
Acting
Ardon Bess
Place of birth
Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Known for
Acting
Credits
44 titles
Ardon Bess is a Canadian actor best known for appearing in a Heritage Moment television commercial about the 1958 Springhill mining disaster portraying survivor Maurice Ruddick. He has also appeared in other films and television roles including Trailer Park Boys, How She Move, Take the Lead, The Ladies Man, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Prom Night, King of Kensington, and Jewel. He earned a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for his role in One Heart Broken Into Song. Description above from the Wikipedia article Ardon Bess, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Known for
7.6Constable Benton Fraser, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is attached to the Canadian consulate but works with Chicago Police Department to solve crimes.
Due South
1994
7.3Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute. While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.
Heritage Minutes
1991
7.2Based on a true story, this family-friendly series follows the adventures of a young, hearing impaired woman who has a special gift and goes to work for the FBI in Washington, D.C. She's one hard-headed, soft-hearted woman whose talent for reading lips helps crack crimes and bag the bad guys in places listening devices can't penetrate. With her hearing-ear dog, Levi, Sue's a glutton for jeopardy – and there's (almost) nothing she won't do to bring notorious criminals to justice. This remarkable, edge-of-your-seat drama is an inspiring tribute to the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity and achieve great things.
Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye
2002
7.7The funny, heartfelt story of The Kims, a Korean-Canadian family, running a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim ('Appa' and 'Umma') immigrated to Toronto in the '80s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.
Kim's Convenience
2016
7.8Follow the booze-fueled misadventures of three longtime pals and petty serial criminals who run scams from their Nova Scotia trailer park.
Trailer Park Boys
2001
6.5Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?
FX: The Series
1996
Film credits
2010s · 3 titles
6.7Chaos ensues after the estranged patriarch of the Jones family dies on their doorstep. When the paramedic who answers their 911 call tries to win over acerbic Jean Jones, his attempts are disrupted by old conflicts that come to a boil at the funeral.
Jean of the Joneses
2016
5.8A struggling writer meets death and falls in love. He must decide if his true love is in this world or the next, and if his dreams of success are worth dying for.
A Sunday Kind of Love
2016
6.4Two sisters, no love lives. Both end up dating the same man, and inviting him to meet the family on December 17th. He doesn’t know there are two sisters or that he committed to two different dates on the same day.
Double Wedding
2010
2000s · 12 titles
5.3Ex Con Armstrong Cane (Ving Rhames) returns to home a changed man looking to take over his father's old church and congregation. The neighborhood though is full of drugs and gangs. Those who are able are leaving for more prosperous areas and falling in with a slick preacher (Ricardo Chivara). Even with a dangerous gang leader (Dean McDermott) threatening his flock, Armstrong won't give up.
Saving God
2008
5.3Because of his salacious language, late-night radio advice-show host Leon Phelps, along with his sweet and loyal producer Julie, is fired from his Chicago gig. Leon gets a letter from a former lover promising a life of wealth, but he doesn't know who she is. Can Leon find his secret sugar-mama? What about Julie?
The Ladies Man
2000
4.6After joining the Skulls, Ryan Sommers (Robin Dunne) is warned not to betray any secrets about the organization or its high-powered members. However, when Ryan witnesses a murder within the Skulls' private chambers, he finds that the closer he gets to revealing the truth - the more dangerous life becomes.
The Skulls II
2002
4.8After the death of Raya Green's sister, she gets out from her classes at school, and sees a stomp crew practicing. She meets Bishop which is the dance crew leader. She then meets Michelle and does a stomp battle with her. They become enemies then friends later on. Her uptight mom pushes her to pass the test to get into Medical school, but she thinks she failed....
How She Move
2008
5.6A washed-up detective discovers his own psychic ability when assigned to investigate a serial murder case. The killer has a deranged obsession with the novel "Alice in Wonderland." As the psychopath's bloody reign of terror continues, the cop spirals deeper and deeper into the case where the horrors of the past and present come together.
After Alice
2000
6.5A soldier who was long thought dead in World War 2, returns to modern day New York to combat monsters, who are now the power elite, running the city.
Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher
2002
3.9In the 1920s, the rights of American workers to join a labor union was still considered an open question, and African-Americans were routinely denied their civil and economic rights. 10,000 Black Men Named George, the title, refers to the fact Pullman porters were often called "George" by white passengers, which was considered a racial slur.
10,000 Black Men Named George
2002
4.4A group of television writers struggles to keep their demanding comedian’s live comedy show on the air as network interference, personal conflicts, and the pressures of 1950s television threaten its future.
