Ennis Esmer
☼ Born on 29 December (year unknown), in Ankara, Turkey
Biography
Ennis' first standout acting role was in 2006, as the temperamental janitor Zoltan in the Gemini Awards-winning Billable Hours - this role set a precedent in Esmer's career, as what was originally a one-off appearance was expanded to a recurring role because of the popularity of his take on it. His next major role came in 2009 in The Listener as Osman 'Oz' Bey, the best friend to telepathic paramedic Toby Logan (played by Craig Olejnik). Esmer was nominated once in 2010 for an ACTRA Award, and twice in 2010 and 2011 for Canadian Comedy Awards for this role. In the opposite seasons to shooting The Listener in Toronto, Esmer was shooting his role as Eddie, the failed actor and apartment manager, in The L.A. Complex.
Starting in 2014, Esmer had regular roles in You Me Her, Private Eyes, Red Oaks, and Blindspot, once again often shooting in opposite or even the same seasons. In Audience Network's polyamory comedy You Me Her, he played Dave Amari, best friend and neighbour of Jack Trekarsky, the 'Him' of the title. In Global Television Network/Ion Television's Private Eyes, he played Kurtis 'Maz' Mazhari, a Detective who helped main characters Matt Shade (played by Jason Priestley) and Angie Everett (played by Cindy Sampson) solve crimes. He would be nominated in 2019 for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards for this latter role.
In Amazon Studios 1980's set comedy-drama Red Oaks, he played the Turkish lothario tennis instru
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ctor Nash. He said of the role, 'It's fun to play a character who is a pretty decent representation of my ethnicity...His ethnicity doesn't define the role, and he gets to be a full person aside from that, and in fact, because of that.' In NBC's Blindspot, Esmer again took a role that was an originally a one-off spot in season one, and went first to recurring then series regular in season four. His instinctive improvisational style and delivery made fan-favourite Rich Dotcom what show creator Martin Gero said was the character that defined the series. Esmer also had a memorable 3-episode arc as Emir Kaplan, the travel blogger who broke Stevie Budd's heart, in season five of the Emmy Award-winning comedy series Schitt's Creek.
Esmer currently stars in CTV's comedy Children Ruin Everything, a role for which he won the 2023 Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy.
In film, Esmer has worked extensively in Canadian indie short and feature-length films. He started his film career in a bit part as Ronnie in the American film How to Deal in 2003. His breakout film role was in 2007's Young People Fucking, co-written by his longtime friend and later Blindspot show runner Martin Gero and other longtime friend Aaron Abrams. This film was notable not just for winning multiple Genie Awards and nearly sweeping the film category of the Canadian Comedy Awards, but also because of the furor around funding caused politically by its name and perceived content.
In 2014, Esmer starred in his first lead film role as Leonard Crane, a small-town newspaper reporter, in Big News from Grand Rock, a comedy-drama about the demise of small-town newspapers - on which he also served as an executive-producer. The same year, he played a supporting role as Sean in the romantic comedy Dirty Singles, for which he was nominated for an ACTRA Award, and won best male performance at the Canadian Comedy Awards. In 2015, he played a supporting role in sex comedy How to Plan an Orgy in a Small Town, directed by Jeremy Lalonde, again serving as executive-producer. In 2016, he played a supporting role in Miss Sloane with Jessica Chastain. That same year, he played Moe, a flight crash investigator, in the television film Brace for Impact, for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance by Supporting Actor in a Drama at the 6th Canadian Screen Awards in 2018. Also in 2018, he played the astrophysicist Charlie in Clara, a science-fiction film which won the Jury Prize at the Austin Film Festival. He can next be seen in Ally Pankiw's dramedy I Used To Be Funny, Mackenzie Munro's coming of age comedy Boot Camp, and Incendo's updated remake of The Amityville Curse.
Esmer has also undertaken several hosting duties in Canada - hosting, among others, the Gemini Awards (twice), the Canadian Screen Awards, and the ACTRA Awards, even virtually hosting the feature films section of the Directors Guild of Canada Awards in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He was also the co-host of Wipeout Canada alongside the legendary Jonathan Torrens, and currently hosts Roast Battle Canada on CTV Comedy. Esmer first came to prominence as a host on Toronto 1's variety series The Toronto Show in 2003.
In the role of actor
Nose to Tail (20/03/2019)
The head chef of a high end restaurant tries to hold it together during a very stressful day and night in Nose to Tail. Daniel (Aaron Abrams) is a talented, yet abrasive, chef at a Toronto restaurant, the future of which relies greatly on impressing an important diner coming that evening. Daniel takes out much […]
Clara (10/09/2018)
An astromoner tries to find a habitable planet with the help of his new research assistant in Clara. Dr. Isaac Bruno (Patrick J. Adams) is a man obsessed with finding signs of life in the cosmos, with this obsession costing him his job as a university professor. Deciding to continue his research at home, Isaac hires […]
The Go-Getters (23/03/2018)
Two lowlifes try to scam their way into $98 for bus money in The Go-Getters. Owen (Aaron Abrams) is a deadbeat drunk, who is bunking in the boiler room of the bar owned by his brother Kevin (Kristian Bruun). Owen crosses paths with junkie hooker Lacie (Tommie-Amber Pirie) and despite the fact that they can’t […]
Young People F***ing (18/06/2008)
This Canadian film was, obviously, the stand out film at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, in which it sold out in record time. As such, despite its profane title, I decided that I had to see the film to see what all the fuss was about. The film is a sex comedy with a very […]