Article

Geri Hall

Published Online August 5, 2012

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Geri Hall, actor, writer (born at Oakville, Ont 2 May 1972). Geri Hall began her career as an actor in 1998 when she enrolled in Toronto's famed Second City workshop classes and became a member of that troupe's touring company before a promotion to the main stage in 1999.

Geri Hall

Geri Hall, actor, writer (born at Oakville, Ont 2 May 1972). Geri Hall began her career as an actor in 1998 when she enrolled in Toronto's famed Second City workshop classes and became a member of that troupe's touring company before a promotion to the main stage in 1999. In the early characters she created, she mined previous employment as a waitress for its comedic potential.

In 2000, Geri Hall co-wrote and performed in Second City's Sordido Deluxo, a berserk theatre experiment that bordered on the lightly surreal, as an oppressively sultry, hard-headed waitress. Hall redesigned and augmented this character to suit her growing skills as a performer in Death of a Salesgirl (2002), a satirical play once again co-written by Hall and featuring another performance as a savvy drone of the serving industry, but in this instance portraying the sadness and predictability of a blue collar existence. It was during one of these shows that the CBC approached Hall and her co-writers about adapting the play into a television movie. The comedy special To Die 4 (2004) was the result and Hall was nominated for a CANADIAN COMEDY AWARD for her writing. This led to appearances in the Hollywood remakes of Shall We Dance (2004) and Hairspray (2007), but it was in her Canadian television work that she stood out in dramatic performances like her GEMINI AWARD-nominated guest role on The Jane Show and in comedy series such as At the Hotel, The Rick Mercer Report and, most significantly, This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Initially appearing in several episodes of the agitprop political sketch show, Geri Hall was offered a permanent role in 2007. In 2008 she received a Gemini nomination for best writing in a comedy series and a win from the Writer's Guild of Canada for variety television writing, as well as 3 consecutive Gemini nominations for best ensemble performance in a comedy series, winning the award in 2010.

Her gift for portraying conspicuously normal people in over-the-top situations and her ability to work collaboratively as both a performer and staff writer make her an easy fit with the esthetics of the long-running series.