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Shaun Johnston pictured as Jack Bartlett in a publicity still from the CBC series, Heartland, a role he has played since the its first season in 2007. Johnston was born and raised in Ponoka, about an hour south of Edmonton, Alberta. He played basketball in high school, earned a degree in business from Red Deer College and worked for a time with the Alberta Treasury Branch. He tired of business and chased a career in fashion photography in Toronto in the early 1980s. With no real success behind the camera, he began to get work in front of the camera as a runway model. It was here that he turned his attention toward a career as an actor. He enrolled and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the University of Alberta’s acclaimed drama program. Following graduation, Johnston co-founded the Shadow Theatre in Edmonton and made his first professional appearances on stage. He made his feature film debut playing a loose-living biker in the 1993 comedy-drama Two Brothers, a Girl and a Gun, which brought him an Alberta Film & Television Award for best actor.
Features & TV Movies:
VR indicates Direct-to-Video Release
Two Brothers, a Girl and a Gun (1993)
Cafe Utopia (1994)
Road to Saddle River (1994)
How the West Was Fun (TV-1994)
Probable Cause (TV-1994)
Strange and Rich (1994)
Healthy Human Specimen (1995)
The Cold Heart of a Killer (TV-1996)
Ms. Bear (1997)
Silent Cradle (1997)
The Inspectors (TV-1998)
Stranger in Town (TV-1998)
Heart of the Sun (1998)
Mystery, Alaska (1999)
The Dinosaur Hunter (2000)
High Noon (TV-2000)
Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111 (TV-2000)
Viva Las Nowhere (2000)
Due East (TV-2002)
Agent of Influence (TV-2002
Tribe of Joseph (2002)
The Investigation (TV-2002)
The Hitcher II: I’ve Been Waiting (VR-2003)
Chicks with Sticks (2004)
Ginger Snaps 2 (2004)
A Beachcombers Christmas (TV-2004)
Supervolcano (TV-2005)
Fighting the Odds: The Marilyn Gambrell Story (2005)
Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story (TV-2005)
The Christmas Blessing (TV-2005)
September Dawn (2006)
Kinahan’s Law (2006)
Broken Trail (TV-2006)
The Mermaid Chair (TV-2006)
Carolina Moon (TV-2007)
Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (TV-2007)
Mayerthorpe (TV-2008)
Cafe Utopia: Cinéman Tryp Tych (VR-2008, short)
Screamers: The Hunting (VR-2009)
Bad Dad (2010, short)
A Heartland Christmas (TV-2010)
40 Below and Falling (2015)
In Plainview (2018)
TV Series – Cast:
Destiny Ridge (1993)
Jake and the Kid (1995)
Mentors (1998)
MythQuest (2001)
Into the West (2005, mini-series)
Broken Trail (2006, mini-series)
Heartland (2007-)
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and Digital Media Association – A nonprofit corporation.
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First published as Northernstars.net February 1, 1998
ISSN 2563 4895
