Jacob Blair was too much of a jock to get involved in theatre while attending Hunting Hills High School in Red Deer.
But anyone who knew him as a teenager shouldn’t be too surprised that Blair ended up as a professional actor whose screen credits include two Hallmark Channel movies ('Christmas Comes Home to Canaan' is airing on Saturday), the TV series 'Aliens in America' and 'SGU Stargate Universe', and the films, 'Day the Earth Stood Still', 'The A-Team', and the upcoming 'Underworld Awakening'.
While Blair steered clear of the drama club at Hunting Hills, the one-time hockey and volleyball player recalled making videotaped “news” spoofs with his friends that were shown to fellow students on classroom TV screens. “We’d shoot these little snippets, and it would be like ‘Reporting live, from the cafeteria . . . ’ ” he recalled, with a chuckle.
“We liked to have fun doing these school reports, about what’s new this week, or how’s the football team’s doing. . . . ”
Despite his ham-bone tendencies, Blair never twigged to acting until after graduating from high school in 2002 and enrolling in the commerce program at Red Deer College.
Blair began falling asleep in class (“It was so boring . . .”), so a friend suggested he make a complete change by switching to theatre. “In high school, I thought drama was too artsy fartsy, I wasn’t into it. But when you’re in college, you’re more of a grown-up and your mind opens up to other possibilities.”
It turned out that Blair enjoyed the first year of the RDC theatre studies program so much, he decided to see how far acting could take him.
He auditioned for Vancouver’s prestigious Studio 58 at Langara College and out of more than 500 hopefuls from across Canada, Blair was one of about 35 students who made the cut.
He thought he’d be landing stage roles after finishing the program “but I couldn’t catch a break in theatre,” while film and television roles began opening up for him.
His first big break was a recurring role in CW Channel’s 'Aliens in America' TV series, where he played a nasty version of his former jock-ish self.
“I was a popular quarterback who was actually an evil antagonist,” chuckled the 27-year-old, who went on to do the TV series 'V' and the films 'Smokin’ Aces 2', 'Assassin’s Ball' and 'Wrecked'.
Over the years, Blair, who recently moved with his wife (a voice actor) to Toronto for career reasons, has worked with Liam Neeson, John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Jessica Biel, Billy Ray Cyrus, Bradley Cooper and Adrien Brody.
Although not every project has been completely fulfilling — he revealed his role as a German skier in 'Hot Tub Time Machine' was cut and can only be seen in the DVD outtakes — Blair has had some meaty opportunities.
One of his most prominent is in the 'Christmas in Canaan' Hallmark special that was so popular it yielded this year’s sequel, 'Christmas Comes Home to Canaan', which is also airing on the W Network next Monday.
In both films, he plays Cyrus’s son, DJ. who is growing up poor but enlightened on a Texas farm in the early 1970s.
The first movie concerned DJ’s conflict with Rodney, a young African-American, and the journey the two boys take towards friendship. Rodney eventually becomes part of the white Texan family.
The sequel will feature DJ trying to run the farm and hold the family together as his father takes his younger sibling to a hospital for treatment. “It’s a really great family movie,” said Blair, who received a lot of positive fan feedback after the first 'Canaan' film was plugged by Oprah, and well received by viewers who appreciated its message of inclusion and tolerance.
Blair wouldn’t be surprised if the decision is made to shoot a third 'Canaan' movie. “After I signed on to the first one, somebody suggested there might be a second and I said, “Oh, yeah, ha, ha, sure . . . now I think (a third) maybe can happen.”
The actor, who lived in Ponoka before moving to Red Deer with his parents at age five, can’t believe how lucky he is to be doing what he does for a living. Not only does Blair enjoy the variety of roles and learning esoteric skills, such as weapon handling for his stint as a rookie cop in the vampire-versus-werewolf film 'Underworld Awakening' (which is out on Jan. 20), he said he also likes inspiring and engaging viewers.
“You’ve almost got to pinch yourself. . . . Sometimes you think, am I really getting paid to do this?”
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com