John Fawcett

Director John Fawcett spearheaded a new wave of Canadian horror with cult werewolf flick "Ginger Snaps" (2000) before co-creating one of his homeland's most successful sci-fi exports, "Orphan Black "(Space, 2013-). Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1968 to strict Mormon parents, Fawcett first began making films on a Super 8 camera while at high school, going onto hone his craft at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and Canadian Film Centre. Fawcett made his directorial debut with "Half Nelson" (1992), a short about a kid who thinks his father is a vampire, before moving into TV for a single episode of kids sci-fi comedy "Space Cases" (Nickelodeon, 1996-97) and then full-length features with "The Boys Club" (1997), a crime thriller in which Chris Penn's fugitive befriends a group of teenagers. His big breakthrough arrived in the shape of "Ginger Snaps" (2000), a coming-of-age lycanthropic tale about two death-obsessed sisters which briefly positioned Fawcett as the new David Cronenberg. Following work on "My Daughter's Secret Life" (2001), a TV movie about a high school student's gambling obsession, and several episodes of action-adventure "Xena: Warrior Princess" (Syndication, 1995-2001), crime drama "Da Vinci's Inquest" (CBC, 1998-2005), and romantic sitcom "Show Me Yours" (Showcase, 2004-05), Fawcett returned to the horror genre with "The Dark" (2005), a Welsh-based mythological story about a couple whose daughter is replaced by a long-dead girl. Fawcett then helmed a number of TV movies including parallel lives drama "Last Exit" (2006), countryside horror "Bon Voyage" (2006) and political thriller "The Quality of Life" (2008), and added LGBT groundbreaker "Queer as Folk" (Showcase, 2000-05), security agency drama "The Border" (CBC, 2008-2010) and police procedural "The Bridge" (CTV, 2010) to his increasingly prolific resume. Family drama "Heartland" (CTV, 2007-), supernatural hit "Lost Girl" (Showcase, 2010-15) and time travel comedy "Being Erica" (CBC, 2009-2011) were just some of the Canadian TV shows which occasionally benefitted from Fawcett's directorial flair, with cop drama "Rookie Blue" (ABC, 2010-15) and medical mystery "Saving Hope" (CTV, 2012-) both employing his talents for longer periods too. Fawcett then received the highest acclaim of his career with a show with he wrote, produced and directed, and developed alongside Graeme Manson, "Orphan Black" (Space, 2013-), an award-winning sci-fi drama which explores the complex issue of human cloning.