Last Updated on March 2, 2023

Kristian Bruun Biography

Kristian Bruun (Charles Kristian Bonnycastle Bruun)is a Canadian actor best known for his roles in Orphan Black and Murdoch Mysteries.

Kristian Bruun Age

Bruun was born on October 25, 1979, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is 39 years old as of October 2018.

Kristian Bruun Family

Bruun was born and raised by his parents Karl Kristian Brunn and Hilary Anne Bonnycastle Bruun in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Kristian Bruun Education

Bruun studied at Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania from 1994 to 1997, followed by Queen’s University in Ontario for a B.A. in drama, graduating in 2001. He also attended George Brown Theatre School in Toronto and with David Rotenberg at the Professional Actors Lab.

Kristian Bruun Career

Bruun first screen appearance was in the film Good Morning Tomorrow in 2003, playing a bartender. He went on to take other roles including a Lead Officer in Nikita, Stu in Blood Pressure and Alec in Play the Film. He had an ongoing role in Murdoch Mysteries, playing the role of Constable Slugger Jackson from 2012 to 2017, for seasons 6 through 11.

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His most known role has been in the award-winning Canadian science fiction series Orphan Black, playing Donnie Hendrix, the husband of one of the main characters, Alison Hendrix. His role became larger in the third season compared to the previous two seasons, as he became a member of the main cast.

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Kristian Bruun Interview

ComicsVerse (CV): To start off, can you tell us a little about CARTER?

Kristian Bruun (KB): CARTER is a new detective procedural that mixes the craziness of small town living with the madness of Hollywood. Jerry O’Connell stars as Harley Carter, who plays a famous TV detective named Charlie Carter, who is based on his real life story. He escapes Hollywood after a scandal and heads to his hometown Bishop, Ontario, only to find himself attracting trouble when people find out he’s back. He partners up with his estranged childhood best friends, Sam Shaw (Sydney Poitier Heartsong), a local detective with the Bishop police and Dave Leigh (me), a former-criminal/drug addict turned entrepreneur of sorts, to solve crimes that seemingly fall in his lap due to his fame as a TV detective.

I like to tell people it’s MURDER SHE WROTE meets MAGNUM P.I.; a small town with WAY too many murders mixed with some fun action. Oh, and there’s plenty of comedy too. It’s light, fun, easy to watch. We wanted it to be an antidote to some of the darker programs on TV. It’s very meta, it calls attention to TV detective show tropes and what happens in reality while… also being a TV detective show.

CV: I am a huge fan of your portrayal of Donnie Hendrix in ORPHAN BLACK. I like Donnie because while he gives audiences a more real-world emotional response to the terrifying sci-fi elements of the show, which ends up being very humorous. That being said, CARTER is also a dark comedy. How do you feel about the transition between genres?

KB: ORPHAN BLACK was a dream to work on. We had so much fun filming it. It was much darker than CARTER, but Donnie was part of a lighter story line at first which eventually finds itself drawn into the darker aspects of the show. Going from that to CARTER was a pretty easy transition. It was so nice to spend a summer filming in such a gorgeous location (North Bay, Ontario), working on stand-alone mysteries that were funny and quirky.

ORPHAN BLACK was filmed in deepest, darkest Toronto fall and winter — which really lent itself to the show becoming a sort of character in itself with its cold and snow. The tones are so different, and I think I was ready for that change after five seasons of dark, clone conspiracies. I do love sci-fi though and hope I get to work more in that genre. I’m a pretty big nerd. You can’t keep me away!

CV: In terms of comedy, you tap into fantastic slapstick (the infamous glue gun scene or your twerking on ORPHAN BLACK come to mind) as well as a darker type of comedy. How do you prepare for this kind of role? Does that come naturally to you?

KB: I think I’m naturally goofy and lean towards comedy in general. That said, when it comes to acting I do believe the more versatile you can be the more chances you have to work in this business. I’ve always made it a point to have a broad scope of study and interests, even to this day. In university (Queen’s University) and theatre school (George Brown Theatre School) we studied classical theatre from so many different traditions and time periods. I’ve studied and performed improv comedy in almost every city I’ve lived in. I’ve performed Commedia dell’arte (an Italian Renaissance form of improv comedy), which is VERY slapstick-heavy. Literally, my character Arlecchino (Harlequin) carried a “Slapstick” which was a long piece of wood that had another piece the same size along it that would make a loud SLAP every time I pretended to hit someone with it.

Sorry, I just turned this into a theatre history lecture. Recently, I’ve been studying the Stella Adler technique.

The point of this is to say it all takes work and training and study and I’m a naturally curious person but not necessarily a naturally talented actor. I have to prepare a lot to really feel comfortable playing a role. So while some roles are easier to pick up than others, I tend to think that’s because of the various characters I’ve studied and played in the past. I’ve been extremely lucky in that I haven’t been pigeon-holed to one sort of role and for that, I am very grateful.