Chris Vance

Chris Vance was born on December 19, 1930 in  London, England, United Kingdom, is Actor, Producer. All hope is not lost for Chris Vance as a performer... as he is still recognized in Wholefoods on occasion as "that guy" from the FOX series "Mental" and an Emmy nominated FOX series called, "Prison Break". Not the new version of the series though. Vance wasn't invited to participate in that venture. He suspects it's because the character he portrayed, James Whistler, was shot in the head in the original series and there's no going back from that in Hollywood when you're 46 years old...Oversees and on Netflix, Vance is best known for his lead role as Frank Martin in Transporter: The Series. Vance ended up Executive Producer on it, as his talents were sound and as it was a complicated business model.Bit of background... Vance was born unto an Irish family and raised in the UK, before Brexit. He signed youth football contracts with "West Bromwich Albion" and "Bristol Rovers'" donned his skimpy shorts and tromped his way around more muddy pitches in mid-winter than he should have, given his present state of enlightenment.Vance graduated from the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne with an honors degree in Civil Engineering, (he got a few letters after his name because of it and a few more later in his twenties passing tests that he would have no hope of passing in the present) and yet he is generally more proud of a blurry recollection that he played for an England Students football team somewhere along the way.Vance embarked on his acting career at age 25, and was breathtakingly awful in his first role, that of "Paris" in a production of "Romeo & Juliet" in Oxford. When he wasn't engaged in delivering lines that one can count on one hand he was firmly committed to moving furniture around the stage for worse actors to sit on. Thus was his debut. If he knew then what he does now, he might surely have questioned his efforts, but the draw of storytelling in all its forms draws a deep cut in Vance, thus to this day he still persists...Next up, chronologically at least, Vance firmly and wholeheartedly and most passionately butchered numerous roles on the London Fringe and in small Reparatory Theatres, grasping experience where it was badly needed. During this time he also launched his own theatre company, writing, directing and producing plays. Fond note: The company was funded, for the most part; by him selling anything and everything that could be considered as personal possessions, in compensation for the dire lack of appropriate bums on the theatre's seats.Vance's efforts, or solid determination, were rewarded with him landing his first real gig at the Royal National Theatre in a touring version of the play "Closer." After treading the back-stages of Europe and Russia for several months, Vance returned to London for a role in the play "Speer," by David Edgar, once again at the National Theatre, under the ever-treasured guidance of Sir Trevor Nunn. And boy, did Vance learn the right way to push furniture upstage, downstage, left stage, right stage and into the merry coke fueled wings of its happy cast and crew.Good times... but not enough for Vance, who ventured further thus...He made his British television debut in a show called Kavanagh QC. Such was his bearing on the industry at the time, that Vance was more than enthusiastic when called upon to appear bollock naked for a less than critical on-liner scene in the story. To clear up any misunderstanding, Vance was keen to work, but not keen to liberate his tackle on a "cold" London set, which he has since learnt through experience, should have been a "closed" set. But no harm done... the leading actress, the grips, the gaffers, camera, lighting, the make-up ladies, and the caterers got more than they bargained for in his humble opinion.That said, and when he wised up about the nudity thing, Vance also made guest appearances in the British television shows Peak Practice, The Bill, Doctors and Family Affairs.At about age 30 Vance moved to Australia and performed in several television series there, including Stingers, Blue Heelers and The Secret Life of Us. His first series-regular role in TV was Dr. Sean Everleigh in the medical drama/soap All Saints, in which Vance performed from 2005 to 2007.Somewhere around then Vance also relished a small role in the feature Macbeth, directed by the very talented Jeffery Wright.In 2007 Vance moved to the U.S. when he booked a regular role in the third and forth seasons of the (afore mentioned) hit TV series Prison Break, for 20th Century Fox in which he played James Whistler within a cast of peers who outdid him entirely.The following year, Vance landed his first leading role in TV, playing Dr. Jack Gallagher in Mental, for Fox. And yes, it was filmed in Bogota Columbia, which regrettably did not help improve Vance's proficiency in the Spanish language, but did provide him with enough antibodies to withstand any shooting conditions, in any location, for the remainder of his days.While in between leading roles, Vance has also guest-starred on Fairly Legal, Burn Notice, Dexter, Rizzoli and Isles, Supergirl and Hawaii 5-O, often for the paycheck, but most often because he loves what he does and cherishes the people he meets along the journey...In 2011 Vance was approached to play Frank Martin in the television series based on the Transporter films created by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen. Not one to turn down a challenge, especially one filled with fast cars, pretty women and snappy one-liners, Vance embarked on the adventure and brought his own take on the less than one dimensional character of Frank to the fast-paced action series.Vance has a good few scars to prove it, as he performed all his own fight/stunt scenes during the show: A valiant effort, let it be said, but no greater learning came of it other than the revelation that the show's producers didn't notice and were content with an edit that reflected their position in assuming any stunt guy in a black suit was acceptable for the viewing public as a likeness of their leading actor. That said some of the best stunt guys in the world were employed on the show and Vance learnt a great deal from them, their passion, their commitment and experience.So now to the present...Vance is remarkably and fortunately in love with a beautiful girl who is surely better by half than himself, happily married, and looking forward to the challenges presented by whomever will employ him as an actor next...In addition, Vance is currently in development with a television series of his own creation, with a bunch of people that know more about getting it done than he does... Exiting times...
Chris Vance is a member of Actor