Jacob Daniel Tierney (born September 26, 1979) is a Canadian actor, director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for playing Eric in Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990–1992) and as the co-writer, director, and executive producer of the sitcom Letterkenny (2016–2023), in which he also plays Pastor Glen.

Jacob Tierney
Tierney in September 2007
Born (1979-09-26) September 26, 1979 (age 45)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • screenwriter
  • producer
Years active1986–present
FatherKevin Tierney

Early life

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Jacob Daniel Tierney was born in Montreal on September 26, 1979, the son of teacher Terry (née Smiley) and film producer Kevin Tierney (1950–2018).[1][2] He is of Irish and Jewish descent.[3] His younger sister, Brigid, is an actress.[4]

Career

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Tierney started his career as a child actor, beginning at age six.[5] Aside from acting, Tierney also writes and directs. He made his directorial debut in 2002 with his short film titled Dad.[5]

Since Dad, Tierney has written and directed the feature films Twist (2003),[5] for which he was nominated for a Genie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay,[6] The Trotsky (2009),[5][7] which garnered him two Canadian Comedy Awards[8] and a Genie Award,[6] Good Neighbours (2010),[1] and Preggoland (2014).[9] He has also directed episodes of the television sitcom Mr. D and Gavin Crawford's comedy special Gavin Crawford's Wild West.[10][11] In 2012, Tierney participated in the jury of the Air Canada enRoute Film Festival.[12]

Tierney made his stage directing debut in 2015 with a production of Travesties by Tom Stoppard at the Segal Centre in Montreal.[13] In 2017, he returned to the Segal Centre to direct Noises Off by Michael Frayn.[14]

Tierney is the co-writer, director, and executive producer of the sitcom Letterkenny, in which he also stars as Pastor Glen.[15] At the 5th Canadian Screen Awards in 2017, Tierney won several awards for his work on the series, including the Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series.[16] In 2018, Tierney won the Canadian Screen Awards for Best Direction in a Comedy Series, as well as Best Writing in a Comedy Series alongside Letterkenny creator and star Jared Keeso.

Tierney is openly queer.[17]

Filmography

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Film
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Horses in Winter Ben Waxman at age 9
1988 Pin Leon, age 7
1989 Mindfield Mario
1990 Nathaël and the Seal Hunt (voice) Short film
1993 Josh and S.A.M. Joshua 'Josh' Whitney
1995 The Neon Bible David, age 15
1995 Rainbow Steven Bailey
1998 Motel Young Tom
1998 This Is My Father Jack
1998 Dead End Adam Compton
1999 You Can Thank Me Later Simon Cooperberg
1999 The Life Before This Justin
2000 Poor White Trash Lennie Lake
2002 Dad Dad/Edward Short film
Writer, director
2003 Twist Writer, director
2004 Trouser Accidents Mark Short film
2004 Blood Chris Terry
2007 Walk All Over Me Paul
2009 The Trotsky V.I. (Lenin) Writer, director
2010 Good Neighbours Jonah Writer, director
2011 Sorry, Rabbi Josh Short film
2011 French Immersion Jonathan Hornstein
2012 Camion
2016 Lovesick Dash
2018 The Death and Life of John F. Donovan Co-writer; with Xavier Dolan
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1988 Extra! Extra! Unknown episodes
1988 Hitting Home David Hughes TV movie
1990-1991 Dracula: The Series Max Townsend 21 episodes
1992 Are You Afraid of the Dark? Eric 13 episodes
1991–1992 Watatatow Greg 14 episodes
1992 A Bunch of Munsch (voice) Episode: "Angela's Airplane/The Fire Station"
1994 TekWar: TekJustice Eugene Leopold TV movie
1995–1998 The Little Lulu Show Wilbur Van Snobbe (voice) (Snobby American accent) Unknown episodes
1997 Princess Sissi Prince Karl (voice) Unknown episodes
1997 Whiskers Jed Martin (21 years old) TV movie
1999 The Hunger Snake Episode: "Nunc Dimittis"
1999-2000 Big Wolf on Campus Brother Ambrose 2 episodes
2000 Touched by an Angel Max Episode: "Legacy"
2000 A Diva's Christmas Carol Guy Playing Charades TV movie
Uncredited
2003 Hey Joel Kevin Cornwallis (voice) 13 episodes
2005 Murder in the Hamptons Generosa's R.E. Coworker TV movie
2005 Slings and Arrows Scott 4 episodes
2005 The Many Trials of One Jane Doe Eric Golden TV movie
2007 St. Urbain's Horsemen Joey TV miniseries
2016–2023 Letterkenny Pastor Glen Also co-creator, director
54 episodes
2021 The Moodys director Last four episodes of season two
2022–present Shoresy Benoit "Benny" Brodeur Director, executive producer

