Article

Neil Crone

Published Online January 24, 2012

Last Edited July 3, 2015

Crone taught high school drama and English while performing in Theatresports and Big City Improv. He accepted a spot in Toronto's famed Second City Touring Company and before long moved on to the prestigious Second City Mainstage.
Neil Crone, actor
Neil Crone is a versatile actor whose roles have ranged from villains to child-friendly animated characters. (Photo courtesy of Neil Crone, photographer Monica McKenna)\r\n

Neil Crone

Neil Crone, actor, writer, comedian (b at Scarborough, Ont 29 May 1960). Neil Crone attended Sir John A. Macdonald Collegiate Institute and then studied radio and television arts at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute before earning a degree in education from the University of Toronto. A creative jack-of-all-trades, he is more easily described as a showman than a typical character actor. The arc of his career reaches from roles as smarmy, unlikable villains in weekly sci-fi series to the voices of sweet animated characters beloved to kids across North America.

Crone taught high school drama and English while performing in Theatresports and Big City Improv. He accepted a spot in Toronto's famed Second City Touring Company and before long moved on to the prestigious Second City Mainstage. His work in television and radio commercials initially caught the attention of casting agents hiring affable voice quality for characters in animated programs for children. He became more visible in Canada with recurring roles on series including The Red Green Show, Wind at my Back, Goosebumps, Power Play and At the Hotel. Crone has been one of the lucky few to achieve crossover success in feature films with memorable roles in Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy (1998), American Psycho II: All American Girl (2002), Against the Ropes (2004) and Hollywoodland (2006).

In 2007 he won the role of redneck radio broadcaster Fred Tupper in the enormously popular CBC comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, thus becoming a familiar face to fans of the show around the world. He has also been seen in episodes of PSI Factor, Blue Murder, Monk, Puppets Who Kill, Sue Thomas F.B.Eye, Doc, The Eleventh Hour, Really Me and Saving Hope.

In 2009 Neil Crone was awarded a Canadian Comedy Award for his work as Bad Santa on Q107 Radio. He is a spokesperson for the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada and Colon Cancer Canada. He is also the author of the children's books I Am Dead at Recess and Coby Builds a House and writes an award-winning humour column for Metroland Newspapers.