Ian McAndrew

Born into a musical family, Ian was performing from an early age - by the age of 4, he was being billed as "Vancouver's Little Harry Lauder" for singing a medley of the great Scottish entertainer's songs. Dancing, bagpipes, piano, Eb alto horn and music theory soon joined the list of studies. He took up acting in high school and attended UBC as an opera major before moving to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where he continued to perform in choirs, musicals and operettas. He also branched out and began writing plays, two of which - I'll Go Where Hugo and Going Down Under were produced in Toronto - and screenplays. At age 40, he also began to compose music, and has since written two chamber operas (Benjamin Brown and Cassandra), a string symphony, and several chamber, choral, and vocal works. He has also written several short musicals for elementary schools. At age 50, he began acting in Ryerson University student films, and, since moving back to his native Vancouver in December 2010, continues to pursue a career in acting and voice-over work in addition to writing and composing.