Cory Bowles – Biography

Actor, director, screenwriter, dancer and choreographer Corey Bowles was born in Montreal and grew up in Truro, Nova Scotia. He is an African-Nova Scotian with roots among Black Loyalists, Maroons and the original French Colonies. Known mostly for his role as Cory in multiple versions of Trailer Park Boys, he is also a teacher at the Maritime Dance Academy, Mocean Dance, and for his own Halifax-based contemporary dance company, Verve Mwendo. He has created over 40 works for the stage, music and a variety of other media.

By the age of 20, he had already gained a reputation as the MC for Halifax’s hip-hop band, Hip Club Groove. The band toured frequently for Universal Records, often opening for other Halifax-based bands such as Sloan and appearing in several music videos. He later formed a theatre company in 1997 with bandmate Jo Wynne called The Good Companions. After closing down the company in 1999, he went out west to further his studies as a dancer and choreographer. He became a scholarship student at Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in Calgary, which led to touring with the company and teaching at the school.

His film and television credits, apart from the Trailer Park series, include the made-for-television movie Sleep Murder, voice for the CBC animated series Poko (2003-06; which won the Gemini Award for best pre-school program in 2004), Trailer Park Boys: The Movie and an appearance in Clement Virgo’s Poor Boy’s Game. Bowles received the best television ensemble Gemini for his work in Trailer Park Boys in 2005. He wrote, directed and produced the shorts Scavengers in 2008 and Heart of Rhyme in 2011. He plays in the band Aide De Camp and with the Montreal musical duo Flux Dynamo, and he continues to choreograph for film and music videos and mentors young choreographers.

Bowles has travelled the globe studying the roots of Black dance and music, particularly through his own family line. As a Black Nova Scotian, he has a strong passion for his cultural background and the storytelling traditionsof the African Diaspora. He’s a sought-after teacher and instructor, his workshops taking him from Nova Scotia to the Arctic, and the Banff Centre for the Arts where he was a senior artist in the Aboriginal Arts Program.

Also see: Cory Bowles’ filmography.

This biography was written for Northernstars.ca by Wyndham Wise and is Copyright © 2013. It may not be reproduced without prior written permission. Click here for more about copyright.