Stephen Lack

Stephen Lack (born January 1, 1946) is a Canadian artist and former actor and screenwriter best known for his leading role in David Cronenberg's Scanners and Allan Moyle's The Rubber Gun, for which he was nominated for two Genie Awards.

Early life and education
Lack was born in 1946 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and gained a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from McGill University in 1967, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture at Universidad de Guanajuato, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in 1969.

Career
Although he also produces drawings and sculpture, his primary medium is painting; he specializes in American scenes (urban, cultural, and landscapes) in a style that has been described as Neo-Expressionist. His art has won a number of awards and residencies.

He was artist in residence at Ancienne Manufacture Royale, Limoges, and Banff Institute of the Arts in 1988, Ford Motor Company, Dearborn, Michigan in 1989, and Connecticut College and Skidmore College in 1999. He received awards in the "Painting" category from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1987 and 1993, and the Canada Council for the Arts in 1991. In 2018 Xeno-Optic with the assistance of the Research Services office at St. Thomas University in Canada published a 136-page text on the drawings of Stephen Lack titled There is a War, with an essay by Virgil Hammock, and a foreword by Ronald Edsforth. The text reflects Stephen Lack's ability to see the world dominated by American conflicts as Goya saw his world in his work The Disasters of War, or Jacques Callot's Les Grandes Misères de la guerre (The Great Miseries of War).

The best-known films in which he appeared are Scanners in 1981 and Dead Ringers in 1988, but he has also appeared in cameo roles and independent films. Credits include Montreal Main (1974), The Rubber Gun (1978, which he also co-wrote with Allan Moyle, receiving nominations for Genie Awards for both Performance and Screenplay), Head On (aka Deadly Passion, 1980); Perfect Strangers (1984), and All the Vermeers in New York (1990).

Personal life
He lives and works in New York, and is the father of Asher Lack, front-man of the band Ravens & Chimes.

Filmography

 * Montreal Main (1974; also writer) – Steve
 * The Angel and the Woman (1977) – Boss
 * The Rubber Gun (1977; also writer) – Steve
 * Head On (1980) – Peter Hill
 * Scanners (1981) – Cameron Vale
 * A 20th Century Chocolate Cake (1984)
 * Perfect Strangers (1984) – Lt. Burns
 * Dead Ringers (1988) – Anders Wolleck
 * All the Vermeers in New York (1990) – Mark
 * Ernstfall in Havanna (2002)

Awards and nominations

 * 1980 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: The Rubber Gun (nominated)
 * 1980 Genie Award for Best Screenplay: The Rubber Gun (nominated)