Colin Mochrie
Colin Andrew Mochrie was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland. As the son of an airline maintenance executive, his family tended to move around quite frequently. They first moved to Montreal and then to Vancouver. He considered himself a loner during his childhood days due to his shyness, a trait that he claims he still evidently has. At 16, he was dared by a friend to join a High School play where he had the part of an undertaker. It was then when he got his first laugh (by splitting his pants) and afterwards, he "craved for nothing but more laughter." He then turned to Theatersports, where he attended an acting school for four years.
Introduced by a friend, he teamed up Ryan Stiles to do improv, who at the time was doing stand up comedy. Shortly after doing Expo '86, Colin moved to Toronto. There, he auditioned for The Second City (a famous North American comedy theater), where Ryan Stiles was working at the time. He was hired by Debra McGrath. In 1989, he and Deb got married. They later had a son, Luke, who was born sometime during 1991. Colin worked in The Second City for three years and the couple then moved to Los Angeles, where Deb worked on a TV series with Second City colleague, Linda Kash. They hated it there, and after spending their last few weeks selling off their CDs to buy diapers for their son, they moved back to Toronto.
Colin has acted in various small roles in movies and series. His first movie was "the 3D Space Epic, 'Space Hunter: Adventures of the Forbidden Zone', [where] captures Molly Ringwald and utters the immortal line: 'You can ask the Chemist.'" He has also earned other small roles in movies such "The Real Blonde" starring Kathleen Turner and Matthew Modine. He says that he is "planning to do big movies. Unfortunately, no one is planning to hire [him] for one." His first TV series was "Downtown Saturday Night", a sketchcomedy-talk show shot in Vancouver. However, he is best known for being a regular on the TV show "Whose Line is it Anyway?" which is often known as WLiiA?. He had first auditioned for WLiiA? while in Toronto but hadnšt made it. He auditioned again in L.A. a few years later and got the part, but he says he owes it all to Ryan [Stiles] who "probably forced them to" hire him. In April 2000, he won a Canadian Comedy Award for the best male improviser. One year later, he grabbed another Canadian Comedy Award for Best Male Performance in Television Series (“Who’s Line is it Anyway?”).
Recently, Colin has been extremely busy as a performer. As well as shooting WLiiA? during summers, he performs regularly on stage, is in several commercials, has done a few movies, and is often on several TV series. He is often seen on "Improv Heaven and Hell"; he guest stars on "The Drew Carey Show" as Eugene; he starred in "Supertown Challenge" (a show spoof making fun of small towns) as the host, Dick Powell; and has done voiceover work as a sexually ambiguous alligator and along with his wife, a hyena. Along with that, he is also in the process of filming of the American version of WLiiA? in L.A., episodes of Blackfly in Halifax, hosting "Offbeat World" (a travel series), doing voiceover work for "Seven Little Monsters", and has appeared in several commercials.
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