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Saskatoon-born actor Kim Coates says he relishes gritty roles as bad guys

By: Francois Biber, CKOM, The Canadian Press

Friday, Mar. 8, 2013 at 9:58 PM | Comments: 0

SASKATOON - Most viewers know him as Alex 'Tig' Trager in the hit television series "Sons of Anarchy," but this weekend actor Kim Coates is coming back home to Saskatoon to premiere his latest work, an independent thriller called "Ferocious."

Despite being warned by his agent that he was too busy to work on "Ferocious," Coates said this was a project he couldn't say no to.

"I got halfway through the script... I didn't even finish the last 30 pages, and I called (my agent) right away and I said I'm doing this picture," Coates said Friday.

Written and directed by Robert Cuffley, "Ferocious" was shot in just 18 days, and now, a year-and-a-half later, Coates is in Saskatoon to premiere the film Saturday night followed by a question-and-answer session.

"We're in the Galaxy Cinemas in Saskatoon and across Canada showing the indie film and we've been getting great reviews, I couldn't be prouder," said Coates.

Having appeared in over 40 films including "Black Hawk Down," "Resident Evil" and "Goon," Coates' biggest claim to fame has been his role in the biker drama "Sons of Anarchy."

Coates said the various antagonistic roles he plays on screen is a result of his natural facial features.

"Look at my cheek bones. Look at my blue eyes," he said. "I mean, I am who I am ... I love gritty characters and I love different characterization and bad guys get that way more than the good guys so maybe that's why I gravitate to that a little bit more."

Born and raised in Saskatoon, Coates studied at the University of Saskatchewan chasing a degree in history in hopes of one day becoming a history teacher.

However, after taking one acting class "just for fun," Coates found himself in 25 plays at the university before his four years were up.

"The acting bug hit me hard and then I moved to Toronto and kept doing a bunch of theatre before I started doing movies in the early 1990s," said Coates.

When asked about "Sons of Anarchy" and his menacing, off-kilter character, Coates said besides riding a motorcycle, he has nothing in common with Tig.

"But through (Kurt) Sutter's writing and creating... I've really turned myself into Tig in those five months of shooting, but I can leave it on the doorstep really easily when it's all done," said Coates.

Coates begins working on the next season of "Sons of Anarchy" in May. In addition, he just got back from Prague and Rome where he worked on a TV mini series called "Crossing Lines," featuring Donald Sutherland.

He will also head south to New Orleans for his next feature called "North of Hell," starring alongside Katherine Heigl.

(CKOM)

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