Laughter on the 23rd Floor
2001
5.6In the 1940s a 40-year-old woman with five healthy children gives birth to a girl with Down's syndrome.
Jewel
2001
6.8In 1965 a bomb was planted in a Church in Alabama, killing four black girls. Thirty years later, Tom Cherry breaks his silence to discredit his father's alibi for the night in question.
Sins of the Father
2002
4.3Based on Mary McGarry Morris' best-selling novel! A struggling mother takes in a mysterious stranger. Is she opening her heart to love ... or harboring a criminal? Mary Fermoyle is a divorcee who must work to keep her family from falling into the throes of poverty. Her vulnerability quickly becomes an easy target for smooth-talking con-man Omar Duvall, who seduces Mary and her family with promises of easy money and success. Eventually she uncovers his lies and discovers for the first time her important contributions to her family and community.
Songs In Ordinary Time
2000
7.0A black man and a Jewish woman crash into each other and win a dream house in the suburbs. Love-starved neighbours invade their brand-new home, and an all-night party pushes every one of them to a climax of truth, hope and liberation.
Jack & Ella
2002
1990s · 8 titles
5.7A woman inherits a rent-controlled apartment and is terrorized by a neighbor.
The 4th Floor
1999
7.4Famous pop star Ricky Prince has grown tired of the spotlight and the pressures of fame. He makes the acquaintance of Ralph Bitondo, a pizza delivery boy who looks almost exactly like Ricky -- so much so that the two decide to trade identities for a while.
Prince for a Day
1995
5.6When his father dies, Jeffrey is sent to live with his aunt Charlotte in Canada. Once there he leads his aunt and his friends in staging, a non-violent hunger strike to try to save his aunt's house from being demolished to make room for a ski resort.
Ordinary Magic
1993
4.7A bounty hunter with a pregnant wife who is urging him to get a regular job gets framed for murder and trapped in a war between Russian gangsters.
Moving Target
1996
9.7Story about Will Cleamons, a former teacher-turned-businessman who agrees to tutor 18-year-old high school dropout, Nicole Turner. Much to his surprise, their relationship not only helps Nicole build a future, but helps Cleamons put his personal life back together.
Free of Eden
1999
10.0The true story of Olympic champion figure skater Tai Babilonia, her rise to fame and her fall from grace.
On Thin Ice: The Tai Babilonia Story
1990
It's Christmas at Shining Time Station! Stacy Jones is busy helping passengers, Schemer tries to win the role of Santa's helper for the Indian Valley Gala Holiday Pageant, Mr. Conductor tells the kids a story about Thomas the Tank Engine and his friends and helps them deal with a bratty kid, while a kind old passenger, Mr. Nicholas, arrives and brightens the holiday for everybody.
Shining Time Station: 'Tis a Gift
1990
NRMiner Maurice Ruddick recounts the 1958 Springhill mine disaster.
Heritage Minutes: Maurice Ruddick
1993
1980s · 5 titles
5.7At a high school senior prom, a masked killer stalks four teenagers who were responsible for the accidental death of a classmate six years prior.
Prom Night
1980
8.0Two losers rob a rich guy and discover that, among the loot, they've taken a rare painting worth $2.8 million. John Larroquette plays his usual rude, selfish character-here named Gus - and he suckers Willy (Gregory Harrison) into his scheme to rob the mansion. The two losers have to try to figure out how to sell the valuable but high-profile item without getting busted. They travel the world looking for potential buyers but always end up short. Everyone can see that they are novices in the art world and buffoons in general.
Hot Paint
1988
6.6A young man, convicted of the murder of a clerk, who has been on death row for five years and now awaits his execution while his family desperately seek a reprieve.
The Execution of Raymond Graham
1985
A high school is rocked by a contentious debate over whether or not "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" should be removed from its library for language concerns.
The Day They Came to Arrest the Book
1987
5.0After five hard years behind bars Bonnie Lee is still haunted by her past which hides a terrible secret and hunted by her father, a man desperate for revenge and a need to silence her forever... Alone on the run, she will do whatever it takes to survive and find the one person who can clear her name - her mother. She's a desperate woman on a desperate mission and the only person who can save her is the only person who cares... her Hostage .
