Andrew Sabiston is a Canadian-American actor, voice actor, writer, story editor and multi-award nominated Canadian children's television series developer, with over 1100 episodes to his credit. His mother is artist Carole Sabiston.[1]
Early career
An early start as a stage actor in his childhood with the Belfry Theatre,[2] Bastion Theatre[3] and Phoenix Theatre[4] in his native Victoria, BC, led to being cast in Paul Almond's 1983 film Ups and Downs alongside classmate Leslie Hope which was filmed at their high school, St. Michaels University School.[5] He soon landed a starring role on the multiple award-winning Disney Channel/CBC television series The Edison Twins which ran for six seasons, was widely syndicated and earned him a Young Artist Award nomination for Best Young Actor in a Cable Family Series.[6] Sabiston's first writing credit (Story Idea by) was for the Home Sweet Home episode of The Edison Twins, which aired in 1984.
Many of the children's television series in which Sabiston has been involved are multiple award-nominees and/or winners airing internationally. As of 2019, series that he has created, developed or co-developed include: The Remarkable Mr. King (based on the Mr. King book series by author-illustrator Geneviève Côté, Kiki & Nuna, Super Wings (Seasons 3,4 and 5), Ranger Rob and The Moblees.
For the theatre, Sabiston is the lyricist and co-book writer with composer Timothy Williams for the musical Napoleon which was first produced in 1994 at The Elgin Theatre in Toronto under the direction of John Wood.[10] It was subsequently produced in 2000 at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London under the direction of Francesca Zambello. In 2009, a new version was first presented in concert at Talk Is Free Theatre in Barrie, Ontario[11][12] under the direction of Richard Ouzounian. This marked the beginning of a reimagining of the musical as an intimate, behind-the-scenes political drama with a cast half the size of the original productions and a new book and musical numbers. The new Napoleon debuted at the New York Musical Theatre Festival in July 2015.[13]
In July 2017, a generous new production opened at the Charlotte Theatre in Seoul for a limited three-month run. It featured a cast of 54 including K-pop artists B.A.P's Daehyun and BtoB's Changsub alongside famous musical actors such as Im Tae-kyung, Michael K. Lee, and Han Ji-sang. It was directed by Richard Ouzounian and presented in Korean.[14]
