Hugh Dillon
Hugh Dillon (born May 31, 1963) is a Canadian musician and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the punk-influenced band Headstones. He is also a film and television actor; his notable roles include Mike Sweeney in Durham County and Ed Lane in Flashpoint.
Hugh Dillon | |
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Dillon at The Commodore, Vancouver in 2017 | |
Background information | |
Born | May 31, 1963 |
Origin | Kingston, Ontario, Canada |
Genres | Hard Rock, Rock n Roll |
Occupation(s) | Singer, Actor, Record Producer, Co-creator, Executive Producer |
Instruments |
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Years active | 1987–present |
Associated acts | |
Website | www |
Early life
Dillon was born and grew up in Kingston, Ontario.[1] Dillon grew up living on the same street as future NHL star Doug Gilmour and would play hockey with him on the frozen swamp in their neighbourhood. Dillon also played hockey with Paul Langlois, future guitarist of The Tragically Hip. Dillon attended the Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute at the same time that David Usher and members of The Tragically Hip such as Gord Downie attended the school. After high school, Dillon briefly attended Queen's University and lived in London, England before moving to Toronto.
Music career
Dillon is the lead singer for the hard rock band Headstones. Formed in 1987, the band's debut album Picture of Health was released in 1993 and featured the singles "When Something Stands For Nothing", "Cemetery", "Tweeter and the Monkey Man" and "Three Angels". The album was met with not just critical acclaim but was also commercially successful, being certified Platinum in Canada for selling in excess of 100,000 copies. Kicking off a recording career that spans three decades, the band has since gone on to release nine studio albums and numerous chart topping singles.
After the Headstones broke up in 2003, Dillon formed the band Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir, an indie rock band whose style draws from country, pop, punk and new wave influences. Band members were guitarist J.P. Polsoni, Chris Osti on bass, keyboardist Ben Kobayashi, and percussionist Derek Downham.[2] The band released an album, The High Co$t of Low Living, in 2005 through The Tragically Hip guitarist Paul Langois' Ching Music label.[3][4] Dillon also released an album entitled Works Well with Others in 2009 through Ching Music.
After their hiatus, original band members (Dillon, Carr & White) reformed the band in 2011. In 2013, they crowdfunded their album, Love + Fury,[5][6] through PledgeMusic. The album garnered the band their first top 10 album, and a #1 hit single. They followed this up with another crowdfunded album in 2014, One In The Chamber Music, and 2015 Fuck It was their first ever vinyl release.
Little Army was released on Cadence Music in 2017. The band gave their fans an exclusive behind the scenes look into the making of the album, in real time, and includes #1 hit single 'Devil's On Fire'. 2019 Headstones' latest album, Peopleskills, was released, and is the band's first full album also released on vinyl.
Acting career
Dillon's first large screen acting role was in director Bruce McDonald's 1995 film Dance Me Outside.[7] He then played a leading role as Joe Dick in McDonald's 1996 feature film, Hard Core Logo.[8] [9] The film was distributed internationally by Rolling Thunder Pictures.
Dillon appeared in a number of further feature films, including Lone Hero, 2005's Assault on Precinct 13, and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.[10] In 2007 he was nominated for a 2007 Genie Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Trailer Park Boys: The Movie. He starred opposite Vera Farmiga in the Sundance Film Festival award-winning movie, Down to the Bone. Dillon has guest-starred on various television programs, including The Eleventh Hour, ReGenesis, and Degrassi: The Next Generation. He has also created voice-overs a number of television and radio advertisements.
Dillon starred as Mike Sweeney in the Canadian dramatic series Durham County.[11] His performance earned him a Gemini nomination for Best Actor in 2008;[12] the show itself won five Gemini awards and its second season was aired on TMN and Movie Central.
Dillon starred as Sergeant Ed Lane in the CTV/CBS co-production one-hour police drama series Flashpoint, set in Toronto, which ran for five seasons between 2008 and 2012.[13][14] The series was picked up by CBS for broadcast later in 2008 in the United States. He performed the voice of Nick in the video game Left 4 Dead 2, developed by Valve. Dillon played the role of Francis Becker on the third season of the American crime drama series, The Killing[15] opposite Peter Sarsgaard, simultaneously appearing on drama Continuum, followed by a lead role for three seasons of CBC's X Company. Dillon has most recently added roles in Twin Peaks, feature film Wind River alongside Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, Syfy’s The Expanse, Paramount Network Yellowstone alongside Kevin Costner and feature films The Humanity Bureau opposite Nicolas Cage and I Still See You.
Dillon has continued to push the boundaries of his creativity, taking a hands-on approach to developing and producing unique stories, such as short film The Offer, and Issues, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Co-creator - Executive Producer
On January 14th, 2020 Paramount Network announced it had given the green light to a straight-to-series show “Mayor of Kingstown,” which Dillon co-created with Oscar nominee director Taylor Sheridan, both will also be Executive Producers.