Hostage
1988
1970s · 3 titles
4.1Planet Earth is a devastated wasteland, and what's left of humanity has colonized the Moon in domed cities. Humanity's continued survival depends on an anti-radiation drug only available on planet Delta Three, which has been taken over by Omus, a brilliant but mad mechanic who places no value on human life. Omus wants to come to the Moon to rule and intends to attack it by ramming robot-controlled spaceships into the domes. Dr. John Caball, his son Jason, Jason's friend, Kim, and a robot named Sparks embark on Caball's space battlecruiser on an unauthorized mission to Delta Three to stop Omus.
The Shape of Things to Come
1979
5.8When a rash of targeted hijackings threatens to derail the independent trucking business, rig driver "Iron" Duke and his visiting friend Rane put the brakes on the bad guys by taking the law into their own hands. But their vigilante plan involves going toe-to-toe with powerful trucker boss King Carroll and his henchmen, who've been driving everyone out of the game.
High-Ballin'
1978
7.5The history of Canada's black population.
Fields of Endless Day
1978
Series credits
7.6Constable Benton Fraser, an officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is attached to the Canadian consulate but works with Chicago Police Department to solve crimes.
Due South
1994
7.3Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute. While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.
Heritage Minutes
1991
7.2Based on a true story, this family-friendly series follows the adventures of a young, hearing impaired woman who has a special gift and goes to work for the FBI in Washington, D.C. She's one hard-headed, soft-hearted woman whose talent for reading lips helps crack crimes and bag the bad guys in places listening devices can't penetrate. With her hearing-ear dog, Levi, Sue's a glutton for jeopardy – and there's (almost) nothing she won't do to bring notorious criminals to justice. This remarkable, edge-of-your-seat drama is an inspiring tribute to the ability of the human spirit to overcome adversity and achieve great things.
Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye
2002
7.7The funny, heartfelt story of The Kims, a Korean-Canadian family, running a convenience store in downtown Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. Kim ('Appa' and 'Umma') immigrated to Toronto in the '80s to set up shop near Regent Park and had two kids, Jung and Janet who are now young adults. However, when Jung was 16, he and Appa had a major falling out involving a physical fight, stolen money and Jung leaving home. Father and son have been estranged since.
Kim's Convenience
2016
7.8Follow the booze-fueled misadventures of three longtime pals and petty serial criminals who run scams from their Nova Scotia trailer park.
Trailer Park Boys
2001
6.5Rollie Tyler, a special effects expert, helps his detective friend solve crimes by making criminals see what they want to see. But what is real and what is illusion?
FX: The Series
1996
5.4Griffin Conner, a med-school dropout having left in a haze of disgrace, is forced to return to Bethune General Hospital as its newest orderly and work alongside his family.
Remedy
2014
6.2Prematurely deceased people are given the opportunity to correct something that went wrong in their lives and thus change them for the better.
Twice in a Lifetime
1999
7.2While searching for their missing father, Alex & Cleo Bellows are drawn into the actual myths when entering the Cyber Museum. They encounter Gorgos, a trickster god, who wants to destroy the world by constantly changing the famous myths.
MythQuest
2001
5.7King of Kensington is a Canadian television sitcom which aired on CBC Television from 1975 to 1980. The show starred Al Waxman as Larry King, a convenience store owner in Toronto's Kensington Market who was known for helping friends and neighbours solve problems. His multicultural group of friends consisted of Nestor Best, Max, and Tony "Duke" Zarro, who hung around regularly to the perennial disapproval of King's mother Gladys. The show was popular with viewers; prior to the start of the fourth season one of the producers noted that show drew 1.5 to 1.8 million viewers weekly. For the first three seasons, Fiona Reid played his wife Cathy. At the end of the third season, Reid decided to leave the series, so Larry and Cathy divorced. The show never fully recovered its stride or chemistry as Larry pursued other relationships, most notably with Gwen Twining in the final season. The show's gentle but politically conscious humour is seen by some critics as a Canadian version of the topical Norman Lear sitcoms of the 1970s, such as All in the Family and Maude. The series was syndicated to some American stations during the height of its popularity, including WTTG in Washington, D.C.
King of Kensington
1975
6.9Philip Marlowe, Private Eye is a British mystery series that aired on ITV in the United Kingdom under the shorter title 'Marlowe, Private Eye' and on HBO in the United States from April 16, 1983 through June 3, 1986. The series features Powers Boothe as Raymond Chandler's titular character, and was the first drama produced for HBO.
Philip Marlowe, Private Eye
1983
A Canadian anthology series designed to spotlight emerging writing talent, presenting a diverse range of stories and encompassing everything from conventional drama to offbeat and absurdist sketch comedy.
Teleplay
1976

