When he comes back to Saskatoon, the only thing deadly about Hollywood kickass bad guy Kim Coates is his mom’s killer cinnamon buns and his take-a-bullet love

for his hometown, his alma mater, and his old school buddies. The prolific movie and television actor, on a short hiatus while wrapping the fifth season of the critically acclaimed FX cable hit Sons of Anarchy, came home in September to see Mom and lend support to the institution that inspired his calling.

Kim Coates is a really nice guy. Unless you haven’t watched TV or movies in past two decades, that may be a bit hard to grasp. The actor has a propensity to play scary dudes — gun-toting killers, vampires, bikers, sleaze balls, myriad unsavoury characters, Macbeth, for goodness sake — so ‘nice’ isn’t the first adjective that comes to mind. That’s because Coates is a consummate actor who makes any character believable. All from an accidental start with a drama elective on a whim at the University of Saskatchewan.

Talking to Fine Lifestyles on his cell phone after a morning run in Eaton Canyon near his home in Pasadena, Coates is in a talkative mood. It’s quickly evident he loves to talk about Saskatoon, family, his personal and industry friends, and his mission to help create a world-renowned centrepiece for arts at the U of S.

Coates’ 82-year-old mom still lives in his childhood home and tends a rumpus room shrine to her son’s acting career. Joyce Coates was a career Safeway gal; his father Fred an Eaton’s man. A childhood with brothers Dale and Dean meant of having the run of his Exhibition neighbourhood, loving parents, enough to eat, and always a pair of skates so he could play hockey with pals.

“I love coming home to see Mom,” Coates says. “I lost my dad a few years ago, so seeing her is top priority. She’s an Energizer bunny.” He happily rattles off childhood buddies like Jim Lindsay, Larry Harley, and Murray Totland, Saskatoon’s city manager. Coates talks about them with the same warmth and admiration as he does industry pals like William Fichtner, Kevin Costner, Matt Craven, Eric Bana, even Christopher Plummer. You get the idea that if you gave them all hockey sticks in front of Coates’ old house, there would be one wicked game of shinny.

“Murray Totland was my first buddy,” recalls Coates. “I was four, he was five. We used to walk to Thornton Elementary on Lorne Avenue every day. We’re still attached at the hip. To think he’s gone from us blowing up dinky toys in his back yard to running the whole city, well, it’s frightening.” Coates laughs. “But he does it so well, and no one could blow up a dinky toy like Totland. Seriously, I’m not kidding. The engineer was in his brain when he was six.”

Coates had a quick wit and a pretty good knack for public speaking but a future in theatre wasn’t hardwired by any means. At Nutana Collegiate, pretending to be in Hawaii Five-O with Gord Pepper was the extent of Coates’ theatrical aspirations. He worked at Safeway on 20th Street part time to finance other passions — his first motorcycle and a ’67 Galaxy 500.

He enrolled at U of S in 1977, vaguely planning to be a history teacher. There he stumbled upon two life changers. One, he met education student Diana Chappell, whom he married in 1984, and two, he put a check mark next to a drama elective.

TOUGH GUY

draws strength from Mom, two brothers,

childhood pals, and the old green and white

BY KARIN MELBERG SCHWIER

Photo: Frank Ockenfels / FX

KIM COATES: HOLLYWOOD

“Honestly, back in ’79 when I decided to become an actor, I’m not even really sure any of us knew what that meant. I remember watching classmate Dwayne Brenna on stage, thinking, ‘Holy crap, he’s good!’ I think we were probably a bit mystified by it all. Mom and Dad just knew I absolutely loved it.”

After convocation for both Coates and Chappell in 1981, she taught in Kindersley before the couple moved to Toronto the next year. Coates went to auditions, waited tables at the Nag’s Head Tavern, complete with cummerbund, and lived off tips while Diana pulled their financial weight, teaching with the York Board of Education. It was a lean but exciting time of wide-eyed discovery as auditions and small parts came his way. Opportunities picked up steam and a short 18 months later, Coates landed roles in West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet at the Neptune Theatre with Tom Kerr in Halifax. Soon he was trodding the boards at Stratford with roles like the lead in Macbeth and as Roma in Bertold Brect’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.

