Jonathan Watton

Jonathan grew up smack in the heart of Corner Brook, Newfoundland—a classic Canadian mill town where the air pretty much stinks of pulp and paper, but hey, you get used to it. The guy’s the middle kid, sandwiched between two brothers, raised by Barbara and Wayne, both teachers. His dad? Total film buff. Used to drag out those clunky 16mm reels from the National Film Board, pop some popcorn, and run movie nights for anyone who’d show up in the living room, siblings and random neighbor kids included. His mom, not to be outdone, tossed him into local theater classes before he could even spell “monologue.” Turns out, that early stage stuff lit the fuse for everything that followed. He finished up at Memorial University’s Theatre Program, and boom—his first real gig came courtesy of Michael Langham, one of those theater legends you hear about. That landed him with the original crew at Atlantic Theatre Festival, which is a pretty big flex in the Canadian theater scene. Flash forward: Jonathan’s been doing the screen thing for two decades now. TV credits? Wild. He’s popped up on Murdoch Mysteries, HBO Canada’s Good God, Reign, Private Eyes, Lost Girl, and even Taken. Not enough? He snagged a recurring role as Commander Mathew Calhoun on season three of The Handmaid’s Tale, which is, you know, kind of a big deal. Movies? He’s got range. The XX at Sundance, Closet Monster at TIFF, and he went toe-to-toe with Julianne Moore in Cronenberg’s Maps to the Stars at Cannes. Oh, and he’s set to star opposite Chelsea Peretti in Spinster. Jonathan’s also done stints with the Shaw Festival and Soulpepper Theatre, and he headlined North by Northwest on both sides of the Atlantic. Now, he’s got a director’s hat on too, running films through festivals and putting together a new TV series with Frantic Films. Busy guy, right?