Simon McCamus’ creativity and enthusiasm are surging – despite the pandemic

Simon McCamus is a Toronto-born actor, improviser, and teacher.

After a life of competitive basketball, a BA at the University of King’s College at Dalhousie University, and a BEd at Queen’s University, McCamus decided it was time to make his acting dreams come true. Upon returning home in 2011, he signed up for Second City’s Improv – Level A program. Since then, McCamus has graduated from many programs at many theatres, including The Second City Training Centre, Bad Dog Theatre, the old Impatient Theatre, and Chicago’s iO and Annoyance Theatres.

McCamus’ troupe, Fake Cops, has been featured in improv festivals across Canada and North America. His sketch comedy duo, Northwest Passage, has been featured in festivals in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.

“I have been in a lot of productions throughout the course of my career, but my most favourite one of all is the show I do with my troupe called Fake Cops,” says McCamus. “We have been together for seven years, and in 2015, we won the Pat and Tony Adams Freedom Fund for the Arts award which was sponsored by Bad Dog Theatre for our production of Fake Cops Presents: A Fantastic Journey…At All Costs.”

Fake Cops is an improv troupe featuring McCamus and his five friends, Alex Kolanko, Filipe Dimas, Andrew Bushell, Nicole Dunn, and Ify Chiweletu. Ever since their debut show in the 2013 Big City Improv Festival, together they have performed multiple monthly sold-out shows at venues in Toronto, New York, Chicago, Detroit, Montreal, and Vancouver. “They are like my second family, and we always have a blast performing together on stage,” says McCamus. “I’m so incredibly grateful for all of the memories we have made together as a group.”

But aside from improv and sketch comedy, McCamus is also an actor on screen, and has been featured in films and TV shows including Blackout (2019), Professional Bride (2019), and Requiem In The Night.

“Getting into acting is a dream come true for me, as it’s something I’ve been wanting to do since I was a kid,” he says. “Getting to act in a professional film or TV production is so surreal, I love being able to play different characters and play with new themes and ideas and also getting to work with directors and producers and the whole extended team is really cool.”

In 2014, McCamus became an improv instructor at The Second City. “Teaching improv is so much fun,” he says. “Whether it’s a person who has no interest in pursuing acting as a career but they’re trying out improv for fun, or maybe they want to develop their social skills a little more, networking, public speaking, etc, it’s such a treat being able to bring people together, help them have fun and build confidence, and through their feedback later on, seeing how that translates into their regular life,” says McCamus. “One of my students told me that she has become more talkative at the dinner table with her family, and at school, she’s speaking out more in class and making her presence known, and hearing things like that just really warms my heart.”

Like any other actor, McCamus has faced his own obstacles throughout his career. Despite his challenges with ADHD, he continues to persevere and follow through with his dreams. “I would say my biggest accomplishment that I’ve achieved in my career is not giving up, despite the little moments of self-doubt and anxiety,” he says. “Since I was a young kid, I always had that dream to be on stage, to be on camera and play roles that would bring joy to people, the same way I’ve admired and appreciated the works of so many brilliant actors and artists throughout my life,” says McCamus. “Even though I’m not where I want to be right now, I am still working and growing and learning things as an actor, and I’m really proud of myself for pushing through the hard times.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, McCamus has not been featured in live in-person performances. But he has kept himself busy by participating in online performance gigs with his Fake Cops teammate, Andrew Bushell. “From April to September, my friend Andrew and I performed improvised duos for birthday parties, and we would do a series of short form improv games, and that was a lot of fun,” he says. “I’ve also done a few non-paid gigs just for fun that are open to the public, because right now a priority of mine is to try and produce and facilitate some live performance opportunities for myself.” McCamus states he is looking forward to post-COVID life and cannot wait to get back on stage. He also stated his interest in voice acting as well as writing his own scripted films in the future.

“Right now I’m very focused on writing scripted video,” he says. “I’ve got hundreds of ideas that I’ve been stacking up over the years, and they keep coming, so that is something I look forward to doing more of once everything goes back to normal,” he says. “I would also love to get into voice acting, so next year I’m thinking of getting my own home studio for voiceover work.”

As an experienced performer, McCamus’ advice to new actors is this: “Study TV and films as much as you possibly can. Figure out what styles of writing you enjoy, as well as actors, genres, writers and directors, scripts, etc,” he says. “It’s also a good idea to find people you can connect with like teachers and coaches, and find out the type of people you enjoy working with,” he says. “But throughout all of this, remember to take care of yourself and give yourself breaks, do not let your work get in the way of your relationships with people and other things that are important to you.”

Follow McCamus’ Instagram profile here. Follow him on Twitter @SimonMcCamus.