An 11th generation Canadian of English, French, Irish and Spanish descent.Evert Houston is an artistic creator dedicated to the invention, innovation and architecture of original story. His multidisciplinary work as a collaborative producer brings together actors, writers, singers, dancers, designers, photographers, technicians, video artists, cinematographers, choreographers and musicians. Houston is inspired by the pursuit and discovery of new artistic forms, which inevitably emerge from these collective assemblies. His individual specializations include acting, writing, directing and producing for theatre, film, photography, original creations, performance art and live cinema.Houston is a graduate of the nation's top arts high school: Canterbury High School for the Arts (Maclean's Magazine). He attained his Fine Arts Certificate and Academic Diploma as an Ontario Scholar with Honours and Distinction, while simultaneously acquiring his Trinity certification from the Ottawa School of Speech and Drama. These examinations in Theatre Arts were supervised and adjudicated by visiting faculty members of Trinity College (London, England) He was then accepted to the University College Drama Program at the University of Toronto with multiple scholarships and began a fully funded mentorship with Soulpepper Theatre Company by the time he was twenty years old.During his undergraduate study, Houston trained with some of the nation's most revered theatrical innovators, including: Robin Philips, Ken Gass, Albert Schultz, Rosemary Dunsmore, Diego Matamoros, Daniel Brooks, David Cronenberg and Veronica Tenant, along with an international influence from artists that included: Laszlo Marton, Herbert Olschok, Jean-Jacques Lemaitre, Matteo Belli and Yoshi Oida.After receiving his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto, Houston joined the highly regarded acting ensemble at Canada's Shaw Festival. During his 3 years with this prestigious Festival, Mr. Houston performed in seven productions, including Man & Superman directed by Neil Munro and Journey's End directed by Christopher Newton, while earning Multiple Awards and Full Membership to the Canadian Actors Equity Association.In 2007, Mr. Houston won the opportunity to train with LAByrinth Theater Company - one of the most highly regarded Off-Broadway Theatre Company's in New York City, under the Artistic Directorship of Philip Seymour Hoffman. He was also awarded full scholarship to train with Robert Neff Williams from The Juilliard School with Theatre For A New Audience at Playwrights Horizon on Broadway.While in New York, Mr. Houston initiated a creative association with Moises Kaufman, Artistic Director of Tectonic Theatre Projects, to assist in the workshop development of The Dover Project, refine his craft with acting coach Charles Tuthill (voted Best Private Acting Coach in New York City by Back Stage Magazine), while co-founding the Brooklyn born guerrilla art collective - Workgroup 184, where his activities included acting, writing, producing original theatre, film, dance and performance art. During this time, Mr. Houston frequently travelled back and forth from Manhattan to the American Southwest in collaboration with Chief Ray Tsosie for the written development of an Original Navajo Creation on the Navajo Nation in Page, Arizona.Mr. Houston then returned to Canada in 2008 to train at the National Arts Centre with England's Royal Shakespeare Company and the creative team responsible for Margaret Atwood's Penelopaid. In the fall of 2008, Houston returned home to Toronto to initiate a creative collaboration with video artist Brian T. Moore at the Urban Cottage. This creation combined live performance, music, dance and video art in the 2008 Multi-Media Jam: 1122.During the winter of 2008, Mr. Houston travelled to Hollywood, California to train at the Tom Todoroff Studio where he began a creative association with the studio's producer Jameelah Nurridin, the actor, writer, director and producer for the Los Angles multi-media art collectives: Silver Echo Gallery, Imaginese Free and the LA theatre company: The Actors Gang.Returning to Toronto in the Spring of 2009, Mr. Houston produced, directed, wrote and performed for the first ever Canadian Live Cinema Festival: iNiT. Which included performances from Peter Mettler, Andrea Nann, Greg Hermanovic, Tom Kuo, Gunther fALk and Brian T. Moore.While in Toronto throughout 2009, Mr. Houston was seen in Albert Nerenberg's The Seducers for Vision TV, an