Gil Bellows Biography Home | add famous canadian | edit person

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 28, 1967.

Bellows developed an interest in acting at eighteen when he auditioned for and was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Los Angeles. After graduating, Bellows stayed in Los Angeles, where ironically he first found work in the National Film Board of Canada production of The First Season.

He gained attention among filmgoers and critics for his portrayal of an inmate with a penchant for knowledge in the critically lauded Shawshank Redemption, opposite Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. Shortly after, Bellows starred opposite Renee Zellweger in Love and a .45 and with Sarah Jessica Parker in Miami Rhapsody.

Bellows has appeared in an off-Broadway production of A Snake in the Vein and in the Playwrights Horizon production of Flaubert's Latest and Best of Schools. He is a founding member of the Seraphim Theater Company in New York for whom he starred in True West, Road, and The User's Waltz. He was also a member of the Act One Repertory Company of the prestigious Williamstown Theater Festival in Massachusetts.