Alan Van Sprang

ABOUT ALAN VAN SPRANG as SIR FRANCIS BRYAN Date of Birth: June 19, 1971 Birth Place: Calgary, Alberta, Canada Eye Color: Height: Family: has a son (Logan Joseph) with actress-choreographer Sarah Robichaud, father Emilie and uncle Ronnie King were original members of the band Stampeders Education: studied drama at Mount Royal College in Calgary Actor Bio: "The Tudors" is quite a break from Van Sprang's typical acting jobs - he's never been cast in a costume drama before. Wanted to be an actor after taking drama at Crescent Heights High School. CALLING ALL TUDORS CAST EXPERTS! Click EasyEdit to add to this profile. ● NEW TO WIKIS? [THE HELP SECTION] FOR TIPS & TRICKS

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Non-acting careers: Movies: Immortals (2011) - Dareios Pay in Full (2010) - Sergei Phantom Punch (2008) - Nico Orso George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (2007) - Colonel Shutter (2007) - Lukas Saw III (2006) - Chris George A. Romero's Land of the Dead (2005) - Brubaker Confessions of an American Bride (2005) - Mitchell Stone Anonymous Rex (2004) - Raal The Gospel of John (2003) - Judas Iscariot Narc (2002) - Michael Calvess Masterminds (1997) - Happy Boy TV Shows: "Rookie Blue" (2010) - Patrick Murphy "King" (2011) - Derek Spears "Being Erica" (2010) - Jody "Cra$h & Burn" (2009-10) - Father Benedito "Flashpoint" (2009) - Donald Mitchell "The Tudors" (2009) - Sir Francis Bryan "Would Be Kings" miniseries (2008) - Gary Cole "The Best Years" (2007) - Lee Campbell (11 episodes) "11 Cameras" (2006) - Bruce "ReGenesis" (2006) - Jack Bowden "Degrassi: The Next Generation" (2005) - Bill Davies "1-800 Missing" (2005) - Will Shepard "Wild Card" (2005) - Stevie "Paradise Falls" (2004) - Johnny Brice "A Taste of Shakespeare" (2003, 2007) - two episodes "Monk" (2002) - Leonard Stokes (1 episode) "Earth: Final Conflict" (2002) - Howlyn "Made in Canada" (1998) - Jeremy Black "Highlander: The Raven" (1998) William Kenworth Stage: Shakespeare in the Park, Calgary "Missing" Factory Theatre, Toronto Big break: The Tudors and George A. Romero's movies Best known for: his roles in sci-fi and horror movies and Canadian television Awards: Upcoming projects: "Guns" miniseries (2008) - John Willison "...of the Dead" (2009) - 'Nicotine' Crocket Talk about... ALAN VAN SPRANG

MEMORABLE QUOTES "This is the best show that's ever come my way, absolutely," says the soon-to-be star, who left Calgary in 1994 for Vancouver, followed by Los Angeles, and eventually Toronto for a role on Earth: Final Conflict. "I have no idea what I'm getting into," he told Page Six from his home in Toronto. "Fortunately I was unaware of the magnitude of the show when I auditioned. Now that I've watched all the episodes, I'm really nervous. It's a fantastic show." [Calgary Sun June 10, 2008 - as he was set to jet to Dublin that night to begin four months of filming on June 16 -– just three days before his 37th birthday. ] "They really didn't want me to do a lot of research on him [Sir Francis Bryan]," says Van Sprang. "He certainly doesn't take a lot of guff from people. He's a straight-up person, which is why the King likes him a lot and when he talks to him he says exactly what is on his mind. He has a good sense of humour and tried to make him fairly attractive to both men and women. He's always surrounded by family and friends and is never a loner.He loves to party and loves to drink and he's not a typical bad guy --although he has a tendency to do some not-great things." - Calgary Herald interview " As a Canadian actor, you can work your entire life and do 25 to 30 shows and nobody will know what they are because not a lot of people watch them. With the American shows, a lot of time you just do the pilot and it's never picked up. So it was nice to walk onto a hit Showtime series like [The Tudors] and have a sense of security and know that it is going to be watched. It's an exciting time." - Calgary Herald Question : Sir Francis Bryan in The Tudors turned on his cousin Anne Boleyn, not exactly a family man. How did you come to join that series?It was super, super fast. They were looking for a guy in an eye-patch who was a womanizer and drank a lot. So I threw myself on tape and I’ve always had a really, really bad English accent so I thought, that’s going to kill me right there. And it was a terrible read. I had to go through it about 10 times before I could get the lines out and I just said, OK, that’s enough, just throw that out there. Within a week I was on my way to Ireland for half the year and it was great. I expected this huge circus of a show and when I got there, everyone totally embraced me with open arms. And it was a great experience. This beautiful little studio in Wicklow County, it was more bare bones than I expected. It just looks so extraordinary on TV but it’s the director of photography and the costumes that just make everything look so extraordinarily large. [Source: <a class="external" href="http://www.toromagazine.com/features/talking-to/02256849-d51d-bfc4-d54c-edfcb4d873a1/Alan-Van-Sprang/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="TORO magazine April 2011">TORO magazine April 2011</a>]

FUN FACTS:

LINKS: Interview with the <a class="external" href="http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainment/story.html?id=86980288-57b2-4c0e-8bd2-eee4461c4ed7&p=2" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Calgary Herald</a> about his role on "The Tudors"

PHOTOS

attends '<a class="external" href="http://www.life.com/find/?q=george+a.+romero" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">George A. Romero</a>'s Survival Of <a class="external" href="http://www.life.com/find/?q=the+dead" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Dead</a>' Premiere held at the Ryerson Theatre during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2009 in Toronto, Canada.