ABOUT

Birder-8Bird enthusiast and high school teacher Ron Spencer has seen his life fall down all around him: his students don’t respect him, his ex-wife has finally decided to throw him out, and worst of all, his daughter is drifting away from his teachings as a ‘birder’ toward more modern methods.

When he loses out on his much-desired job as Head of Ornithology at the National Park to younger, hipper rival Floyd Hawkins, he decides he’s not going down without a fight…but he’s going to need a little help.

Ron unexpectedly bumps into Ben, a pot smoking slacker, and former student. The two quickly forge an unlikely friendship, bonding over their mutual hatred of Floyd. They set out on a haphazard campaign to take Floyd down and restore Ron’s bird watching legacy.

Directed by Theodore Bezaire
Written by Theodore Bezaire & Mike Stasko
Produced by Gerry Lattmann, Jeff Nadalin, Roy Collavino
For Full credits visit our IMDB page

Tom Cavanagh

Tom Cavanagh made his professional stage debut playing “Danny Zuko” in “Grease” in his native Canada. That led to Broadway turns in “Shenandoah” and more recently “Urinetown” ; other selected theatre credits include “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, “A Chorus Line”, “Holiday”, “Cabaret”, the Canadian Premiere of “Spike Heels” and ” Some Americans Abroad” at Second Stage.

 

Cavanagh recently completed the film “A Killer Among Us” and just wrapped the indie “The Birder”. Other film includes “Alchemy” ( Tribeca film festival), Breakfast With Scot (Toronto Film Festival), Two Weeks, Gray Matters, Sublime, and Warner Bros Yogi Bear, where he spends his time yelling at the voices of Dan Ackroyd and Justin Timberlake.

 

On TV, Cavanagh was in “Bang Bang You’re Dead” (Peabody Award, Emmy nom), and the miniseries “Capture of the Green River Killer”. TV Series’ include NBC’s “Ed” (multiple awards), “Scrubs” (awards), and “Love Monkey” (no awards). Cavanagh also starred in “Trust Me” and ” Royal Pains” as well as “Eli Stone”, “Jack and Bobby” and “Providence”.

 

Cavanagh’s directing credits include “Ed”, the NYC-based “Money Game” about a female playground basketball hustler, and the upcoming feature “Faith”.

 

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, at the age of six Cavanagh and his family moved to Ghana, where his father educated local school teachers. His family later moved back to Quebec, where he attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. He played varsity ice hockey and basketball, and graduated with degrees in English, Biology and Education.

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Mark Rendall

At the age of 10, Mark asked his parents if he could try his hand at acting.  Coincidentally, Cameron MacIntosh’s London Touring Company production of the hit musical Oliver was holding open auditions for children. To everyone’s surprise, Mark not only won the role of “Spider”, one of Fagin’s pickpockets, but also regularly ended up performing the lead role of “Oliver” at the Princess of Wales Theatre during its three month run.

 

Mark has since gone on to perform in a long list of lead roles in film and TV, including The Impossible Elephant; Tales from the Neverending Story, for which he received a Gemini nomination; Touching Wild Horses; The Interrogation of Michael Crowe, for which he received a Toronto ACTRA nomination for Outstanding Male Performance; Childstar; the animated series Arthur; Regenesis; Spirit Bear: The Simon Jackson Story; Revelations; Charlie Bartlett; Silk; 30 Days of Night; Victoria Day; The Exploding Girl; My One and Only; Year of the Carnivore; The Listener; Hannibal; and the upcoming feature film, Algonquin.

 

Mark dedicates his performance in The Birder to his late grandfather, Bob Sachs, a lifelong birder who met his wife Eleanor over 70 years ago while bird-watching at Point Pelee, not far from where the movie was filmed.

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Cassidy Renee

At the age of 8, Cassidy starred as the lead in her school’s French production of Cinderella. It was from that moment that she was hooked. She has gone on to play numerous characters in both school and local theatre productions in the Roxy Theatre. Cassidy attended the CMTC convention where she met and signed with Toronto agent Colin McMurray. After studying with industry legends such as Gloria Mann, Lewis Baumander, Susan Hart and Brett Heard, Cassidy has gained not only expertise but skills that put her at ease when in front of the camera.

