Eric Peterson

Eric Peterson, born October 2, 1946, in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, Canada, is a Canadian actor whose work spans stage, television, and film. He is widely recognized for his roles in three major Canadian television series: Street Legal (1987–1994), Corner Gas (2004–2009, with a film in 2014 and an animated continuation from 2018 to 2021), and This Is Wonderland (2004–2006).

Peterson launched his acting career in 1971 as a co-founder of Tamahnous Theatre, a collective theatre company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. There he took on significant roles in productions of The Bacchae and Nijinsky, both directed by John Gray. In 1974, he relocated to Toronto and joined Theatre Passe Muraille, where he appeared in The Farm Show, The West Show, Them Donnelly's, and 1837: The Farmers' Revolt. In that last production, written by Rick Salutin, he played both William Lyon Mackenzie and Lady Backwash.

Beginning in 1976, Peterson collaborated again with John Gray to write Billy Bishop Goes to War. The play premiered in Vancouver in 1978 and subsequently toured internationally, including a Broadway engagement in 1980 and a run in London's West End. On Broadway, Peterson received the Clarence Derwent Award for most promising performer, and he was nominated for Best Actor at the Edinburgh Festival Mainstage. In 1998, he returned to the role at the Canadian Stage in Toronto, and a 1999 revival earned him Dora Awards for Best Play, Best Direction, and Best Performance. He reprised the lead once more at the Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto between August 8 and 29, 2009. A 1982 CBC television adaptation of the play brought him an ACTRA award nomination.

His subsequent stage work included Love and Anger at the Factory Theatre, Health at the Vancouver Playhouse, and the lead role in Richard III at the Young People's Theatre. In October 2000, he appeared in Hysteria at the Canadian Stage, followed by Clout at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa in January 2001. From November 20 to December 13, 2008, he starred as Helge Klingenfeldt in The Company Theatre's production of Festen at the Berkeley Street Theatre in Toronto. Also in 2009, he played Wiff Roach in Soulpepper's revival of David French's 1973 play Of the Fields, Lately. Since January 2007, he has performed in Half Life by John Mighton at the Canadian Stage, and in the early to mid-2010s he portrayed Percy Schmeiser in the docu-drama Seeds. He had previously received a Dora Award nomination for his role in Escape from Happiness.

On television, Peterson's most prominent role prior to Corner Gas was Leon Robinovitch, a left-wing lawyer on Street Legal. He received six Gemini Award nominations for Best Performance by a Lead Actor in a Continuing Dramatic Role for that part, in 1987, 1989, and each year from 1992 through 1995, winning in a tie with Winston Rekert the first year and winning outright the following two years. His most widely seen television role became Oscar Leroy on Corner Gas, the father of Brent Leroy who retires from the family gas station and proceeds to annoy his son, his wife Emma, and the broader community. Peterson received four Canadian Comedy Award nominations for that role, including a 2004 nomination alongside Brent Butt and a 2007 nomination for Best Male Performance. He also earned two Gemini nominations for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series for Corner Gas, and a nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series for his portrayal of Judge Malone in Episode 4 of This Is Wonderland. A fourth Gemini Award came in 2001 for Best Performance in a Pre-School Program. Additional television credits include Night Heat, Nothing Sacred — for which he also co-produced and appeared in the stage version — an appearance as Hank Stewart in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "Hippocratic Oath," and a role as Mr. Wright in the Goosebumps episode "Shocker on Shock Street." He has appeared in a total of fifty-two film and television productions and in an infomercial for Amnesty International. Following Corner Gas, he made a guest appearance on Dan for Mayor and, as of 2014, appeared in The Best Laid Plans as Jerry Stockton.

Among his academic and lifetime honors, Peterson received an honorary Doctor of Letters in drama from the University of Saskatchewan in 1996, presented by department head Henry Woolf. In May 2013, he was awarded the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime contributions to Canadian theatre, and in 2019 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Regina.

Peterson is married to actor and People for Education executive director Annie Kidder, the sister of Margot Kidder. The couple have two daughters and reside in Toronto, though Peterson maintains a cottage on Katepwa Lake in the Qu'Appelle Valley near his hometown of Indian Head.