Zel
12-10-01, 01:41 PM
"Stephen Shellen grew up in Victoria, British Columbia and like many young Canadians his first love was hockey. But with Stephen it was more of a passion and he was his high school's star hockey player. Growing on Canada's so-called "Wet Coast" with its magnificent rain forests, many people gravitate toward the lumber industry and Stephen worked for a time as a lumberjack. But all of that changed when he caught the attention of a talent scout in Vancouver. It was a fateful meeting and Stephen's life changed virtually overnight.
First he moved to England and became an extremely successful model. Like many models of the opposite sex, Stephen thought he could parlay his good looks and ease in front of an audience into an acting career. From London he moved to Los Angeles where he studied with Peggy Feury and it wasn't long after that casting agents were signing him to his first feature film contracts making his feature debut in the 1982 film, Spring Fever.
In the next five years he appeared in a number of made-for-television movies . He also had a strong role in the mini-series, Hollywood Wives in 1985 where he was able to rub shoulders with Anthony Hopkins, Candice Bergen and Robert Stack. Two years later he was a regular on the TV series, Cameo By Night. But the big screen was never far from Stephen's mind and the late 80's brought a string of impressive roles in movies like Modern Girls in 1986, The Stepfather in 1987 and Casual Sex with Lea Thompson and Victoria Jackson. His career path was growing in all he right directions. He was not only working a better and better projects, but his talent as an actor was being stretched to handle better and better roles. He appeared in the made-for-TV movie that was the pilot for the series, Murder One. Although Stephen didn't end up in that series he returned to Canada in the early 90s, to take a lead role on the Nikita-esque USA Networks series "Counterstrike", with Simon MacCorkindale and Christopher Plummer, in which he played Luke Brenner, part of a team of three operatives who fought terrorism around the globe.
Back in the U.S., Stephen starred in "April One", a film about a hostage crisis for which he won critical raves. He also made an appearance as the cocky actor brother of Craig Sheffer's love interest in the Academy-Award-winning "A River Runs Through It"; his scenes with Susan Trawley were referred to by Newsweek as the funniest sequence in the movie. His career continued to blend big-budget, box office winners like "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, and small but critically acclaimed independent films like "Rude" which was named the Best Canadian Feature Film at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as receiving eight Genie nominations. In 1997, he was invited to Toronto to shoot what he thought would be a one-time appearance on "La Femme Nikita", playing a dedicated police detective who stumbles into more than he bargained for in pursuit of a serial killer. However, he was a hit with the show's fans, and so LFN made the decision to bring him back in a recurring role for the series' fifth and final season. The episodes began airing in the U.S. in January of this year. Most recently Stephen was in the hit Nicholas Cage/Angelina Jolie film "Gone in 60 Seconds"
Look for Stephen later this year (2001) in the film Highway. An exact release date has not been announced. "
written by Northernstars
Films:
Spring Fever (1982) Your Place, or Mine (TV-83) Amazons (TV-84) A Touch of Scandal (TV-84) Gimme an "F" (84) A Letter to Three Wives (TV-85) Behind Enemy Lines (TV-85) Modern Girls (86) Talking Walls (87) The Stepfather (87) Burglar (87) Casual Sex? (88) Still Life (88) Murder One (TV-88) American Gothic (88) Damned River (89) Drop Dead Gorgeous (TV-91) A River Runs Through It (92) The Bodyguard (92) April One (93) Model By Day (TV-94) Greyhounds (TV-94) Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (95) Rude (95) The Wrong Woman (95) Rolling Thunder (95) Deceptions II: Edge of Deception (95) Lifeline (TV-96) Vivid (97) Honeymoon (97) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) Frozen with Fear (2000) Highway (2001)
TV series: Hollywood Wives (mini-series, 1985) Cameo By Night (1987) Counterstrike (1990-1991) La Femme Nikita (2001)
First he moved to England and became an extremely successful model. Like many models of the opposite sex, Stephen thought he could parlay his good looks and ease in front of an audience into an acting career. From London he moved to Los Angeles where he studied with Peggy Feury and it wasn't long after that casting agents were signing him to his first feature film contracts making his feature debut in the 1982 film, Spring Fever.
In the next five years he appeared in a number of made-for-television movies . He also had a strong role in the mini-series, Hollywood Wives in 1985 where he was able to rub shoulders with Anthony Hopkins, Candice Bergen and Robert Stack. Two years later he was a regular on the TV series, Cameo By Night. But the big screen was never far from Stephen's mind and the late 80's brought a string of impressive roles in movies like Modern Girls in 1986, The Stepfather in 1987 and Casual Sex with Lea Thompson and Victoria Jackson. His career path was growing in all he right directions. He was not only working a better and better projects, but his talent as an actor was being stretched to handle better and better roles. He appeared in the made-for-TV movie that was the pilot for the series, Murder One. Although Stephen didn't end up in that series he returned to Canada in the early 90s, to take a lead role on the Nikita-esque USA Networks series "Counterstrike", with Simon MacCorkindale and Christopher Plummer, in which he played Luke Brenner, part of a team of three operatives who fought terrorism around the globe.
Back in the U.S., Stephen starred in "April One", a film about a hostage crisis for which he won critical raves. He also made an appearance as the cocky actor brother of Craig Sheffer's love interest in the Academy-Award-winning "A River Runs Through It"; his scenes with Susan Trawley were referred to by Newsweek as the funniest sequence in the movie. His career continued to blend big-budget, box office winners like "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, and small but critically acclaimed independent films like "Rude" which was named the Best Canadian Feature Film at the 1995 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as receiving eight Genie nominations. In 1997, he was invited to Toronto to shoot what he thought would be a one-time appearance on "La Femme Nikita", playing a dedicated police detective who stumbles into more than he bargained for in pursuit of a serial killer. However, he was a hit with the show's fans, and so LFN made the decision to bring him back in a recurring role for the series' fifth and final season. The episodes began airing in the U.S. in January of this year. Most recently Stephen was in the hit Nicholas Cage/Angelina Jolie film "Gone in 60 Seconds"
Look for Stephen later this year (2001) in the film Highway. An exact release date has not been announced. "
written by Northernstars
Films:
Spring Fever (1982) Your Place, or Mine (TV-83) Amazons (TV-84) A Touch of Scandal (TV-84) Gimme an "F" (84) A Letter to Three Wives (TV-85) Behind Enemy Lines (TV-85) Modern Girls (86) Talking Walls (87) The Stepfather (87) Burglar (87) Casual Sex? (88) Still Life (88) Murder One (TV-88) American Gothic (88) Damned River (89) Drop Dead Gorgeous (TV-91) A River Runs Through It (92) The Bodyguard (92) April One (93) Model By Day (TV-94) Greyhounds (TV-94) Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde (95) Rude (95) The Wrong Woman (95) Rolling Thunder (95) Deceptions II: Edge of Deception (95) Lifeline (TV-96) Vivid (97) Honeymoon (97) Gone in 60 Seconds (2000) Frozen with Fear (2000) Highway (2001)
TV series: Hollywood Wives (mini-series, 1985) Cameo By Night (1987) Counterstrike (1990-1991) La Femme Nikita (2001)