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Bekenn, Anthony

CTE photo
Anthony Bekenn. Photo by David Cooper.

Actor, best known as a member of the acting ensemble at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, where he has appeared in over thirty-five productions since 1993.

Anthony Bekenn was born in Tanzania and lived there until the age of eight. His first stage appearance was in his parents’ amateur production of The Little Hut. He was educated in England in the early sixties, and completed high school in Canada, after the family emigrated to Vancouver BC in 1967. He took a degree in History and English at the University of British Columbia in 1974. He then studied acting at the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England.

Bekenn’s first professional stage appearance was in 1976 in Equus (with David Fox as Dysart and Norman Browning as Nugget) for Kaleidoscope Theatre at the McPherson Playhouse, Victoria BC. He then played in Arms and the Man (Western Canada Theatre Company); Fallen Angels (Vancouver Playhouse); Noises Off (Citadel Theatre); Something in the Air, and The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (Toronto Workshop Productions/TWP); The Dresser, Hunting Cockroaches, and Toad of Toad Hall (Canadian Stage); The Real Inspector Hound and The Common Pursuit (Theatre Plus); One for the Pot (Royal Alexandra Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew, The Misanthrope, and Comedy of Errors during the John Hirsch years at the Stratford Festival in the eighties.

Recent Toronto appearances include Kindertransport (Harold Green Jewish Theatre), and Stuff Happens (Studio 180) at the Royal Alex.

CTE photo
Anthony Bekenn as Mayor of the Isle of Cat in On the Rocks, Shaw Festival, 2011.
Photo by David Cooper.

His favourite Shaw Festival productions include Journey’s End; Saint Joan; The Marrying of Ann Leete; Busman’s Honeymoon; John Bull’s Other Island; Getting Married; Blood Relations; Peter Pan; Gypsy; Three Men on a Horse; Born Yesterday; Serious Money; and On the Rocks.

Anthony Bekenn’s television and film credits include Murdoch Mysteries; Doc; Tracker; Wind at my Back; ENG; Street Legal; Counterstrike; Friday the Thirteenth; SCTV; Danger Bay; The Beachcombers; The World’s Oldest Living Bridesmaid; and The Two Mr. Kissels.

He is married to actor Sharry Flett. Their daughter Michaela made her theatrical debut at the Shaw Festival, playing Baby June in Gypsy in 2005, and Fredrika in A Little Night Music in 2008.

Last updated 2020-04-01