“My favourite writer, Joseph Campbell, says to follow your bliss and I believe that, but sometimes it’s tough,” he says. “You need someone to help you over those bumpy roads. If you love each other, if they can support you until there’s either nothing left to support or you’re a star, that’s what it takes. I was lucky Diana did that for me.”

During this period, Coates caught the eye of New York agents for his Stratford work. While Diana taught in Toronto, Coates headed to Broadway where his career blossomed with plum roles. One of the most significant was taking over from Aiden Quinn the role of Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire. “I always wanted to be where the best work was, but I was almost an innocent about the whole time. I had no fear.”

Two daughters were born in Toronto, Kyla in 1989 and Brenna in 1993. In 1995, the entire family made their way to Los Angeles, following Coates’ bliss. By that time, he’d gotten a green card with his work on Waterworld and other Warner Brothers projects, and had joined the Screen Actors Guild. When Coates realized he wouldn’t have to give up his Canadian citizenship — something he’d never do — the family became dual citizens in 1998.

Now the veteran of over 50 movies and television shows, Coates says he’ll go wherever he needs to go to work on the best projects.

“The two movies I worked on in Saskatchewan last year will forever be in my heart. I will go wherever I need to go to work on the best projects, I don’t care if it’s Hollywood or Winnipeg (where he recently filmed hockey comedy Goon, with Seann William Scott, Liev Schreiber and Jay

Baruchel.).” Three feature films open this year: The Truth (he co-produced and stars with Forest Whitaker and Andy Garcia); those two Saskatchewan-made movies, Rufus and Ferocious, now in post, were shot in Dundurn and Saskatoon. In winter.

“I about froze my knackers off,” he howls. “Soft? Totally soft, baby! They say you can take the boy out of Saskatchewan, but you can’t take Saskatchewan out of the boy. I’m not so sure that’s true.” Some tough guy.

Coates admits being recognized as a ‘movie star’ these days gets “a bit out of control.” Recently in Amsterdam, the couple dealt with swarms of SOA fans.

“But you’ll never hear me complain about a family from Vancouver running up to have their picture taken with me,” he says. “I’m fortunate to be in a hit show. It’s a bit of a pain when you’re having dinner with your wife, but I’m never going to bitch about it because I’m not that kind of guy. I’m from Saskatoon. Airports are crazy now,” he adds. “I don the ball cap once in a while.”

Coates gets intense about tragedies like the shooting at the Batman Colorado premiere. He’s angry about easy gun access in the U.S., an odd juxtaposition between Coates the pacifist and his gun wielding SOA character Tig Trager.

“Guns in America,” he fumes. “I try not to get too political down here but I flat out hate it. I’m not talking about taking my 12-gauge out with my Uncle Mort to get some geese on his farm in the fall. I’m talking about the availability and the bullshit interpretation of a Constitution that was made for militia back in 1776 and has nothing to do whatsoever with having a right to carry guns today. Guns kill people. It’s disgusting. Don’t get me started.”

How does he survive in the acting industry where early breakthroughs and career momentum can be difficult? Coates says as with any career, a good foundation in the craft is paramount and solid support gets the job done.

“It’s a tough industry to stay sane in,” he says. “But I love to explore, I love the dark side, the bright side. If it’s great writing, I want to play the guy. I like going to Eric Bana’s and William Fichtner’s premieres, and my own, walking the red carpet, talking to cockroach media like TMZ. I love it all. But I know what Hollywood is, and I came into it with my eyes open.”

Mom was top priority on this Saskatoon visit, and there was a quick detour to the Calgary Film Festival for the world premieres of both Rufus and Ferocious. But Coates also booked time with people involved in the

TOP Fishing at Chitek Lake FRAME U of S Greystone Theare production of Creeps and Broadway’s Streetcar Named Desire MIDDLE With parents, high school gradu-ation BOTTOM Sons of Anarchy cast at premiere

TOP As “Van Dusen” in Rufus. FRAME U of S Greystone Theatre production of Creeps MIDDLE Still from

Ferocious BOTTOM Kim Coates and Daughters at the Toyota Grand Prix Pro Celeb Race at Toyota Grand Prix

Track on April 16, 2011 in Long Beach

Photo: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com

Photo: Kiel Harvey

Photo by Frank Micelotta/PictureGroup

Photo: Peter Christiensen

kind of guy. I’m from Saskatoon. Airports are crazy now,” he adds. “I don the ball cap once in a while.”

