The treasure: Toronto-born, Vancouver-based Eric McCormack shot to worldwide fame in the ’90s, starring on beloved sitcom “Will & Grace.” He has done all kinds of projects since, from voicing a Pound Puppy and appearing on Broadway multiple times to headlining the deliciously titled TV show “Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue” earlier this year.
The new thing: Now he has joined the mystery podcast stable on Audible, voicing a stern professor in “Middlebridge Mysteries,” a spinoff of the popular “Mistletoe Murders” series. Violet Wilner (Anna Cathcart) — daughter of “Mistletoe” detective Sam Wilner — has joined the criminology program at the prestigious Middlebridge University, where she’s mentored by McCormack’s cranky prof. But is he somehow caught up in the very murder she’s stumbled into investigating? (Cue dramatic music.)
The details: Listen to “Middlebridge Mysteries” on Audible.
What did you learn about the craft of vocal performance while acting in this audible production?
Oh, Briony, I am 62. I didn’t learn a damn thing. I’ve been learning it for the last 40 years and I brought all of it to the studio for four hours.
What was the most fun part of taking on this voice-over role?
Audible’s always fun. You get to throw everything else away, all the things you worry about: your hair, makeup, did you shower that day? And you get to just conjure in your mind everything that’s usually somebody else’s department, (whether it’s) props or set dec or wardrobe: it’s all in your head. And I always love it. I love strapping on some headphones and finding my inner professor.
What do you wish your younger self knew?
I quite liked my younger self. I wish I could tell my younger self that you don’t have to do everything by yourself and to perhaps trust more. I was — I wouldn’t say a loner but, well, I was a loner as a kid, but even when I got into the business and I was making all these friends, I still found it hard to believe that I could rely on it, so I think as the years went by, I realized that the best things I’ve ever done were ensemble.
What piece of advice do you give aspiring performers?
It seems like an old-fashioned thing to say now, but I think every actor needs live performance … As technology rolls so far forward so fast, everyone needs to be in touch somehow with what it feels like to do what you do in front of people, and both succeed and fail.
What is the best advice you ever got?
It was my Toronto agent in 1991, her name was Linda Butler, and I went to her — and at the time there was not a whole lot of television going on here — and she said, “You might wanna try Vancouver, just give it a try,” which was, for an agent making her money in Toronto, a generous, risky thing to say because I came out here and went, “Oh, I love this.” And that led me more naturally, at least in my case, to L.A. It changed my life within a few months and so I’m always grateful to Linda for that.
What is the worst advice you ever got?
I never know what to say to this. “Try the chicken special tonight”? Like I said, the younger me didn’t trust a lot of advice, so I have no one to blame for giving me bad advice.
What makes you happiest these days?
Being back in Canada. I’ve come back and I’m delighted. I’m in Vancouver and in a new place. Just being on my Vespa, riding over the Burrard Street Bridge, is my happy place.
What is the skill people may be surprised to discover you have?
I sing, as people may know but, in the privacy of my own home, I also play some piano, not great. My dream was always to be able to accompany myself and pretend I was Elton John and Billy Joel and Barry Manilow. Now that I’m back here, I’ve moved my piano up to Vancouver and it’s sitting in this very wonderful spot overlooking Granville Island, and I’m just playing a lot more and I’m realizing that it’s something I should have pushed myself harder at.
In the 1998 Japanese film “After Life,” when people die, they get to pick a happy scene from their life that they get to live in forever. What scene from your life would you pick to live in forever?
Professionally, I think it would be the moment where nobody knew that “Will & Grace” was coming back yet. It wasn’t official; we just shot a video for Hillary Clinton and it was a total surprise when the curtain came up for this audience of about 100 people, and we still looked like us and we were dressed like us. That moment was pretty good.
And also my 11th grade production of “Godspell” when I finished Jesus’s first song and all the kids that never knew who I was suddenly went crazy.
