David Calderisi(I)

Canadian actor, an alumnus of Montreal's McGill University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Calderisi first acted on the London stage in Robert Bolt's play Gentle Jack at Queen's Theatre (1963-1964). He later turned to directing at the West End, and, in 1968, co-founded the production company Quipu for the purpose of creating "a new kind of organisation in which the means of production are owned, controlled and developed by the artists whose work is being produced". By the time Quipu ceased operation in 1973, Calderisi had returned to Canada where he continued to act and direct for the stage.

A prolific screen presence from 1961, Calderisi has popped up in supporting roles in many a classic British TV show, often as characters of diverse ethnicity: he was the hero's trusty sidekick Jacopo in the BBC adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo (1964); the scheming Roberto Ridolfi, mastermind of the plot to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in The Queen's Traitor (1967); an inmate of Stangmoor Prison in the Docteur Who (1963) episode The Mind of Evil and Napoleon Bonaparte in the Canadian docu-drama Titans (1981). He also had a recurring role as TV host Barry Calvert in Gene Roddenberry's Invasion planète Terre (1997). Add to that numerous smaller guest appearances in anything from Alias le Baron (1966) to Un tandem de choc (1994), and from La nouvelle guerre des mondes (1988) to Kung fu, la légende continue (1993).

Calderisi continues to act on screen and has also worked in a teaching capacity at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre, the National Theatre School of Canada and York University.