Lex Gigeroff
Television writer and actor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Kier Gigeroff (June 29, 1962 – December 25, 2011), known professionally as Lex Gigeroff, was a Canadian television writer and actor best remembered as a co-creator of the science fiction series Lexx. He also appeared in the comedy series Liocracy and the short film Treevenge.
June 29, 1962
Lex Gigeroff | |
|---|---|
| |
| Born | Alexander Kier Gigeroff June 29, 1962 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Died | December 25, 2011 (aged 49) Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Occupations | Screenwriter, actor |
| Children | 2 |
Biography
Gigeroff was born in Ottawa. His father Alex K. Gigeroff (1931–2016) was a prominent artist, playwright and writer on criminology and the law who was the son of Macedonian Canadians: both of his parents were poor immigrants from Macedonian villages and "Gigeroff" was his father's immigrant's assigned name[definition needed].[1][2] Lex's brother Andre Haines is an artist and musician who also contributed to the Lexx series as an actor and songwriter.[3][4]
Gigeroff grew up in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. When he was 10 he wrote a play for Cub Scouts which was picked up as a project for a youth group in Toronto and eventually staged.[5] In 1985 he graduated from Dalhousie University with a major in English; during the last year he served as the president of the Dalhousie Student Union.[6]
He also worked as an announcer at the CJLS radio in the late 1970's and became actively involved with the campus-community radio CKDU-FM, serving as a programming manager from 1987 to 1989.[6] While performing a sketch in a radio comedy show he was noticed by Paul Donovan who invited Gigeroff to act in several of his movies.[5]
In 1993 he wrote and starred in a one-man stage show, and after Donovan saw it he shared his idea of a science fiction TV show with Gigeroff and Jeffrey Hirschfield which would eventually develop into the Lexx series.[5] Filming began in the fall of 1995 and the series was released by the Showcase channel in 1997; with strong ratings it lasted for four seasons and sold to over 100 countries around the world.[7][8] Apart from writing, Gigeroff also starred in various roles while his name became an inspiration for the show's title.[8]
He continued his writing and acting career, working in theatre, film and TV. Those included The Real Howard Spitz comedy and the Liocracy series, a number of short films and children's shows he created with Jason Shipley, a stage play Conrad and Barbara and a short comedy movie Benoit he wrote and directed in 2010. He was also working on his first feature film Gillian and Giles as a director which was to be shot in the Dominican Republic.[9][10]
Gigeroff died at his home in Fredericton, New Brunswick on December 25, 2011, from a heart attack.[11][12]