Prolific actor tries to be the 'guvnor' of his own career

Peter Fernandes actively pursued the lead of 'One Man, Two Guvnors' at Shaw. 'You really shouldn't say no to yourself'

- KAREN FRICKER

Actor Peter Fernandes pitched "One Man, Two Guvnors" to the Shaw Festival's artistic director after seeing the National Theatre Live production with James Corden.

Peter Fernandes makes it happen. One of Canadian theatre’s busiest actors, he’s starring in two major shows for which he put himself forward as the leading man. Even as he prepared to take the stage in these parts, he was expanding his resumé by training as a director and stage magic expert.

“I feel exhausted and energized,” Fernandes said of his chock-full dance card these days. “It’s exhausting in a good way.”

Fernandes plays Francis Henshall, the linchpin of the high farce that is “One Man, Two Guvnors” at the Shaw Festival this season, a role made famous in the U.K. by James Corden. (“No pressure,” deadpanned Fernandes about filling those comic shoes.)

In February, he’ll take on the title role in Canadian Stage’s “Fat Ham,” James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning resetting of “Hamlet” in the contemporary American South.

In between, he’s in the ensemble cast of “The Bidding War” at Crow’s Theatre, a world premiere dark comedy by Michael Ross Albert about the mercilessness of today’s housing market, which opens in November.

These roles will show off Fernandes’s notable creative range. Since graduating from the University of Alberta bachelor of fine arts acting program in 2011 and the Soulpepper Academy in 2015, he’s racked up three Dora Awards for musical and nonmusical shows. He most recently played roles as varied as a singing detective (“Kelly v. Kelly”), a beagle (“Fifteen Dogs”) and a caustic tree (“The Master Plan”).