Kevin Allardyce

Born in Regina and raised in Regina, Kevin became interested in acting early in high school.  He appeared in every play and musical performed at during his study including anything Goes.  Later he appeared in Oliver in an unforgettable performance as The Artful Dodger.  Critics are still buzzing about his appearance in Man of La Mancha as Don Quixote.   But what really got him the chicks was his love for debating.  He once competed at a national level as a debater and later turned this interest into a political science degree with a co-major in religious studies at the University of Regina.

A schoolmate named Brett Bell cast him in a community television segment that he was writing and directing for Access Communications.  Larry Big Whop Tex (starring Jay Robertson).  The project featured Kevin in a minor roll as a bank teller in robbery but during the filming he was able to meet another actor with a small role named James Whittingham.  The two became friends and would work together on screen for years to come.  Kevin appeared in several more segments for Rough Cuts, a live musical variety show and later gained the leading role in half hour comedy Gumshoe by aspiring filmmakers Trevor Cunningham and James Whittingham.  The film noir spoof was Allardyce's first taste of stardom.  AI still remember two years after it aired, some woman came up to me in Eaton's and said she loved the show.@ says Allardyce.

Kevin also starred in Trevor Cunningham'ss Another Day in 1986 with James in a supporting role. Whittingham and Allardyce were working together every opportunity they had early in their adult lives.  James was a film student who was always in need of a good actor.  Kevin was known for his acting talents and showed up in many student films during this period and which later turned into leading roles in independent films made in Regina in the late 1980's.  Brett Bell cast him in his half hour 16mm comedy Strike Me Silly, which was filmed over a four-year period starting in 1990.  Kevin starred as Dwain Axford, a son of a bowling alley owner who has to take over his ill father's business for just one day.  Unfortunately this is the day the doors to the mental asylum get left open and a man who thinks he's the devil (James Whittingham) drops in to do a little bowling.  Allardyce hasn't been a bowler in years but he must conjure up his past skills in order to beat Satan and keep the horned fellow from exploding a bomb hidden in under his devil's costume.  Strike Me Silly debuted at Edmonton's Local Heros and has received many international film festival screenings and television broadcasts.

By the time Kevin completed his duo degree in Religious Studies and Political Science at the University of Regina he was cast in a segment for community television that would change his life.  Jack Hilkewich saw the comic genius in Kevin and how well he worked with Whittingham and cast the two in a segment for a new Access Communications series.  The first segment that aired was a trip he and James took to Burger King in 1993.  By the time the credits rolled on the half hour show What's Up that hot July weekday afternoon, Kevin would find the experience of walking down the Regina streets a little different than he had in the past.  Countless fans quoting dialogue from the series would mob him in almost any public place he would visit.  Once, when James' friends had broken into his apartment to surprise James on his birthday, Kevin left to go through the Burger King drive through.  The vehicle in front was a jeep full of teenaged girls who excitedly screamed Kevin! and proceeded drop their pants and moon the unsuspecting cable star.

 The show immediately built a die-hard cult audience of genuine fans.  Although half the time enthusiastic fans would yell out to Kevin, "James!"  The series has won many awards including a Best Host Presenter award from SMPIA's Showcase Awards and a nominations for Best Performance at the 1997 Yorkton International  Short Film and Video Festival.

Kevin's most notable appearance has been on CBC's Just for Laughs where he and James starred in short hosting vignettes in each of the ten episodes in the 1997 season.  The highly rated shows now appear in reruns on The Comedy Network.

 Although Kevin's religious studies and political science background have made for some great references in his comedy, when he's not currently acting, he uses his education to work as a consultant and administrator for the Food Future organization and other groups.  Kevin currently lives with his wife Carolyn in an unknown U.S. city.