Frank Borg could be an intriguing character on the very show he writes for, Da Vinci’s Inquest. You may, in fact, have spotted him in small roles, such as showcasing his blackjack skills in a season two episode.

Borg has two Gemini nominations for best writing in a dramatic series for the Da Vinci’s episodes ‘This Shit is Evil’ and ‘It’s a Bad Corner.’

Borg’s writing experience – primarily writing for the stage – spans 15 years. His plays Next Door and One-Sided Dime ran in fringe festivals, and The Chalk Player won two national playwriting competitions. His adaptation of Albert Camus’ The Stranger was performed inside a B.C. federal men’s prison by inmates and professional actors. Borg also wrote and acted in sketch comedy for two years at Victoria’s Belfry Theatre.

His first writing outside the stage was the screenplay for director Davor Marjanovic’s feature film My Father’s Angel (originally titled West of Sarajevo), for which he took home a Leo Award for best screenwriter in the feature-length drama category. As luck would have it, Alan Di Fiore, also part of the Da Vinci’s Inquest writing team, heard a reading of this screenplay around 1995 at Vancouver’s Praxis Centre for Screenwriters.

Di Fiore recommended Borg to Da Vinci’s creator Chris Haddock. Borg joined the series three years ago as a story editor.

The Vancouver-based, 45-year-old writer says he believes Haddock ‘liked the fact that I am intense, I’m blunt, I see things in a certain way, and I’m very opinionated.’ Plus, he says, Haddock appreciated his background, which includes living in several places throughout the U.S. and Canada, dealing cards professionally, logging for two years, and working at a racetrack for about 13 years until his early 30s. (Borg bought his first racehorse last year, and says if he could have one wish in life, it would be to win the Kentucky Derby.) Borg says he aims to impart to his work on Da Vinci’s ‘a sense of authenticity from certain people from different walks of life.’

Borg also strives to ‘hit some emotional truth’ in his writing. In the episode ‘This Shit is Evil,’ for one, he feels he reached such a moment in creating the monologue for a woman coming off speed. ‘I thought I hit the right rhythm – kind of over the top, but there’s a logic within it from [her] point of view.’

In addition to continuing on Da Vinci’s Inquest, his biggest project, Borg is shopping around for a producer for a feature screenplay he’s written based on his play The Chalk Player. He would also like to write another play over the next year.

Andrea Haman