I think Michael Riley and I are running neck and neck for the Al Pacino award,’ says actor Ron White, referring to the fact that both Canadian actors have been nominated numerous times for Genies and Geminis and haven’t taken a statue home yet.

For last year’s Genies, White was up against Jeremy Irons, and this time around he faces stiff competition from Henry Czerny, who gave a tour de force performance in The Boys of St. Vincent.

‘My agent says I have bad luck,’ jokes White. Actually, White is a friend of Czerny, and in a very Canadian manner, thinks Czerny deserves the Gemini. However, he does think that judging the performance of an actor who must carry a four-hour miniseries against the work of an actor in a one-hour drama is like comparing apples and oranges.

In Manic, a one-hour drama produced by Fleeting Glimpse Productions, White plays Alan Vernet, a man struggling with his manic depression. It was a role he turned down four times before accepting. In the end, it was a great experience, says White. It was a role in which he could flex his dramatic muscles, so to speak, as well as work with some up-and-coming talent like director Alex Chapple and producer Amanda Enright.

White is one of those character actors who has been able to land some meaty roles on u.s. features while basing himself out of Canada. In addition to playing Clyde Ledbetter in Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, White had a lead in Sidney Lumet’s Guilty as Sin and Intersection, a recent feature starring Sharon Stone and Richard Gere.

After working non-stop for over 10 months, White is hoping to take an eight-day break between attending a screening of Underground to Freedom in Washington and starting another feature – one he can’t talk about as the deal’s not yet signed.

He is also signed to do Mary Young Leckie’s feature Avro Arrow if the producers finally line up financing. KM