Page 48 - Demo

48 || FITNESS MAGAZINE || JUNE 2015 || EDITION 1dovetailed into football season, which then overlapped back into hockey season. And repeat. %u201cSo, for the better part of my youth and well into adulthood, most of my stories were told on the pitch or the rink.%u201d It was when he was 30 years old however, that Neil experienced a spinal surgery that put him out of commission for a few months, leaving him with a lot of couch time to think and re-evaluate his life. %u201cThe time around that surgery had been pretty scary; and now I had a fair amount of down-time to consider what the next chapter of life might look like. What did I want to do now that I had dodged a potentially crippling bullet, so to speak?%u201d Good question, and so it seems to quite often be the case that a traumatic event causes people to remember to live life to the fullest and reignite their dormant passions. With Neil, it was his passion for telling stories and when an actor friend came to town for a few auditions, and they got to discuss the states of their lives, Neil resolved to do whatever it took to make his dreams a reality.And make his dreams a reality, he did. Perhaps now it is even surreal to Neil, as he has since starred in hit movies, done stage acting, been the voice of video games, and is one of the few people who can actually claim to truly love their job. Prior to playing Dr. Farragut in Helix, Neil played Lt. Karl Hagerman in IFC%u2019s dark and dangerous comedy series, Bullet in the Face and had other TV turns in The Listener (CTV), Blue Mountain State (Spike), Zero Hour (ABC), The Business (IFC) and Naked Josh (Showcase). Neil quickly realized once he started working that his background in athletics and the years playing sports were not wasted as some of the skills and instincts he had developed as an athlete were helping him as an actor. Explaining, Neil says, %u201cIn a specific way, my history in athletics has instilled in me good body-awareness and a facility of movement and physical engagement. These things, along with a continued commitment to health and fitness, have proven indispensable to me.%u201d This physicality shows through in many of the productions he has been in such as: Erased (Weinstein Company), Infected (SyFy), Immortals (Relativity), Riddick (Universal), and the blockbuster hit, X-Men: Days of Future Past (Fox Studios).ortunately for Neil, who says that he still misses playing rugby terribly, since he stopped eight years ago, his movies and roles give him a chance to combine his love for storytelling and sports, in a way that works. As he admits that rug by itself does not go very well with an acting career, saying %u201cit is a brutal and beautiful sport. I will be honest though: my body does not miss Sunday mornings! I am 45 years old now and frankly, I am fortunate to have come away from so many years of punishment without any significant and long-term injuries (mostly just breaking my nose over and over). I am glad I stopped when I did.%u201d One such time that he was able to have a blast in a very physical role was during a fight scene he had with Aaron Eckhart on the film Erased. Eckhart%u2019s character beats Neil%u2019s character well and truly. Describing that day, Neil tell us, %u201cWell, after a few rehearsal days, Aaron and I did the fighting ourselves. He was throwing me around that hotel room for about 11 or 12 hours that day and by the end my face was actually a little bruised and battered from repeatedly bouncing off walls and tables. Given the down and dirty ferocity of the fight, the crazy thing is that Aaron managed to not actually kill me%u2026 It was a fun day!%u201d He most