 

Cassidy landed her first feature film “The Birder”, in which she starred opposite Tom Cavanagh and Mark Rendall in the role of Samantha Spencer. While on set, Cassidy also worked along side well known actors such as Fred Willard and Graham Greene. She has also been in a McDonald’s commercial as well as a character in the animation series DOKI.

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Jamie Spilchuk

Jamie has spent the last 5 years bouncing between Toronto and Los Angeles. You’ve probably recognized Jamie on shows such as: Being Erica on CBC; Flashpoint on CTV; Suits on USA Network; and Transporter on HBO. IN the last year he has also completed 3 films: ‘A Fish Story’ ‘And Now A Word From Our Sponsor’ and just recently , ‘The Birder’, a comedy starring Tom Cavanagh, Fred Willard and Graham Greene. Oh yeah, and sometimes he’s running into a poor guy who can’t seem to get any cell service. Jamie is currently starring as Cameron Cahil in the television drama series Hard Rock Medical.

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Tommie-Amber Pirie

Tommie-Amber Pirie captured Toronto Film Festival audiences with her role as Trotskys’ sister in Jacob Tierney’s The Trotsky (2009). But, nobody who has been watching television is surprised by her storming the feature world.

 

Tommie-Amber has appeared in some of this country’s most popular series: TMN’s Living in Your Car, CBC’s The Border and 18 to Life, Global/ABC’s Rookie Blue, Teletoon’s My Babysitter is a Vampire, Showtimes’ KING and SYFY Networks’ Warehouse 13 and Lost Girl.

 

Her professional career started in her hometown of Ottawa with H20: The Last Prime Minister (2004) starring Paul Gross. Tommie-Amber was then seen in Girls Best Friend (2008) starring Janeane Garofolo, Like Mother Like Daughter (2007) with Michelle Stafford (The Young & The Restless) as well as Final Verdict (2009) opposite Erica Durance (Saving Hope, Smallville)

 

Other credits include the independent feature New Year which premiered at the Montreal Film Festival (2010) and Lifetime Movie Networks’ Another Man’s Wife (2011).

Tommie-Amber starred as Claire Webb on CBC’s acclaimed half hour comedy Michael: Tuesdays & Thursdays; working alongside Bob Martin and Don McKellar, for which she was nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Female at the 2012 Actra Awards, Canadian Comedy Award and a Canadian Screen Award.

 

Most recently Tommie-Amber worked on The F-Word starring Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, and Adam Driver, The Birder starring Tom Cavanagh and Mark Rendall , indie feature Don’t Get Killed in Alaska, and the much anticipated web series Long Story, Short alongside Katie Boland and Lauren Collins.

 

Tommie-Amber is currently working on Tell The World playing Ellen G.White.

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Allana Harkin

Allana Harkin has been a Toronto based Actor/Writer/Comedian for 15 years. Select TV Guest Star roles include “Lost Girl” (SyFy/Showcase), Degrassi: TNG (Nickelodeon/MTV), “Living In Your Car” (TMN), “The Ron James Show” (CBC) and as a lead in the award winning Nick Jr./TVO series “Dino Dan”.  Most recently she wrote and starred in “Real Estate” at the Sudbury Theatre Centre and can be seen in the upcoming Indie film “Patch Town” as well as “The Birder” starring alongside Tom Cavanagh.

 

As a writer Allana’s plays have been produced worldwide and she has also written for “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” on CBC as well as shows on PBS, Nickelodeon and TVO.  Allana is currently developing a half-hour comedy for CTV and co-writes the popular parenting blog “Eating Over The Sink” with her side-kick Samantha Bee.  She has been nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award for her work with the notorious sketch-comedy troupe “The Atomic Fireballs”.

 

She thinks cardinals are one of the world’s most beautiful birds in the world.

