David Hewlett

Early life

Hewlett was born in Redhill, England, and moved with his family to Canada at the age of four. Hewlett got his first computer in his mid-teens and became a self-described "computer nerd". While attending high school in Toronto, he launched his acting career, starring in student films by Vincenzo Natali. He dropped out of high school in his senior year to pursue careers in acting and computing, beginning his acting career in 1984 at the age of sixteen.

Before his acting career took off, Hewlett ran Darkyl Media, a web site design firm, and also founded Fusefilm.com, a now defunct internet community for filmmakers.

Career

Hewlett has appeared in many low-budget horror films, such as The Darkside and the minor cult favourites Scanners II: The New Order and Pin. He also guest starred in several television series. In 1996, he landed one of his better-known roles, as Grant Jansky on Traders. In 1997, Hewlett worked again with Natali, starring in the critically acclaimed thriller Cube as Worth the architect, a role that saw the rise of his stardom due to the commercial success of the low budget Canadian film.

Hewlett, an avid science fiction fan, has been quoted saying that Doctor Who, the sci-fi program in his native Britain is what first sparked his love for the genre. And that he made science fiction when he was younger in Britain, on his 8 millimetre camera with friends. Hewlett had his early dreams of working in science fiction made into a reality, when he first had a four-episode guest role on the Canadian/American sci-fi series Stargate SG-1, as the Stargate expert Rodney McKay, which eventually grew into his starring role on Stargate Atlantis.

In 2007, Hewlett appeared as a guest star in the first episode of the TV series Sanctuary, a show produced by and starring Stargate actress Amanda Tapping. He played Larry Tolson – a patient suffering from a form of psychosis, who was shot and wounded before being taken into custody by police as a murder suspect.

In 2006, he wrote and directed A Dog's Breakfast starring himself, his sister Kate Hewlett, his dog Mars, and Stargate Atlantis costars Paul McGillion, Christopher Judge and Rachel Luttrell. In July 2006, Hewlett created a YouTube channel named Fanatical.

In 2014, Hewlett directed the supernatural horror-science fiction film Debug with Jason Momoa, who starred alongside Hewlett in Stargate Atlantis. Jeananne Goossen and Adrian Holmes played the lead roles in the film.

In 2015, Hewlett stars in the Syfy TV series Dark Matter, which is based on the comic book of the same name. Playing a recurring role as Tabor Calchek, a merchant who also serves as the team's handler.

Personal life

Hewlett married actress Soo Garay in 2000. They divorced in 2004. He married Jane Loughman in 2008. Hewlett's younger sister is actress Kate Hewlett. She has appeared on Stargate Atlantis as Rodney McKay's sister, Jeannie Miller, multiple times in the series.