Jeff Roop

Jeff was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His Mother was French-Canadian and his Father is from the Maritimes. He attended West Island College for his high school years. At McGill University he began taking acting classes and performing in college and local plays while pursuing his degree. He attended theater school at the Moscow Art Theatre, in Russia, and at Carnegie Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His first professional television job was on The Guiding Light and his first professional theater role was an off-Broadway production of A.A Milne's "Mr. Pim Passes By".

Jeff then returned to Canada, appearing in American and Canadian television shows, and landed his first feature film role, as Brad in the movie "Free Money", starring Marlon Brando. He also founded the critically acclaimed Arbat Theatre Company in his hometown of Montreal (its production of "The Glass Menagerie" was a highlight). In 2001 he had his first starring role in a television series, as Drew in "Vampire High".

Jeff can currently be seen in his starring role in Backcountry, opposite Missy Peregrym and Eric Balfour, a film which he also Executive Produced. After premiering at TIFF, Backcountry became IFC’s top grossing film of the year. Both the film and Jeff’s work have been praised, with the film holding a 92% “Fresh” rating.

Notable film and television roles include starring in the ESPN feature Codebreakers, opposite Scott Glenn and Sarah Gadon; guest starring in Suits, DC Comics’ Titans, Ransom, CSI:NY, Without a Trace, Numb3rs, Saving Hope, Frankie Drake; a lead role opposite Katherine Heigl in Critical Assembly and French comedy stars Florence Foresti and Jamel Debbouze in the feature Hollywoo; recurring roles on CBC's Heartland and ReGenesis, starring in the CBC series 11 Cameras and, a personal favourite, playing hockey legend Frank Mahovlich in CBC's Canada-Russia ’72.

Jeff co-wrote, produced and starred in Prairie Dogs, which won Best Canadian Short at the Lakeshorts Film Festival and was an official selection of the New York Television Festival. It has been optioned as a series titled Northern Lights with a teleplay written by Jeff. His feature script for the comedy Joie de Vivre has been optioned by Jonas Chernick and Sean Garrity, the team behind My Awkward Sexual Adventure and Borealis (starring Joey King and Kevin Pollak).

Apart from acting and writing, Jeff plays hockey, practices Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and loves books, film, travel, and electric cars.

• Jeff Roop at IMDb