“I suppose an actor’s greatest tool is empathy. It’s desperately important that you have empathy for whoever you are playing,” says Blair Williams.
“It’s not just a question of mimicry or putting on a funny voice, it’s trying to understand the motivation of whichever character it is.”
That’s the approach the Chippewa Secondary School graduate has taken over the course of his career. It has helped him land roles on stages across the globe including New York, London, and throughout Canada. He’s also a Juno Award-winning narrator and the voice of Mr. Porter on Paw Patrol.
Williams says his earliest memories of having the desire to perform and act were in a class play in grade six.
“It was a strange little play about an old woman who didn’t like pigeons but by the end of the play learns about friendship…or something like that. Anyway, all the girls in the class read for the part and I felt that none of them understood her at all. So, I asked if I could read for her and, to his everlasting credit, Mr. Murray said that I got the part,” says Williams.
“I don’t know where that came from within me, but I’ve always been drawn to trying to understand people, and the theatre and performing arts are a great opportunity to do that,” he continues.
“I’ve looked through a lot of windows in my career, a lot of different people have inhabited me and it’s a great way to expand your own empathy which grows exponentially the more characters you explore and the more people you try to understand. It rolls over into your real life as well.”
As a member of the Chippewa Raiders Drama Club, Williams had the opportunity to go to the Sears Drama Festival, which he says prepared him well for his next steps.
“The Festival is a competition at the end of it all, so there is an edge to it, you want to be as good as you can be. When I was in high school, our Drama Club was more successful than our football team really, it was a great feather in the cap of our school and there were a number of people that got involved beyond high school. In fact, when I was in school in Montreal there were five of us that were from North Bay, which is quite an extraordinary overrepresentation of the talent pool there. It was a great credit to the city and to the high schools. Both TOROS and Summer Challenge are vital to aspects to the cultural structure of North Bay.”
Williams attended the National Theatre School of Canada and then joined the Shaw Festival for the first time in 1988.
Williams says that the first foray at Shaw was a “Mind-blowing experience because it was on a scale that I had never experienced before.”
This was where Williams’ stage career started to take off as he spent five seasons working with that company and included a stint across the pond.
“I had a chance to go to Liverpool and work in England for four months at the Everyman Theatre, which was a wonderful experience and a high-water mark at that time in my life,” says Williams.
A decade would go by in which Williams would build his portfolio appearing in many productions including The Madras House, Uncle Vanya, Major Barbara, John Bull’s Other Island, The Two Mrs Carrolls, and many more.
“But after about 10 years I was really starting to look at what else was out there. I got involved in political activism for a while. But then I was called back into the theatre one summer when I got a call from a few colleagues from my days at the Shaw Festival and I thought ‘well if I’m waiting for a call or a sign, there it is.’”
Williams returned to Shaw where not only did he continue to act but was also now directing.
Williams says “It was great because to direct is an entirely different experience. To sit on that side of the table and be where the buck stops is a whole other kettle of fish. The very first thing I directed at Shaw was such a triumph that it was hard to top. It was a play called The President by Ferenc Molnár and it was a fascinating farce and I couldn’t have wished for a more successful debut.”
Williams has also done some film and television, getting credits in The Romanoffs, Suits, Designated Survivor, Murdoch Mysteries.
“It’s a totally different medium and it just vibrates at a different frequency,” says Williams about working in television. “It’s much closer to improv in a way where you don’t really go out for rehearsal time. There is an immense amount of pressure because of the whole production. You’re pretending to be in a room with one other person even though there are 80 people gathered around that you have to ignore. But I enjoy it and I’d love to do more of it, but voice work has been a staple of mine over the last little while and it’s something I really enjoy.”
If you have young children at home, you may recognize the name, Mr. Porter. He owns the grocery store in Adventure Bay where the Paw Patrol are found saving the day. Williams says that has been very satisfying to be on a show that has become so beloved.
“The character I play, Mr. Porter, is not the most pivotal character in the program and he’s not what the kids tune in for, but he’s a great solid character that I’m happy to play,” he says.
“I remember the day I auditioned for that and just having a good feeling about it and going in and doing the callback and thinking that it went well. You never know where these things are going to go but it’s great that it’s gained this much popularity. We just finished our eighth season, so it’s been a very satisfying engagement. He’s a pretty pivotal character in Adventure Bay; I mean someone’s got to call the Paw Patrol for help,” Williams says laughing.
This is not the only successful project in which Williams voice has contributed to. In 2006 he narrated a children’s album called: Baroque Adventure: The Quest for Arundo Donax.
“It was a collaboration project I did with Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra,” says Williams.
“Allison Mackay, who was the double bassists at the time, wrote a program for children called The Quest for Arundo Donax which was a story of Henry Purcells two children going on a quest to France during the war when Queen Anne was on the throne, and the kids had to get this reed which is used to make oboes and bassoons. Without it you can’t play those instruments and the kids had to smuggle themselves into France to get it. It’s a great story and it was conceived as a way to introduce children to the instruments and music of the orchestra and it was an adventure story to engage their imaginations. We did it first as a stage production and then they made an album of it, which I voiced on the English version and that ended up winning Children’s Album of the Year at the Juno Awards.”
That is a small part of what has been a 20-year partnership in which Williams has voiced shows for Tafelmusik.
When Williams reflects on these successes and awards, he says, “This business can be a slog, your work is your auditions. You just put yourself out there constantly, but occasionally you get to be a part of something that turns out to be quite extraordinary and I’m grateful that I’ve managed to grab that brass ring a couple of times in my career.
