Rising Star Hugh Thompson On The Five Things You Need To Shine In The Entertainment Industry

Advice is something I’m reluctant to hand out, as every path to and every definition of success is different; the one thing I will say is that I have learned as much from failure as I have from success… in a way they are one thing, as one doesn’t exist without the other. Try; only you will know if you have to keep going.

As a part of our series about pop culture’s rising stars, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Hugh Thompson.

Canadian multi-faceted actor, Hugh Thompson (Chapelwaite) is making his return to the small screen alongside Alan Ritchson in the upcoming Amazon original series, REACHER, premiering Friday, February 4th. The 8-episode series is based on Jack Reacher, the main character from Lee Child’s international bestselling books. Hugh was most recently seen as George Dennison on the Epix 10-part limited series CHAPELWAITE, adapted from Stephen King’s short story, ‘Jerusalem’s Lot’ alongside Adrien Brody and Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek).

Ritchson stars as the title character in the series, produced by Amazon, Skydance Television and Paramount Television Studios. The first season, written, exec produced and showrun by Nick Santora, is based on the first Jack Reacher novel, The Killing Floor, which is set in Georgia. Thompson will play Baker, the head cop of Margrave, described as a man that enjoys his position of power but hates Detective Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin).

In addition to his work in film and television, Hugh has appeared in just about every major theatre in Canada including Toronto`s Royal Alex, Montreal’s Centaur Theatre, The Citadel Theatre, The Grand Theatre, and Festival Antigonish. He won a Gemini Award for his work in the TV movie Blessed Stranger and a 2013 Merritt Award for his performance in Whale Riding Weather, from playwright Bryden MacDonald directed by Thom Fitzgerald. He’s also had heavy recurring roles on Canadian productions, Diggstown and Pure.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us the story of how you grew up?

I was born in Long Island, my father worked for the Transit Authority in NYC; when he retired he and my mother moved our family back to Nova Scotia where we had a little farm…horses, cows, a garden that was mostly rocks. Lots of days picking rocks. I grew up outside a town called Antigonish went to high school and eventually on to university there.

Can you share a story with us about what brought you to this specific career path?

I was an athlete growing up, did some boxing; provincial champion, national champion… I had never really thought about acting until one day I’m out mowing the lawn in June and my mother calls me in; the phone is for me. I go inside and it’s my Grade 10 English teacher, Mrs. Eleanor Mutimer, asking me why I hadn’t yet submitted my end-of-year assignment on Dickens’ Great Expectations. I explained to her that the reason I hadn’t submitted it was that I hadn’t done it; and that yes, I was aware that it was worth a “significant portion” of my final mark and without those marks, I would certainly be given a second opportunity to pass Grade 10 English the following year. She thought for a minute, and then asked me if I was interested in appearing in the next years’ major production, Moliere’s “Imaginary Invalid”; if I agreed, she would mark me on the work I had actually passed in. She said that the theatre is for everyone, students of all backgrounds should play roles… I said sure; went back to mowing the lawn. Forgot all about it.

Until the next fall, when about halfway through the rehearsal period I realized I was actually going to walk out on stage in front of every person I knew and had better start thinking about how I was actually going to do this…Not handing it in was not an option.

Can you tell us the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career? Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Interesting story is also my funny story… I was doing a non-union movie in Hamilton when I was starting out: I was living in Toronto then, so every morning we would pile into these extended 15 passenger vans and drive the forty or so miles to where we were shooting. This morning, being young, I may or may not have been out a bit too late the night previous, and may or may not have been just in the nick of time to catch the van before it departed…no matter…so I pile in the side door and fight my way to the back of the van where the only open seat is located. I figure I’ve got an hour or so to sleep till we get to the location, but no, from the front is handed back a stack of new pages of dialogue to learn, the main part of which consists of this long, convoluted joke which I guess on that morning I didn’t find all that funny, because I decided to launch into a loud derisive reading of said joke and wind up with; “Man, is that not terrible? Who writes this crap?” To which the writer, who was also the director, answers; “I do”, from the front passenger seat. Where I have failed to notice he was sitting the whole time. I guess he had car trouble and decided to ride with us. I guess the lesson is to only work with directors who have reliable cars, so they’re not around when you talk about them.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now? Tell us about your role on “Reacher” and the series in general.

Before Reacher, my latest work on camera was in the series Chapelwaite, based on the Stephen King short story “Jerusalem’s Lot”, which airs on Epix. I play George Dennison, the Constable in the town of Preacher’s Corners; his life is going nicely until Charles Boone, (Adrien Brody) and his family show up, closely followed by a clutch of vampires. As you can imagine, things get complicated…we shot the series in the middle of the pre-vaccination stage of the pandemic; our start date got pushed which meant we ended up filming outside in Nova Scotia in mid December, which had its charms, I’ll tell you. I remember Adrien saying he had been looking forward to filming in our beautiful Nova Scotia summer and there we were; holding hair dryers to our faces to get our lips to move.

