Share on Facebook
Share on X
Share by Email
Share on Google Classroom
Lorne Cardinal, actor, director (born 6 January 1964 in Sucker Creek, AB). Lorne Cardinal is renowned Cree actor who has played prominent roles within Canada. Possibly best-known for his role in Corner Gas, Cardinal has played numerous roles in both television and film. In addition to his work in front of the camera, Cardinal has also directed and acted on stage.
Lorne Cardinal
Lorne Cardinal has portrayed numerous roles throughout his career, both on stage and screen. He has won numerous awards and honours in recognition of his work, including winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance, Animation as well as being
awarded the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence from the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.
(Andrew Chin/Getty Images)
Career
Lorne Cardinal began working almost immediately after graduating from the University of Alberta with a bachelor of fine arts in 1993. He was the first Indigenous student accepted into the University of Alberta’s acting program. One of his first roles was on the stage in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night for Dream in High Park in Toronto. He played Chief Red Cloud in Denver Center's production of Black Elk Speaks. It was a smash hit and later remounted in Los Angeles. He also played the role of Spotted Elk in several episodes of the short-lived Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994). His resume expanded with high profile roles in the television series Tecumseh (1994-95) and North of 60 (1995-97), and especially as Little Bad Man in Gil Cardinal’s much-admired miniseries Big Bear (1998).
In the following decade, Cardinal became one of the more visible actors in Canadian television. He portrayed Chief Smack-Your-Face-In in the series Blackfly (2000), he hosted APTN's Buffalo Tracks (2002), and he played Wayne Sinclair in the coming-of-age series Renegadepress.com (2004-08). As Wayne Sinclair, Cardinal played the role of father to a high school student who writes and publishes on the Internet about the aggravations and confusions of near-adulthood. He went on to direct a handful of episodes for the series before its end.
In 2004, he was cast as Constable Davis Quinton in the phenomenally successful hit CTV sitcom Corner Gas (2004-09), created by Brent Butt. Officer Quinton takes seriously his role as senior police officer in a fictional Saskatchewan town, warranting many poorly planned yet sweetly conceived schemes. He also provided his voice as the character Jacob in all 26 episodes of the animated Wapos Bay: The Series (2005-09), set on a First Nations reserve in northern Saskatchewan.
Corner Gas Cast
One of Lorne Cardinal’s most recognizable roles is that of Constable Davis Quinton in the hit television series Corner Gas. In 2007, the cast of Corner Gas won the Gemini Award for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series.
(George Pimentel/Getty Images)
Cardinal co-starred with Craig Lauzon in Kenneth T. Williams's Thunderstick, which began presenting to high school students in Western Canada in 2009.
In March 2011, Cardinal directed the play Three Little Birds for Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company in Saskatoon. In September that year he starred in Marie Clements's Copper Thunderbird, playing Anishinaabe painter Norval Morrisseau at the Western Edge Theatre in Nanaimo. He also took on a recurring role in the Cartoon Network's teen action series Level Up (2012-13) as Principal Storm and in the CBC television series Arctic Air (2012-14) starring Adam Beach. He began rehearsals with Western Canada Theatre Company for his starring role in Michel Tremblay’s For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, which played in Kamloops at Sagebrush Theatre early in 2012.
Cardinal toured nationally with Kevin Loring's Where the Blood Mixes, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Drama. The play is about two First Nations men on a fishing trip who use the solitude to pick away at nagging issues left over from their experiences within Canada's residential school system.
Cardinal remains active in theatre and contributes to First Nations cultures, specifically through his work with Native Earth Performing Arts and Saskatchewan Native Theatre. He has received an honorary degree from Thompson Rivers University in recognition of his contributions to theatre. With his partner, writer and comedian Monique Hurteau, Cardinal tours British Columbia giving health and humour workshops. In 2022, the newly opened Roxy Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta named a space after Cardinal. The Lorne Cardinal Theatre is a black box theatre that seats 80 people.
Awards and Honours
- Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series (Corner Gas), Gemini Awards (2007)
- Best Individual or Ensemble Performance in an Animated Program or Series (Wapos Bay: The Series), Gemini Awards (2008)
- Doctor of Letters, honoris causa, Thompson Rivers University (2009)
- August Schellenberg Award of Excellence, imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival (2020)
- Best Performance, Animation, Canadian Screen Awards (2021)
- Vanguard Award, Whistler Film Festival (2021)
- Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Alberta (2022)
