Johnny Terris

Born in Toronto and raised in Pictou County Nova Scotia, Dutch-Canadian Johnny Terris is an actor, filmmaker, writer, producer, dancer, model, artist, photographer and visual video editor. He started out doing guerrilla style short films in the late 80's/early 90's and is known in independent film circles for being able to play a wide assortment of characters and the ability to change his appearance drastically.

He started doing films out of boredom of living in a small town and completed his first film in 1987 at the age of 14 on a 40$ budget and shot with a VHS camcorder in his parents home with his best friend. After leaving home in Pictou County two years later for Halifax, his early films usually delved into comedic-style violence and complete annihilation of filmatic structure and formula.

His next three pieces of work; a trio of short comedies, were passed around through various colleges and parties and started to pick up a small following in the early 90's with the younger punk and indie crowds in the city.

In early 2000, he moved to Hollywood California where he turned down an offer to double for actor Johnny Depp, although is compared more to in appearance to lesser known actor Skeet Ulrich.

2002 saw Terris relocating to Maui Hawaii then studying dance and martial arts before taking a lead film role in Birmingham Alabama.

In 2004 he was featured in a television commercial for Safehouse Women's Shelter in which he played an abusive husband and refused payment for the job because it was such a good cause. He also played the disobedient and lazy husband in the comedic film "Faux Paw" which was screened to a sold out audience at Carver Theatre in downtown Birmingham.

A few months later he played a psychiatrist in the drama thriller "Silent Alarm", who oversees the mental breakdown of a depressed young man addicted to painkillers and emotional trauma who is unable to speak or tolerate speech.

In the end of 2004 he traveled back to Hollywood California with heavy metal legends Girlschool on their US tour and filmed some behind the scenes/backstage footage of their Hollywood gig and soundcheck which also included members of AC/DC and Motorhead. In 2007 he created and compiled two memorial tribute music videos to personal friend/original Girlschool guitarist Kelly Johnson, who lost her life that year due to a long battle with spinal cancer.

In 2009 Terris was cast to play Jack The Ripper and Abraham Lincoln in two off-Broadway plays by internationally known NYC playwrights Joe Landry and Brian Gazeley though had to pass on the projects due to conflicting schedules.

In 2011 he made the official decision to stop doing underground short films, decided to do horror full time and has released an autobiography on his early life and films titled "Sinister Splendor & Broken Glass".

He currently has places in both Pictou County and the West Coast and splits his time between the two.

Selected films

• The Bionic Cradle
• The Whores (Johnny Terris film)
• Destination Disturbed
• Room 405
• The Model (film)
• Sordid (film)
• Scruff (film)
• Inside Inoxia
• Young & Wasted
• Darlene's Dilemma
• Scrubland (film)
• Grease Monkey (film)

External links

• Official site
• Johnny Terris at the Internet Movie Database
• knac.com review