episode of In Cold Blood directed by Alan Goluboff, and Nick Vani's The Great Painting Heist. He also collaborated with Brian T. Moore and East African-Canadian Jazz Artist Nazrawi Gebraselasie to build a Live Cinema performance of Cubemunity at the 2009 Nuit Blanche. He then finished the year writing original mathematically inspired poetry for Event Horizon Dance and choreographer Miranda Abbott's production: Dust. In January 2010, Mr. Houston associate produced and starred in Vanessa Shaver's short film Dude, before returning to Hollywood, California to continue refining his on-camera acting craft with American coaches.Houston then returned home to Toronto, booked 3 National Commercial Ad Campaigns with Walmart, McDonald's and TD Bank, as well as a New Media Campaign with Rogers. In the Spring 2011, Houston premiered his first work of poetic-photography at The Gladstone Hotel: A Story Or Two and served as the Head Curator of Kyeyune's 30th: A Celebration of Art & Music. This work of poetic-photography was then remounted the following month to kick-off the opening of The Carrot Common Green Roof Gallery. Houston was also seen again nationally as Doctor Jacob Oliver in Shaftesbury's Fifth Season of Murdoch Mysteries on City TV and then again, once the show moved over to the CBC. He played the role of the Junior Investigator for the Catastrophe at O'Hare in Cineflix's Mayday seen on Discovery Canada and National Geographic in the United States.At the start of 2012, Houston Co-founded and assumed the role of Creative Director within Toronto's East Village Film District at the Blue Flame Collective. Under the leadership of Houston, the Blue Flame produced 27 original short films in its first 2 years, hosting sold out private screenings with top level sponsorship and affiliation. Mr. Houston also founded the Blue Flame subsidiaries: Writing Women and Queer Ideas. These screenplay development series' were responsible for an increased dynamic representation of Women and the LGBT community, in newly created film and television work. In 2 short years, over 30 original short films were developed through these respective initiatives. Houston then went on to Co-Create and Executive Produce the Inaugural ACTRA/YEAA diversity submission to the Reelworld Film Festival. Additional leadership for ACTRA would include his work to Create and Co-Executive Produce the Inaugural Canadian Screen Awards Panel for the YEAA committee.Mr. Houston has been seen on the big screen many times locally, nationally and abroad: as the star of Liplock, the third and final film in Christopher Nash's Award winning Skin Trilogy at the After Dark Film Festival in Toronto and then again at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, Houston then played the lead of Paul Hasick's indie short: Home, which received its premiere at the Montreal World Film Festival followed by official selections to the Boston LGBT Film Festival and the Toronto's Inside/Out Film Festival, Houston's performance as the lead in Bobby Del Rio's We Each Have Our Armies has now been seen at festivals in Canada, the United States and Africa with 12 official selections to its credit.Films developed and produced by Mr. Houston have won several awards, with official selections around the world in Los Angels, New York, Chicago, Boston, Austin, Palm Springs, Miami, Montreal, Vancouver, the Oaxaca Film Festival in Mexico, the Nile's Diaspora International Film Festival in Uganda, the Cortes Metrage at the Cannes International Film Festival and the Canadian Shorts Program at the Toronto International Film Festival.Mr. Houston's very first film which he wrote, produced and starred is the award winning: CHURANO, which was sold to the CBC Main Network, for a 3-year licensing period across all platforms as part of Canadian Reflections.Houston is the recipient of the 2012 Special Jury Prize from Film North at the Huntsville International Film Festival, along with The Saunderson Award, the RBC Apprentice Actor Award and the Tony Van Bridge Award from Canada's Shaw Festival. He was also the recipient of the Marguerite Ruth Dow Award in Drama, the 2002 and the 2001 University College Drama Program Bursary along with the 2002 and the 2001 J.P. Bickell Foundation Award in Drama. He is an Ontario Scholar on the Principal's List at The Canterbury School for the Arts with First Class Honours and is the recipient of the Hillcrest Drama Society Award of Excellence.
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