Joseph Ziegler (actor)

Joseph Patrick Ziegler (born November 7, 1953) is a Canadian actor and theatre director,[1] most noted as one of the founders of the Soulpepper theatre company.[2]

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ziegler studied theatre at the University of Minnesota before moving to Canada to continue his education at the National Theatre School of Canada.[2] After graduating in 1979, he moved to Toronto, Ontario, where he had acting roles for various theatre companies including Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon Theatre, the Shaw Festival and the Stratford Festival,[2] before becoming a member of the founding Soulpepper collective in 1988.[3]

Over his career he has also had some film and television roles, most notably regular roles as Dr. Jim Barker in Side Effects[4] and Len Hubbard in Black Harbour.[5]

He is a two-time Dora Mavor Moore Award winner for Best Leading Actor, General Theatre, in 2008 for The Time of Your Life,[6] and in 2011 for Death of a Salesman.[7] He was also a nominee in 2001 for The School for Wives,[8] and in 2017 for The Last Wife.[9] He has also been a two-time Dora nominee for Best Direction, General Theatre, receiving nods in 2005 for Hamlet[10] and in 2006 for Our Town.[11]

He is married to actress Nancy Palk, alongside whom he has acted in several shows including Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey Into Night and A Tender Thing, a play by Ben Power which reimagines William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet as an elderly couple confronting mortality.[12]