Pardis Parker
Pardis Parker is an award-winning director, writer, actor, and comedian.
A nominee for four Canadian Comedy Awards and a finalist for Canada’s Next Top Comic and Bite TV’s Stand Up and Bite Me, he recently won British star David Baddiel’s international stand-up competition and previously became the first Canadian ever to book the CBS Diversity Showcase. He has performed at the Hammersmith Apollo, Hollywood Laugh Factory, Hollywood Improv, Carolines on Broadway, Gotham Comedy Club, Comedy Studio, Punch Line, Jongleurs, Comedy Store, Yuk Yuk’s, and many more.
His films and music videos, including Two Men, Two Cows, Two Guns, Afghan, and The Dance, have received nearly 60 awards and nominations, and his next project, a modern take on Bollywood-style musicals for Bravo!, is prepping to shoot.
In addition to his work behind the camera, Parker is a talented dramatic and comedic actor in front of it, receiving multiple Best Actor nominations for his work in Afghan. He’s next appearing in Combat Hospital on ABC, Single White Spenny and Moderation Town on Showcase, Little Mosque on the Prairie and The Dance on CBC, Really Me on The Family Channel, and indie drama Snow.
Born atop one of Kandy’s peaks in the thick of Sri Lanka’s lush rainforest and transplanted at the age of three to a rough neighbourhood in rural Nova Scotia, Parker has a unique and unusual life story. He has lived, worked, and volunteered in the Solomon Islands, Guadeloupe, Australia and Manhattan, performed at Carnegie Hall, been airlifted out of heavy ethnic fighting during a military coup, survived malaria, and owned and operated a successful health food store. These experiences, combined with his mixed Iranian/Sri Lankan heritage, his Baha’i upbringing, and his background in computer science and psychology at Montreal’s McGill University, have allowed him to forge a truly fresh perspective and bring an unconventional blend of left brain and right brain to his work.
A regular blogger, you can read words that he types at www.pardisparker.com.
