Actor / Director Profile

Jonathan Torrens has worked as a performer, writer and producer for 15 years. In 1989, he started a seven-year run as one of the hosts of Street Cents, an International Emmy award-winning consumer/sketch show for youth. In 1996, Torrens began a five year stint as the host of his own sketch/talk show Jonovision, for which he earned seven Gemini Award nominations, including Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Series and Best Comedy Series. Jonathan Cross's Canada, his parody of a Charles Kuralt style newsmagazine show, aired on CBC last year. As an actor, Jonathan has guest starred twice each on the topical comedies This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Royal Canadian Air Farce, along with recurring roles in the period drama Pit Pony and the sitcom Rideau Hall. This year he's had guest starring roles on Degrassi: The Next Generation and the sketch comedy Listen Missy. As a host, Jonathan's credits are as varied as Living Romance, Canada Day, The CBC News Millenium Special, The East Coast Music Awards and Sesame Park. In film, he won the Best Supporting Actor award at the 1999 Atlantic Film Festival for his feature debut in Thom Fitzgerald's Beefcake. His first romantic comedy, The Breadmaker, premiered at the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival in 2003. On the other side of the camera, he has produced and co-written two award-winning shorts: Liquor Store, which won Best Short and Best Director at the Atlantic Film Festival in 1996, and Nan's Taxi, which won the Gemini Award for Best Short Drama in 1997.