Victor Garber

Actor

• Born: March 16, 1949
• Birthplace: London, Ontario, Canada

Contribution: Victor Garber is an Emmy-nominated Canadian actor best known for his roles as Dr. Martin Stein in both The Flash (2015–17) and DC's Legends of Tomorrow (2016–17) series, as Jack Bristow on the science-fiction series Alias (2001–6), and as Thomas Andrews in the film Titanic (1997).

Background

Victor Garber was born on March 16, 1949, in London, Ontario, Canada. He was born to a family of entertainers; his mother hosted a television program called At Home with Hope Garber and both his parents performed at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. Garber himself became attracted to the stage at a young age, and as a child, he acted with his parents in a production of The King and I at the Grand.

Garber’s mother signed him up for the Grand Theatre’s children’s theater program, which Garber loved. When he was sixteen, he was accepted into the Hart House’s six-week summer theater program at the University of Toronto. After completing the program, however, Garber became unsure about his career aspirations. He initially stayed at the University of Toronto to work with stage director George Luscombe’s Toronto Workshop but later led a short career as a folksinger. In the late 1960s, he joined a folk-rock band called the Sugar Shoppe.

Garber was prepared to make singing his career until he landed the lead role of Jesus in an Off-Broadway production of Godspell at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in 1972, which earned rave reviews.

Career

The wild success of Godspell led to a 1973 film adaptation directed by David Greene, with Garber reprising his starring role as Jesus. The positive experience in New York City convinced Garber to stay and pursue his acting ambitions there.

Garber’s first role in New York after Godspell was as the character of Oswald in a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s 1881 play Ghosts. The show was a success, and Garber quickly became an extremely sought-after Broadway actor, appearing in a number of high-profile productions throughout the 1970s, including They’re Playing Our Song, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Deathtrap, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actor in a play in 1978.

Garber’s talent had garnered national notice by the 1980s, earning him additional Tony Award nominations in 1982 and 1989, and he soon started acting in episodes of popular television shows, making appearances on I Had Three Wives in 1985, The Twilight Zone in 1986, and The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd from 1987 through 1991. After playing John Wilkes Booth in the original Off-Broadway production of Assassins at the Playwrights Horizons in 1990, Garber began transitioning to more prominent film roles.

In 1992 he had a supporting role in the drama Light Sleeper before appearing in the 1993 romantic blockbuster Sleepless in Seattle, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. In 1994, he earned his fourth Tony Award nomination, for best actor in a musical, for his performance in a production of DamnYankees.

Garber continued acting in numerous television series, television films, and feature films throughout the 1990s. In 1997 he appeared in James Cameron’s epic romantic disaster film Titanic. Garber portrayed Thomas Andrews, the naval architect who had designed the RMS Titanic and then died when the ship struck an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage to New York. The film was a major worldwide hit and earned Garber his widest audience at that point in his career.

Following his prominent role in Titanic, Garber began receiving offers to guest-star on high-profile television shows, such as the sitcom Frasier in 2000. For this appearance, Garber earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series. In 2001 Garber played Sidney Luft, the third husband of actor Judy Garland, in the television biopic Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows. For this role, Garber was nominated for an Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actor in a miniseries or movie.

After completing several more television films, Garber made his mainstream television breakthrough in 2001 when took on the role of Jack Bristow on the sci-fi action series Alias. Bristow is a CIA agent and the father of fellow agent Sydney Bristow, played by Jennifer Garner, who must take on other identities to complete her missions.

Alias was a huge success, earning widespread critical praise over its five-season run. Garber himself was nominated for three Emmys for outstanding supporting actor in a drama series from 2002 to 2004. In 2005, he earned another Emmy nomination, for outstanding guest actor in a comedy series, for an appearance on the NBC series Will & Grace.

When Alias ended in 2006, Garber moved almost immediately back into television with a starring role on the legal drama Justice, but the show was canceled after one season. Beginning in 2008, Garber played Jordan Wethersby on the comedic legal drama Eli Stone. The show lasted two seasons before ABC canceled it due to low ratings.

Garber continued to play supporting roles in films and television shows into the late 2000s and early 2010s, with appearances in critically acclaimed features such as Milk (2008) and Argo (2012), as well as a starring role in the 2009 miniseries The Last Templar, based on Raymond Khoury’s 2005 novel of the same name. In 2013 Garber was cast as Robert Bowers on the NBC murder mystery series Deception, which was canceled after its first season.

After the Showtime series Web Therapy, in which he had appeared for several episodes as the husband of Lisa Kudrow's character, ended its run in early 2015, Garber, who had also appeared in the action-adventure film Big Game in 2014 and both the action-drama Sicario and the sci-fi feature Self/less in 2015, began playing what would be his next regular television character, Dr. Martin Stein, in 2015 episodes of the CW series The Flash. While his character, who is half of the superhero Firestorm, did have further appearances in a select number of episodes of the show between 2016 and 2017, he moved on to become a regular fixture on the new CW series DC's Legends of Tomorrow starting in 2016. However, Garber made his final appearance on the show in 2017 in order to pursue other opportunities, including returning to Broadway to play Horace Vandergelder in a revival of the musical Hello, Dolly! in 2018. The following year, he had a role in the Netflix limited series Tales of the City.

Impact

An accomplished stage and screen actor for over forty years, Garber has consistently proven himself to be a dramatic force. The seriousness and humanity that he brings to his roles has made Garber popular with both critics and fans.

Personal Life

Garber married Canadian artist and former model Rainer Andreesen, with whom he had been in a long-term relationship since the late 1990s, in 2015.

Principal Works

Film

Godspell, 1973

Light Sleeper, 1992

Sleepless in Seattle, 1993

Titanic, 1997

Legally Blonde, 2001

Milk, 2008

Argo, 2012

Sicario, 2015

Television

Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, 2001

Alias, 2001–6

Justice, 2006–7

Eli Stone, 2008–9

The Last Templar, 2009

Deception, 2013

DC's Legends of Tomorrow, 2016–17

Theater

Godspell, 1972

Deathtrap, 1978

Little Me, 1982

Lend Me a Tenor, 1989

Assassins, 1990

Damn Yankees, 1994

Art, 1998

Hello, Dolly!, 2018

Bibliography

Als, Hilton. “Unspoiled Victor.” New Yorker 18 Jan. 2010: 11. Print.

CBC News. “Victor Garber heads to screen as Ken Taylor.” CBC News. CBC, 4 Sept. 2012. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.

Garber, Victor. “Victor Garber: ‘Alias’ Changed Everything!” Interview by Jarett Wieselman. New York Post. NYP Holdings, 13 July 2009. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.

Ouzounian, Richard. “Victor Garber: Jesus Got the Ball Rolling.” Star. Toronto Star Newspapers, 16 Jan. 2010. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.

Raftery, Liz. “Victor Garber on Deception, His ‘Coming Out.’” TV Guide. CBS Interactive, 28 Jan. 2013. Web. 8 Aug. 2013.