Nigel Bennett

Nigel Bennett is not Welsh by birth — he was born on 19 November 1949 in Wolverhampton, England, and attended Tettenhall College there. His genuine connection to Wales came a little later: he graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in theatre, and taught English and drama in Breconshire for around a year and a half before turning to acting full time.

Bennett went on to build fifteen years of stage experience in Britain before emigrating to Canada, where he became one of the country's most familiar screen villains. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the cult TV series Forever Knight (1992-1996), a role that won him the Canadian Gemini Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also played the sinister Prince in the science-fiction series Lexx from 2000 to 2002.

His later screen career has included a long-running role as Inspector, later Chief Constable, Giles in the Canadian detective series Murdoch Mysteries (2011-2021), plus film appearances in Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water (2017) and XXX: Return of Xander Cage (2017). Away from acting, Bennett co-authored the "Lord Richard, Vampire" trilogy of novels with writer P. N. Elrod, and served as artistic director of the Atlantic Theatre Festival in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, in 2006-2007.