It was two weeks before my fourth birthday, March 14th, 1986, when I became a T-6 paraplegic. I was asleep in the back seat next to my baby sister. My Uncle was driving and my Mother was sitting in front of me. We were on our way home from a dinner party. Coming in the opposite direction was a man, who'd just left the bar at close. He'd been drinking all day, 28 beers and driving on the wrong side of the road. He hit us head on.
I grew up on a farm and learned to see the beauty in small things around me. I like to think that I have always been pretty good at seeing the silver lining in any situation. I relish being able to spot something beautiful and amazing in a place where others might have not seen it.
I usually gravitate towards the path that is less travelled. When I was 21, instead of continuing with my university degree, I packed my van up and drove for three months across the whole country up to the Yukon and back. Ever since that first experience of being alone in new parts of the world I have been drawn back to travel, time and time again. Getting to know myself on the road and abroad, in different and sometimes unexpected situations has served me very well in my own self-discovery. I’ve gained immense self-confidence and faith in my own powers to make it through bumpy situations that tend to arise on the road.
Ever since I was 5 and met Rick Hansen on his wheel around the world, I have known It was going to be up to me some day to do my small part in advancing awareness of disability in the public consciousness. Growing up I have never really seen many, if any, disabled actors/actresses in movies and on TV and in my mid-twenties, it started to really annoy me. So at a certain point I figured I'd better stop being mad at non-disabled actors portraying "me" poorly, and at least try and do a better job myself. Maybe I'll inspire someone else to follow me one day.
So far my acting life has taken me to the burgeoning world of the webseries. I have acted in season 2 of the webseries, My Gimpy Life. I am also an executive producer for that show as well as the Toronto-based webseries, LESlieVILLE. I am also one of nine cast members in an original play entitled, BORNE, produced by RARE Theatre Company in association with Soulpepper running in July 2014. The entire cast is made up of people who have a spinal cord injury or congenital disorders. It focuses on our own personal experiences of life in a wheelchair.
My hope in pursuing acting is that I might one day inspire someone else to come along and do it better than I. It is important for society to see and understand the great divide that exists in our world today between disabled and non-disabled people.
Bourne, Russell's latest Soulpepper production