EDMONTON JOURNAL: Heyerdahl stands out in deeply creepy TV role
B.C.-born Hell on Wheels actor projects menace with his father's voice
By Eric Volmers
December 31, 2011
Of all the menacing traits Canadian actor Christopher Heyerdahl brings to his role of the Swede, it's that strongly accented voice that probably produces the most chills.
Like most characters on AMC's post-Civil war drama Hell on Wheels (which airs Sunday nights), the Swede arrived at the filthy tent city with a closet stacked high with skeletons. Despite his puzzling moniker, the Swede is actually Norwegian. He's alarmingly tall, impeccably groomed and partial to chokingly tight-collared shirts. So even if he never opened his mouth, he would stand out amid the dirt, mud and blood that has been spilled as the Transcontinental Railway spreads into the wilderness. But he does speak: politely, softly and often with a singsong tone that is more than a little unnerving.
But the voice actually comes from a benign place. "Basically, I'm doing my father," says the soft-spoken actor with a laugh, on the phone from Vancouver. "I think most men end up speaking with their father's voice. This is just an extreme version of that..."
... Born in British Columbia, Heyerdahl spent the first 12 years of his acting career on stage, including stints at Stratford. Since then, he's played historical characters in TV and film, including Charles Dickens and cult author H.P. Lovecraft. But his six-foot-four frame and unique look have allowed him to take on a number of otherworldly characters: Bigfoot in Sanctuary, a demonic "torturer of souls" in Supernatural and a life-sucking alien in Stargate SG-1 [Atlantis]. Among a certain demographic, he is best known as Marcus, the tortured vampire who heads the gatekeeping Volturi coven in the Twilight series of blockbusters.
"How long you spend in the makeup chair is the only real difference," Heyerdahl says about his seemingly larger-than-life creations. "Everything else is based on the fact that it's a being with a heart and a soul and a history and wants and desires, who feels love and pain like everyone else. That's the way to approach any character. Whether it's Bigfoot on Sanctuary or whether it's the Swede, it's irrelevant how people may want to label them.
"With someone like the Swede, there are all sorts of descriptives that are given to the character. For the most part, I can't approach it from any of the more judgmental descriptives. He's a human being and just trying to survive in a very difficult situation..."
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