biography

It all started when…

Michael Garrett Shanks was born in Vancouver on 15 December 1970, the younger of two brothers. He grew up in Kamloops, British Columbia.

In the past Michael has described himself as "some kind of overachiever" at school, playing defense at hockey, fly-half and later wing at rugby, being a member of the Student Council, and joining the theatre group. One of the roles he played, that of The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz, was a forecast of things to come: in 2006, he again took on the mantle of the King of the Forest during a parody of the 1939 movie in the "Stargate SG-1” episode "200".

As well as acting in the theatre group, he also directed, but at that time, an acting career didn't seem to be on the horizon. Instead, at 16, he had to decide whether or not to become a professional ice hockey player. He chose not to, but he continues to support the Canucks, and returned to the ice in two telemovies, of significance, playing the lead role in a biopic about hockey legend Gordie Howe in “Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story.”

Having decided that pro hockey was not for him, Michael went to the University of British Columbia to study business, financing his studies by taking laboring and lumberjack work. Math proved to be his downfall as a failed calculus course meant he was a half credit short of getting a Business degree. He switched to Theatre and graduated in March 1994 with a degree in Fine Arts.

From UBC, Michael went on to spend two years at the Stratford Festival (Ontario), before landing a number of small roles in TV shows such as “Madison”, “The Commish” and “Highlander.”

In 1997, Michael auditioned for and landed the role of Dr. Daniel Jackson on “Stargate SG-1”, the TV spin-off of the original “Stargate” movie starring James Spader in the same role, and Kurt Russell as Colonel Jack O’Neil (to be played on TV by “MacGuyver” star Richard Dean Anderson). Going into the audition with his spot-on impersonation of James Spader, Michael got the job.

In 1999, between seasons two and three, Michael took on the role of Hamlet in a short run of the production at the Stanley Theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia.

After five seasons of “Stargate SG-1”, Michael left the series, citing lack of use of the character of Daniel Jackson as the reason behind his decision. A fan campaign to return Michael (and Daniel Jackson) to the show started when it was announced that he was leaving, and a year later it was announced that Michael would return as a full-time member of the cast for season seven.

Between leaving the series and his subsequent return, Michael had a number of roles in movies such as “Suddenly Naked” with Wendy Crewson (whom he went on to work with again on “Saving Hope”), “Suspicious River” with Molly Parker and Callum Keith Rennie, Mary Higgins Clark's “All Around the “Town” and the Emmy-award winning “Door to Door” with William H Macy, Helen Mirren and Kyra Sedgwick. Michael also did a number of guest appearances on shows such as “Outer Limits” and “Andromeda”, and starred as Adam Wade in the reworking of Max Rohmer's “Sumuru”, filmed in South Africa. In addition, he took the opportunity to meet fans at conventions in the US, Australia and Europe.

Although not part of the main cast of “Stargate SG-1” during Season 6, he did reprise the role of Daniel Jackson in three episodes, "Abyss", “The Changeling” and "Full Circle", the season six finale, and continued to voice Thor, the Asgard leader.

During the ten-year run of “Stargate SG-1”, Michael also directed and wrote for the show. His directorial debut was the complex Season 4 episode "Double Jeopardy". While the result was an episode that was well received, for Michael the experience of directing was bittersweet.

"Everyone was prepared for the idea of me directing, but no one, especially me, was prepared for the situation that I ended up in," he says. "I knew I was going to be like a fish out of water, but I never imagined how much so. However I learned a lot more directing an episode like that than I would have doing a far more simpler one. It pretty much introduced me to all the ups and downs of production. I'm glad to say the experience has not discouraged me in the least from directing."

In season 7 he further stretched his creativity by writing the episode "Resurrection", having already received a story credit for the episode "Evolution, Part 1".

During the mid-season filming hiatus in 2006, Michael completed a made-for-TV film for the Lifetime Network, “Under the Mistletoe”, which aired in December 2006.

At the end of filming for the tenth and final season of “Stargate SG-1” Michael flew to Bulgaria to film “MegaSnake”, a sci-fi/horror movie for the SciFi Channel. Immediately upon his return to the US, he began work on a second movie for the Lifetime Channel, “Judicial Indiscretion”, which co-starred Academy Award nominee Anne Archer, and aired in April 2007.

A 3-episode recurring role on Fox Channel's “24”, as Mark Bishop followed shortly after, before he began filming the first of two “Stargate SG-1” DVD movies, "The Ark of Truth” and “Stargate: Continuum”.

Between 2007 and 2012, multiple guest roles followed on TV Series- including “Burn Notice”, “Supernatural”, “Sanctuary” and “Smallville”—and movies and telemovies—including “Living Out Loud”, “Red Riding Hood”, “Faces In the Crowd” and “Mr Hockey. The Gordie Howe Story.” Michael also returned to his “Stargate” role as Dr. Daniel Jackson in “Stargate Atlantis” and “Stargate Universe.”

In 2012, Michael landed the role of Dr. Charlie Harris in the Canadian medical drama “Saving Hope.” Premiering on 7 June 2012 on CTV in Canada and NBC in the U.S., the series filmed in Toronto, Canada, and ran for 5 seasons, with the final episode airing on 3 August 2017. During its run, the series and Michael were nominated for multiple awards, with Michael winning the 2013 Leo Award in the category of “Best Lead Performance by a Male in a Dramatic Series”.

A Hallmark Christmas movie—“Christmas Homecoming”—followed, as well as an appearance in an independent short titled “Yellow” before Michael returned to working with “Stargate” writer and executive producer Robert Cooper on the mini-series “Unspeakable”. Based on the books Bad Blood by Vic Parson and The Gift of Death by Andre Picard, the series chronicles the emergence of HIV/AIDs and Hepatitis C in the Canadian Red Cross’s blood banks in the early 1980s.

More recently, Michael has appeared in the ‘ripped from the headlines’ telemovie “The College Admissions Scandal” and appears in two episodes of the Netflix romance drama “Virgin River”. (The series has been renewed for a second season, but no word, as yet, whether Michael will be back to reprise his role.)

A more personal project is currently in production, with Michael acting as Producer—and appearing in—a short film written and directed by his daughter Tatiana Shanks: “Never Forget.”

Personal LIFE

Michael has been married to actress Lexa Doig since August 2, 2003. The couple met in 2001 when Michael made a guest appearance on the sci-fi series, “Andromeda”, in which Lexa starred. (They appeared on-screen together again in “Stargate SG-1”, “Tactical Force”, “Unspeakable” and, more recently, “Virgin River".)

Michael and Lexa have two children, daughter Mia Tabitha (born 13 September 2004) and son Samuel David (born 19 March 2006).

Michael and Lexa are also proud parents to Tatiana Shanks (born in August 1998), Michael’s daughter with his first partner Vaitiare Hirshon-Asars (formerly Vaitiare Bandera), who played Sha’re in “Stargate SG-1”.

You can follow Michael on social media via his Twitter account. You can also follow Lexa on Twitter and Instagram, and Tatiana (actress, and writer and director of “Far Away Places”) on Twitter and Instagram.