CUNNINGHAM, Colin 1967-

PERSONAL: Born August 20, 1967, in Los Angeles, CA. Education: Vancouver Film School, graduated 1993.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Windowshot Productions, Inc., 990 Homer Street, Suite 200, Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 2W5, Canada; fax: 604-683-8290. Agent—Ross Rhodes Talent Management, 1044 Ironwork Passage, Vancouver, British Columbia V6H 3P1 Canada. E-mail—cc@dowco.com.

CAREER: Actor, producer, and screenwriter. Windowshot Productions, Inc. (independent film production company), co-owner, 1996—. Best known for playing Major Paul Davis on the television series Stargate SG-1, Showtime, 1999—; actor in films, including Hard Evidence, Libra Home Entertainment, 1995; Best in Show, Warner Bros., 2000; and The Sixth Day, Columbia, 2000.

Actor in made for television movies, including For the Love of Nancy, American Broadcasting Company (ABC), 1994; Robin of Locksley, Showtime, 1996; Captains Courageous, The Family Channel, 1996; Dead Fire, Sci-Fi Channel, 1997; Volcano: Fire on the Mountain (also known as Fire on the Mountain), ABC, 1997; Five Desperate Hours, National Broadcasting Company (NBC), 1997; The Heist, Home Box Office (HBO), 1998; and Mr. St. Nick, ABC, 2002.

Actor in television series, including Beggars and Choosers, Showtime, 1999, and Big Sound, Global Television Network, 2000. Guest star on television shows including The Commish, The Marshal, The X-Files, The Outer Limits, Dead Man's Gun, The Sentinel, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven, and Viper. Producer of the short films Just a Number, A Question of Conscience, and Ryan.

AWARDS, HONORS: Audience Favorite Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival, Victoria Independent Film Festival, and Sedona International Film Festival, all for Zacharia Farted.

WRITINGS:

(And producer and actor) Zacharia Farted (screenplay), 1998.

SIDELIGHTS: Although he is best known as an actor, Colin Cunningham is also the author of the screenplay for the award-winning independent film Zacharia Farted. Cunningham, who was born and raised in Los Angeles, was a struggling actor in the early 1990s when he decided to abandon southern California for the Vancouver Film School (VFS). "I wanted to create opportunities for myself," he told Ruth Atherley of Splice. "I didn't want to spend my life as an actor always knocking on doors for parts." So instead, Cunningham decided to write and produce films himself, thereby guaranteeing himself a role. After finishing his film-making training at VFS, he teamed up with Canadian actress Madison Graie to found Windowshot Productions, Inc., an independent film production company. They produced music videos and other short films for a time before starting on their first feature film, Zacharia Farted.

Zacharia Farted is a buddy/road trip film that starts out as a comedy but finishes much more seriously. Two friends from San Francisco, Michael (played by Cunningham) and Brian, are on a fishing trip when they find a key stamped with the letters "PUMZACH" near a grave with a blank tombstone. On the suggestion of a kleptomaniac waitress (played by Graie) who joins them on their journey, they set out to find a Native American shaman who might be able to help them solve the mystery of the inscription and the occupant of the grave. They find a shaman, Martin Yellowcrow, but he turns out to be half-Irish and of little help. Although Michael and Brian never do find the answers that they thought they were looking for, they do find themselves.

Despite the film's title, its humor does not stem from scatological references. The title is actually about not judging a book by its cover and not taking life too seriously. It stems from a Zen-like parable that Cunningham once read whose moral was, "The most noble pursuits in life can be equated to that of a fart of a dog."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Contemporary Theatre, Film, and Television, Volume 33, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

online

ColinCunninghamFans.com,http://www.colincunninghamfans.com (February 2, 2003).

MSN Entertainment,http://entertainment.msn.com/ (February 2, 2003), "Colin Cunningham," "Zacharia Farted."

The Offıcial Colin Cunningham Web Site,http://www.colincunningham.com (February 2, 2003).

The Offıcial Madison Graie Web Site,http://www.madisongraie.com (February 14, 2003).

Splice: The Online Newsletter of Vancouver FilmSchool,http://www.vfs.com/ (February 2, 2003), Ruth Atherley, "Well Spoken and Outspoken."

VideoFlicks.com,http://www.videoflicks.com/ (February 2, 2003), "Colin Cunningham."

Zacharia Farted Offıcial Web Site,http://www.vfs.com/zacharia (February 3, 2003).*