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Fred Willard

Fred Willard, a four-time Emmy nominee and alumnus of the famed Second City comedy troupe, Fred was also a founding member of the Ace Trucking Company sketch/improv group, where he honed his comedic skills. Of course, movie audiences know him best for his work in over seventy films. From Silver Streak with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor to his most recent film, The Magic of Belle Isle directed by Rob Reiner and Starring Morgan Freeman, he has worked with Hollywood’s best. He danced with Jane Fonda in Fun with Dick and Jane. He appeared with Jennifer Lopez in The Wedding Planner, and with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah in Roxanne. Fred’s improvisational performances in Waiting for Guffman and Best in Show earned him an American Comedy Award nod for Funniest Supporting Actor, and won him the Boston Film Critics Award, the American Comedy Award, the Sierra Award, and a tribute from the American Film Institute (AFI). His filmography also includes This Is Spinal Tap, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, A Mighty Wind, For Your Consideration, the Academy Award-nominated Monster House, and the Academy Award-winning short film Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall. Fred starred as the only human character in the Oscar-winning film WALL-E, which The New York Times named the best film of the decade. He was honored by AFI for contributing to America’s cultural legacy.

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Graham Greene

Graham Greene’s screen debut was in 1983 in Running Brave, but it was his Academy Award nominated role as Kicking Bird in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves that brought him stardom. This role was followed by appearances in such films as Thunderheart, Benefit of the Doubt, and Maverick as well as the TV series Northern Exposure. Graham also acted along-side Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson in the 1995 film Die Hard with a Vengeance and played a death row inmate in the Oscar nominated The Green Mile.
 
In 1994 Graham appeared as Mr. Crabby tree in the children’s TV series The Adventures of Dudley the Dragon for which he received a Gemini Award. That same year, he also accepted the Earle Grey Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gemini’s.
 
In 2005, he re-emerged as the potential love interest of a pre-operative transsexual woman in Transamerica. 2007 saw Graham playing leading roles in The Stratford Festival theatrical productions of the Merchant of Venice and Of Mice and Men.
 
Most recently, Graham has appeared in the feature films the Twilight Saga: New Moon, Casino Jack, Valley of the Sun, Gunless, Man on the Train, Black Forrest, Chasing Shakespeare and a recurring role on the CBC TV series Being Erica. Currently, Graham is in production as the series lead in Defiance for NBC/Universal/Sci-Fi network.

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Tom Cavanagh

Tom Cavanagh made his professional stage debut playing “Danny Zuko” in “Grease” in his native Canada. That led to Broadway turns in “Shenandoah” and more recently “Urinetown” ; other selected theatre credits include “Brighton Beach Memoirs”, “A Chorus Line”, “Holiday”, “Cabaret”, the Canadian Premiere of “Spike Heels” and ” Some Americans Abroad” at Second Stage.

 

Cavanagh recently completed the film “A Killer Among Us” and just wrapped the indie “The Birder”. Other film includes “Alchemy” ( Tribeca film festival), Breakfast With Scot (Toronto Film Festival), Two Weeks, Gray Matters, Sublime, and Warner Bros Yogi Bear, where he spends his time yelling at the voices of Dan Ackroyd and Justin Timberlake.

 

On TV, Cavanagh was in “Bang Bang You’re Dead” (Peabody Award, Emmy nom), and the miniseries “Capture of the Green River Killer”. TV Series’ include NBC’s “Ed” (multiple awards), “Scrubs” (awards), and “Love Monkey” (no awards). Cavanagh also starred in “Trust Me” and ” Royal Pains” as well as “Eli Stone”, “Jack and Bobby” and “Providence”.

 

Cavanagh’s directing credits include “Ed”, the NYC-based “Money Game” about a female playground basketball hustler, and the upcoming feature “Faith”.

 

Born in Ottawa, Ontario, at the age of six Cavanagh and his family moved to Ghana, where his father educated local school teachers. His family later moved back to Quebec, where he attended Queens University in Kingston, Ontario. He played varsity ice hockey and basketball, and graduated with degrees in English, Biology and Education.

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