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Work Result Ref
2004 Genie Awards Best Adapted Screenplay Twist Nominated [6]
Achievement in Music – Original Song Won
2010 Canadian Comedy Awards Best Writing – Film The Trotsky Won [8]
Best Direction – Film Won
Genie Awards Best Original Screenplay Won [6]
2014 Canadian Screen Awards Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series Gavin Crawford's Wild West Nominated
Vancouver International Film Festival Awards Most Popular Canadian Feature Film Preggoland Won [18]
2015 Directors Guild of Canada Awards Best Direction – Feature Film Nominated [19]
Omaha Film Festival Awards Audience Choice Feature Film Won [20]
2016 Canadian Screen Awards Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series Mr D Nominated [6]
2017 Canadian Screen Awards Best Direction in a Comedy Program or Series Letterkenny Won [21]
Best Writing in a Comedy Program or Series (shared with Jared Keeso) Won
Best Comedy Series (shared with Mark Montefiore, Patrick O'Sullivan, Jared Keeso) Won
WGC Screenwriting Awards Best Script From a Rookie Series (shared with Jared Keeso) Nominated [22]
Best TV Comedy (shared with Jared Keeso) Won

References

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  1. ^ a b Hays, Matthew (13 September 2010), "Jacob Tierney's unneighbourly conduct", The Globe and Mail
  2. ^ Schneller, Joanna (23 December 2020), "Letterkenny co-creator Jacob Tierney has cracked the code of television", The Globe and Mail
  3. ^ "Jacob Tierney – Writer/Director".
  4. ^ Kelly, Brendan (13 March 2010), "There's no drama for the Tierneys", Montreal Gazette
  5. ^ a b c d "Exclusive Interview with "The Trotsky" Writer/Director Jacob Tierney » My Cinema | My Entertainment World". www.myentertainmentworld.ca. 16 January 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d e "awards database". academy.ca/. Archived from the original on 3 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  7. ^ Stevenson, Jane (2009-09-16). "Canadian Baruchel channels Trotsky". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  8. ^ a b "Canadian Comedy Awards". NOW Toronto Magazine - Think Free. 19 October 2010. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Jacob Tierney on his latest film, Preggoland". Montreal Gazette. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  10. ^ Knight, Chris. "VIFF: Director Jacob Tierney's latest labour follows fake pregnancy". www.nationalpost.com. Retrieved 2 January 2017.[permanent dead link]
  11. ^ "Thunderbird — The Canadian Screen Awards Nominations was today and here is the full list of television nominees…". thunderbird.tv. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  12. ^ "enRoute | The 2012 Air Canada enRoute Film Festival Jury". Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2012-11-12.
  13. ^ Burke, Jim (17 April 2015), "Madcap wink at history in Stoppard's Travesties", Montreal Gazette
  14. ^ Burke, Jim (3 February 2017), "When Noises Off hits the right tone, it's a miracle of calibrated chaos", Montreal Gazette
  15. ^ "Letterkenny's love affair with Sudbury". Sudbury Star. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  16. ^ Furdyk, Brent (March 12, 2017). "2017 Canadian Screen Awards: And The Winners Are…". ET Canada. Archived from the original on July 14, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  17. ^ "Exclusive Interview: Letterkenny's Jacob Tierney "We might be at peak gay!"". The Queer Review. 9 January 2021.
  18. ^ "The winners of the 2014 Vancouver International Film Festival". www.theprovince.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  19. ^ "2015 nominees" (PDF). dgc.ca. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  20. ^ "» Winners Omaha Film Festival". omahafilmfestival.org. Retrieved 2 January 2017.
  21. ^ "2017 TV Nominees - Academy.ca". Academy.ca. Retrieved 18 January 2017.
  22. ^ "2017 WGC Screenwriting Awards Finalists". www.wgc.ca. Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
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