Ken's Bio
Currently starring in the Nickelodeon series
Caitlin's Way, Ken Tremblett has packed more jobs into just over a decade than some performers get out of a lifetime.
Born the son of a police officer in rural Ontario, the family was constantly on the go. "We moved seventeen times between grades one and twelve," he recalls, with some lingering amazement. In fact his family's nomadic existence is what lead him to his first stage appearance. "It was my senior year at high school and my parents were moving again. I heard about an upcoming school play and thought if I was committed to it, my parents would have to let me stay." Stepping onto the stage for his first time to audition, he nailed the lead role with a rousing rendition of "Row Your Boat". Upon graduation, he split the difference between his mother's and father's wishes and began studying criminal psychology at the University of New Brunswick (Mom wanted him to become a priest and Dad, a police officer). He took some drama classes at the same time, and got hooked by his time on the stage.
In the late 1980s, he decided to pursue acting as a full time career. He moved to Toronto, and found the experience humbling, to say the least. "I tanked in TO," he fairly yells. "The only thing cast was my shadow! But things then tumbled together in a way that brought me out to Vancouver." As soon as he hit the West Coast, he took acting classes at UBC, got an agent, and started looking for work.
For a while, he modeled for print ads and acted in TV commercials. "I got one gig," he says of a breakthrough job, "because they said the other guy was too good-looking."
That's pretty funny, because at 6'2", with wavy brown hair and light blue eyes, Tremblett fits most people's concepts of a hunk. In fact, it didn't take him long to get noticed from amongst the ranks of extras and stand-ins, to be cast in plenty of guest roles on B.C.-made shows such as Neon Rider, Northwood, and 21 Jump Street. In 1994, Ken momentarily left the acting world to satiate his desire to learn and enrolled in the West Coast College of Massage Therapy. By the time he closed the books, there was so much acting work waiting for him, he had to fold up his table and get back in front of the camera. "I don't regret the experience, though. There are always plenty of bad backs and sore necks on a film or TV set, that I still get to put my skills to use. Anyway, I never really left acting behind; it kind of infects you, and I've never been one to give up."
Good thing, because he was soon working on several X-Files episodes and other sci-fi shows like Strange Luck and The Outer Limits. Film and TV-movie leads also came calling in projects such as Second Chance (Lindsay Wagner and Perry King) and The Invader (Sean Young, Ben Cross and Daniel Baldwin), and Fox Family's Don't Look Behind You, plus a starring role in indie director Mark Sawers' award-winning Shoes Off (Short Winner - Cannes '99). During the spring of 1999, he landed a supporting lead role on The Guilty, a feature film starring Bill Pullman to be released in 2000. He did some innovative work in the short-lived series Dead Man's Gun on an episode where he played a healer, and "It sort of satisfied my Jesus complex," he says with only half a chuckle.
His current role as Sheriff Jim Lowe on Caitlin's Way (which was originally called "Just a Kid") has brought him closer than ever to his father's footsteps. The show makes him a small town Montana sheriff who is also an uneasy stepfather to the troubled city girl of the title. The show, actually shot in Alberta, is giving Tremblett an extended chance to show off his drama chops, but more films and series are sure to harness his edgier potential. "I'm still really interested in why people do things," he says, referring to his college days. "Sure, it's only acting, but I've realized that people like to escape through entertainment, and I like to be in things that facilitate learning. I'm really lucky that I've already found work that does that."
Indeed, the search for meaning ("and discipline," he adds, thinking of his MP dad) has paid off remarkably well for Ken Tremblett, and there now appears to be no let-up in his career -- or, as he cheerfully calls it, his "downward spiral of self-deception and abuse." Whatever label Ken gives it, the general consensus is for a promising path ahead.
