Article

Charles Officer

Published Online February 1, 2024

Last Edited February 1, 2024

Charles Officer, director, writer, producer, actor, cinematographer, editor, hockey player (born 28 October 1975 in Toronto, ON; died 1 December 2023 in Toronto). Charles Officer was a versatile and prolific filmmaker whose works typically focused on the experiences of Black Canadians. Initially an actor, he went on to direct, write and produce feature films, documentaries and TV series. He won four Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Drama Series and Best Direction, Drama Series for CBC’s The Porter (2022). Officer died at the age of 48 after a long illness and complications from a heart attack.

Early Life and Career

Charles Officer was raised in Toronto by a Black Jewish mother from Jamaica and a Seventh-Day Adventist father from England. A talented hockey player in his teens, Officer was drafted by the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League and briefly played pro hockey in Britain. While playing for the Calgary Flames’ farm team in Salt Lake City, he developed chronic tendinitis in his wrist. He left hockey and decided to pursue his fallback career option, studying communication and design at the Ontario College of Art (now Ontario College of Art and Design University). He then worked as a creative director at a Toronto advertising agency before going to New York City to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre.

After returning to Toronto, Officer landed small roles in TV series and in films, including Clement Virgo’s Love Come Down (2000) and Bruce McDonald’s Picture Claire (2001). He also studied alongside Sarah Polley in the Directors’ Lab at the Canadian Film Centre.

Officer established himself as a promising young director with five acclaimed short films. They included Short Hymn, Silent War (2002), which was nominated for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 2004 Genie Awards. Indie producer Ingrid Veninger hired Officer to contribute to the omnibus film Hotel Vladivostok (2006). In 2008, he directed two episodes of Trey Anthony’s groundbreaking Black sitcom ‘Da Kink in My Hair. Also that year, Officer founded his own production company, Canesugar Filmworks.

Career Highlights

Charles Officer’s debut feature, Nurse.Fighter.Boy (2008), was co-written with Veninger and starred The Wire’s Clark Johnson. It went on to earn 10 Genie Award nominations after premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The Georgia Straight’s Ken Eisner called it “a satisfyingly soulful exploration of the African diaspora and its beautiful discontents.”

Officer followed Nurse.Fighter.Boy with his first feature documentary, Mighty Jerome (2010), about track and field star Harry Jerome. Produced by the National Film Board (NFB), Mighty Jerome won a regional Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary. Officer then directed television documentaries about the Winnipeg Jets (Fuelled by Passion: The Return of the Jets) and American football player Chuck Ealey (Stone Thrower: The Chuck Ealey Story).


While working as a director for hire on such Canadian TV series as Rookie Blue, Saving Hope, 21 Thunder and Private Eyes, Officer directed two more acclaimed documentaries in 2017: an adaptation of Black journalist and activist Desmond Cole’s book The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power, about anti-Black racism in Canada; and Unarmed Verses, about Black residents in Toronto facing forced relocation. It was named Best Canadian Documentary at the Vancouver International Film Festival and Best Canadian Feature Documentary at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Officer returned to fiction for his next feature film, Akilla’s Escape (2020). It follows a Jamaican Canadian boy trying to break free from a cycle of generational violence. The movie was nominated for eight Canadian Screen Awards and won five, including for Officer’s original screenplay. Officer also won two Canadian Screen Awards for his work on CBC’s limited series The Porter (2022), about the formation of North America’s first all-Black union.

Other Activities

Charles Officer directed music videos for such artists as K’naan (“Strugglin’”) and DJ Green Velvet (“Shake & Pop”). He also served on the boards of the Art Gallery of Ontario and Reel Canada, which screens Canadian films in high schools across the country.


Awards

Canadian Screen Awards

  • Original Screenplay (Akilla’s Escape) (2021)
  • Best Direction, Web Program or Series (“The Death News,” 21 Black Futures) (2022)
  • Best Drama Series (The Porter) (2023)
  • Best Direction, Drama Series (The Porter) (2023)

Others

  • Audience Award (Fighter.Boy), Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (2009)
  • Best Historical Documentary (Mighty Jerome), Northwest Regional Emmy Awards (2012)
  • Best Canadian Documentary (Unarmed Verses), Vancouver International Film Festival (2017)
  • Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award (Unarmed Verses), Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (2017)
  • Best Canadian Feature (Akilla’s Escape), Victoria Film Festival (2021)
  • Outstanding Directorial Achievement, Dramatic Series (The Porter), Directors Guild of Canada (2022)