On Reacher, I play Officer Baker, in another small town called Margrave, and again my life is fine until an aircraft carrier with arms and legs named Jack Reacher shows up…things start spooling up in a big hurry. I don’t want to talk too much about my role in the series as you’re just going to have to settle down and watch it, aren’t you? It’s a huge franchise and I will say that filming the season was a pleasure, the cast is spectacular, Alan and Malcolm and Willa make all the hard stuff look easy…I had a special treat in getting to work with Bruce McGill, who for years played a character named Jack Dalton on the original MacGyver TV series. A few years ago I saw a box set of the series for sale; I have a son who’s the perfect age (although you’re never too old for MacGyver), so I brought it home and we sat down and watched the whole series semi binge style. Jack was my son’s favourite character, with the left eye twitch and his nose for getting Mac into trouble. I remember watching this actor rip into those scenes and saying to my son; “You see that guy? That guy knows what he’s doing.” Fast forward a few months; my agent forwards me an announcement for Reacher in Deadline and right there big as life is my picture on the same page as Jack Dalton…my son thought it was hilarious.. such a pleasure to get to meet and an education to work with him. Courteous, funny as hell and still for sure knows what he’s doing. A person could do worse than notice how that guy moves through his day. Fair to middlin’ guitar player too. So, I got to work with Jack Dalton. I can die happy.

Currently have a couple of things on the go, “Dancing On The Elephant” a feature shooting here that’s pushed to October (thanks Omicron, warming up my hairdryer) and another feature that’s in development.

You have been blessed with success in a career path that can be challenging. Do you have any words of advice for others who may want to embark on this career path, but seem daunted by the prospect of failure?

Wow. Advice is something I’m reluctant to hand out, as every path to and every definition of success is different; the one thing I will say is that I have learned as much from failure as I have from success… in a way they are one thing, as one doesn’t exist without the other. Try; only you will know if you have to keep going.

Diversity in our industry has vastly expanded the number of stories and perspectives that are available to us, not only as a viewing audience but as artists. That can only enrich us all as human beings, which is what storytelling is for…entering the world of a story that is not the world I grew up in has changed me each time I’ve done it, and changed me I hope for the better.

What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.

1) Don’t talk about the script in the van. The writer may have snuck in while you were asleep.

2) Flashing red means, be quiet right now; not it’s okay to just quickly finish up this punchline.

3) Avoid craft service, except when they have maple fudge.

4) Be on time.

5) Stay healthy. If you hang around long enough, your competition will die off and you may book some gigs.

With regards to burnout, I think the first defense is a sense of humour… hard to burn out while you’re laughing.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I don’t know about enormous influence; I can’t even make my own kid make his bed… If I could start or more properly join a movement, it would center around the right-to-repair stuff I see happening; I think it’s important to realize that we live in a closed system here on Earth. There’s no reason why things need to be unrepairable; any small thing we can do to keep stuff out of landfills and the depths of the ocean is a step forward. My son and I rebuilt our old washer when it quit, and I mean we had this thing completely apart in piles in the basement…the tech we called said it wasn’t feasible but we’re 5 years out and still going. Writing this on a ten-year-old Dell that I just popped a new hard drive into when the old one started misbehaving, and we try to buy used stuff whenever it makes sense. Small things, but small things add up.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

Goes without saying that my mother was the biggest influence in my life as far as appreciation for reading, the arts and music, but excepting family, I would have to say my high school English teacher; without Eleanor Mutimer I don’t think I’d be doing what I’m doing today…she was diminutive in stature but a giant influence on me and the entire school, taught Latin, French and English and every year organized a One-Act play festival, produced and directed the major production. Her drive to introduce us to great writing and big ideas was infectious, and as I look back I come to appreciate more and more how extraordinary her effect on me is…

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Life Lesson Quote: I was probably about eight years old, walking beside my father up Main Street in my hometown, bright summer Saturday morning when I noticed this man coming down the sidewalk in front of us with the biggest black eye I had ever seen in my life. Growing up with three brothers I wasn’t a stranger to black eyes, but this was Grade A Black Eye, or as my son would say Black Eye OG. I couldn’t stop staring at it as he passed by, and after he passed I turned around to watch him go…Dad took my hand to move me along, and we walked along quiet for awhile, and then without looking at me he says; “Talking when he should have been listening…” It’s stuck with me over the years, not only because the delivery was perfect but because I’ve found it useful in many situations to try to remind myself that I’ve learned a lot while listening; not so much while talking.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

Jaime Oliver. Especially if he’s cooking.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much! We wish you continued success!