling arcs is something I think every actor yearns to do. Playing a "Walter White type" would be a dream role.

Over the course of your career, you've probably had plenty of favorite roles. Can you share a couple of your favorites and why they are
The CBC series Shoot the Messenger starts here in Canada in early October - I can't reveal what my character is up to in that one. A very gritty and dark film I shot a couple of years ago called Kidnap Capital is making the festival rounds right now and hopefully will get some kind of release soon. And I hope to get shooting very soon on the second season of the Freeform series Shadowhunters.

As a family man, how do you balance your family and career life?

The truth is that I have far more time than most working parents to spend with my family. My work days are indeed long at times, but they're usually concentrated in shorter bursts, so I've had the pleasure of being a big part of my kids' early years. I also had the luxury of booking a couple of months off after the birth of both of my children, so I never felt like I was "missing" anything. And from time to time, I'll take my son along to auctions, which is always fun!

Any plans to write and/or direct one day?

Yes, very definitely. In fact, I've got a few projects that have been lingering for the past few years because I simply don't have free time to dedicate to writing right now. With my son off to school this year, I hope to get back to it soon. I've always wanted to direct - again from childhood. It's a matter of finding the right opportunity to dive into that world at this