Coates gets intense about tragedies like the shooting at the Batman Colorado premiere. He’s angry about easy gun access in the U.S., an odd juxtaposition between Coates the pacifist and his gun wielding

“Guns in America,” he fumes. “I try not to get too political down here but I flat out hate it. I’m not talking about taking my 12-gauge out with

momentum can be difficult? Coates says as with any career, a good foundation in the craft is paramount and Photo: Peter Christiensen

U of S Clarion Project, something dear to his thespian heart. The Project’s artful vision promotes innovative arts, multi-disciplinary programs, and ultimately a new fine and performing arts facility on campus.

In September, Coates dropped in on U of S drama students in a new film class and had some one-on-one in a fourth year acting class. He attended the Broadway Theatre showing of his Regina-shot 45RPM. He lunched with Arts and Sciences Dean Peter Stoicheff, and dined with Jami Young, Bill Waiser, Kirby Wirchenko, and a few Clarion Project people.

Coates counts former U of S President Peter MacKinnon as a friend and confidante. The pair has spent time on walks and over dinners talking about how crucial it is to expose students to a rich liberal arts foundation, to offer a chance for them to discover their own creativity, and to do more to grow a vibrant cultural community. Coates views his own involvement in the Clarion Project as a priority on his front burner.

“You can never be the greatest university unless you have a centerpiece for art, for music, for drama. There’s been a phenomenal growth spurt with medicine, sciences, the synchrotron, but we’re not done,” he says. “Saskatchewan is really kicking ass in a lot of areas, so a prosperous time is not the time to dismantle the arts. I can’t wait until the next election because I’m going to be front and centre of anything that helps us get back the film tax credit so we can continue art and film and television and singing and dancing in this great province of ours.”

Coates realizes his good fortune in the business, but is aware of his own talent and contribution. “I just want to continue to be around people who create, whether it’s film or television or theatre, guys like Damian Lee in Toronto. A great night for me is to have dinner with Di, a nice bottle of Napa, and friends who wants to talk film, theatre, the Riders, and my Red Wings. And I love coming home.”

Back in LA, Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter “definitely has seven seasons up his sleeve.” The fifth season of SOA premiered September 11. It’s based on Hamlet and “we all know that doesn’t end well,” Coates grins. “We spent four seasons going up the hill and it’s only getting more revved up as we come down the other side. It’s really getting ferocious, just crazy.” When the series finally wraps Coates knows he will have been part of a phenomenal classic. The fact it was a huge hit was “icing on the cake.”

A consummate chameleon, he can’t wait to move on to try on the skin of the next character. “I keep finding things in Tig, but a whole new character will be a great new challenge.” Another tough guy? Perhaps, he muses. You imagine him slouched on a boulder in Eaton Canyon, black hair wild, a smile on his lips, those ice blues gazing steadily across the San Fernando Valley toward the LA smog.

“I am really excited about what comes next. I’ve done good guy, bad guy, comedy. I’m going to direct, and produce more. You know what?” he says. “I think my best stuff is yet to come.” FLS

On Kim Coates:

“We’re all so proud of him and never doubted he’d be successful. We go way back. My dad was a police officer, so we

had to be a little careful but we had no end of things to get into. Lots of golf, hockey. There are two Kims: the Hollywood Kim, and there’s Coatsie from childhood, the

really genuine down–to-earth guy I know and love. It would have been easy to forget about all of us back here and get caught up

with his phenomenal success. But he still cares deeply about Saskatoon, what’s going

on in the community and the university. Honest and open, it’s hard not to like the

guy. I even let him beat me at golf once in awhile because he’s so likable.”

Murray Totland, Saskatoon City Manager

LEFT Still from Sons of Anarchy. Photo: Prashant Gupta / FX