Awards and nominations
Dillon won the "Shaw Media Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role" at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2014, for his performance in the episode "Fit for Duty" on Flashpoint.[16]
Filmography
Film
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1994 | Dance Me Outside | Clarence Gaskill | |
1995 | Curtis's Charm | Spitting White Trash Thug | |
1996 | Hard Core Logo | Joe Dick / Joseph Mulgrew | |
1999 | Johnny | Dell and Alice's Dad | |
2002 | Lone Hero | King | |
2004 | Down to the Bone | Bob | |
2004 | Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning | Reverend Gilbert | |
2005 | Assault on Precinct 13 | Tony | |
2006 | Hope and a Little Sugar | Bar Construction Worker | |
2006 | Trailer Park Boys: The Movie | Sonny | |
2008 | Surveillance | Steven | |
2008 | About Face | The Agent | |
2008 | Down to the Dirt | Renny | |
2011 | Issues | Bobby | Short Film |
2015 | The Offer | Richard | Short Film |
2016 | Dark Harvest | Vincent | |
2017 | Wind River | Curtis | |
2017 | The Humanity Bureau | Adam Westinghouse | |
2018 | I Still See You | Mathison |
Television
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2000 | Twitch City | Howard the Cannibal / Guy in the Convenience Store | 2 episodes |
2002-2003 | Degrassi: The Next Generation | Albert Manning | 3 episodes |
2003 | Blue Murder | Kevin Marshall | Episode: "Necklace" |
2003 | Starhunter | Gus | Episode: "Biocrime" |
2004 | The Eleventh Hour | Eddie | Episode: "Hard Seven" |
2004 | The Love Crimes of Gillian Guess | Bobby Tomahawk | TV movie |
2004 | The Wool Cap | Leather Jacket | TV movie |
2004–2005 | ReGenesis | Danny Dexter | 3 episodes |
2005 | Our Fathers | Johnny DeFranco | TV movie |
2007 | The Gathering | Detective Gamble | 2 episodes |
2007–2010 | Durham County | Mike Sweeney | Series Lead |
2008 | The Quality of Life | Jean Tellier | TV movie |
2008 | Of Murder and Memory | Vincent Nichol | TV movie |
2008 | Ink: Alter Egos Exposed | Narrator | TV movie |
2008–2012 | Flashpoint | Ed Lane | Series Lead |
2013 | The Killing | Francis Becker | 12 episodes |
2013 | Continuum | Mr. Escher | 7 episodes |
2015-2017 | X Company | Colonel Duncan Sinclair | Series Regular |
2017 | The Expanse | Lieutenant Sutton | 3 episodes |
2017 | Twin Peaks | Tom Paige | Episode: "Part 7" |
2018 | The Detectives | Detective Rod Piukkala | Episode: "Stranger Calling" |
2018 | Yellowstone | Sheriff Donnie Haskell | Series Regular |
Video Games
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Left 4 Dead 2 | Nick | Valve |
2012 | Dishonored | City Watch | Bethesda |
2013 | Resident Evil 6 | Nick | Capcom X Valve Crossover DLC |
Discography
Headstones
- Picture of Health (1993)
- Teeth and Tissue (1995)
- Smile and Wave (1997)
- Nickels for Your Nightmares (2000)
- The Greatest Fits (2001)
- The Oracle of Hi-Fi (2002)
- Love + Fury (2013)
- One in the Chamber Music (2014)
- Little Army (2017)
- PEOPLESKILLS (2019)
Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir
- The High Co$t of Low Living (2005)
Hugh Dillon
- Works Well with Others is the first solo album released by Hugh Dillon. It was released October 13, 2009. Many of the songs are featured on the television show Flashpoint.
Track listing
- "Friends of Mine"
- "Sentimental Me"
- "Well On Your Way"
- "Ten Feet Tall"
- "Surface of the Sun"
- "Reel to Reel"
- "Lucky"
- "Lost At Sea"
- "Radio Plays"
- "Bottom of a Dream"
- "My Mistakes"
- "Ignore That Call"
- "Puzzle I Am"
- "Don't Be Fooled"
References
- "The Hour: Hugh Dillon". CBC Television. Season 6, Episode 25, October 28, 2009
- "Hugh Dillon covers a lot of ground on Works Well With Others". The Georgia Strait, by Steve Newton, November 13th, 2009
- Steve McLean (June 2006). Hot Canadian Bands. Lone Pine Pub. p. 62. ISBN 978-1-894864-53-4.
- "The Hugh Dillon Redemption Choir — The High Co$t Of Low Living". Chart Attack, Jun 7, 2005
- "Fans Fund New Album for The Headstones". Kingston Herald, 2013/02/20 in Entertainment/Featured by Merideth Smith
- "'Gasoline and fire'". By Greg Burliuk, Kingston Whig-Standard, December 20, 2013
- " Hard-rocking Headstones driven by soft spot". Barrie Advance, Nov 13, 2015. By Laurie Watt
- "Hugh Dillon changes direction" Archived 2017-03-31 at the Wayback Machine. MIKE ROSS, Edmonton Sun, Sep 9, 2005
- Pike, David L. (2012). Canadian Cinema Since the 1980s: At the Heart of the World. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division. ISBN 1442612401.
- "Headstones' Hugh is acting up again". Canoe Showbiz, STEVE TILLEY, Nov 30, 2004
- "Durham County: Season 1". By Sam Sutherland", Exclaim!, Aug 22, 2008
- "No more Mr. Tough Guy". CBC News, Sarah Liss, Oct 26, 2009
- "Hugh Dillon’s intensity rocks “Durham County”". Channel Guide Magazine, August 19, 2009 Elaine Bergstrom
- " Television ripped from the headlines". GAYLE MacDONALD, Globe and Mail, Jul. 09, 2008
- "'Flashpoint's Hugh Dillon joins 'The Killing'". The Loop. Archived from the original on 2013-06-30. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
- "Flashpoint ‐ Fit for Duty CTV (Bell Media) Hugh Dillon". www.academy.ca. Shaw Media. 2014. Archived from the original on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 26 January 2015.