John Kent Harrison is a Canadian film and television director and writer.
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Early life
Harrison was born in London, Ontario, in 1947 and attended the private school Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario. After graduating in 1964, he attended Columbia University in New York, then briefly worked as a stock broker before returning to school. He earned a Master's degree at Montreal’s Concordia University, and stayed, becoming assistant professor of Film Studies at Concordia University. While there, he wrote and directed several films. He moved to Los Angeles in 1984.
Career
Harrison has directed 32 projects, and written 21, most of which won, or were nominated for, numerous awards in acting and craft categories. Harrison has received several nominations for writing and directing.
His 1992 film The Sound and the Silence, which he wrote and directed, won the 1994 CableACE Award for best International Movie or Miniseries/Comedy or Dramatic Special or Series. His 1997 adaptation of William Faulkner’s Old Man won the 1997 Christopher Award for Best Film. You Know My Name won the Bronze Wrangler for Television Feature Film at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s 2000 Western Heritage Awards.
At the 2003 Toronto Sprockets International Film Festival for Children, A Wrinkle in Time won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. L.M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables won the award for Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie at the 2017 Kidscreen Awards. Harrison won the 2018 Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction, Children’s or Youth, for Anne of Green Gables: Fire and Dew.
Personal life
In 1969, following graduation from university, Harrison and a friend paddled an 18-foot canoe from their home town of London, Ontario, through the Canadian river systems to Lake Erie, then down the Mississippi to New Orleans, where Mayor Victor H. Schiro awarded them Honorary Citizenship and the Key to the City.
Harrison is the father of Canadian author Sabrina Ward Harrison.
He holds dual Canadian-American citizenship. In 2013, he married his second wife, American producer Gretchen Miller and has since lived in Portland, Oregon.
Filmography
Director
The Way of the Willow - short film, Catalyst Films 1981
Thanks for the Ride - short film, National Film Board of Canada 1983
The Hitchhiker - Best Shot – series episode, Chester/Perlmutter/Markowitz Productions 1987
Beautiful Dreamers - feature, National Film Board of Canada 1990
The Sound and the Silence - TV Movie, Atlantis Films/South Pacific Pictures 1992
City Boy - TV Movie, Western International Communications et al 1992
Whose Child Is This? The War for Baby Jessica - TV Movie, Western International Communications et al 1993
For the Love of Aaron - TV Movie, Patterdale Productions/The Storytellers Group 1994
Johnny’s Girl - TV Movie, Signboard Hill Productions 1995
The Ranger, the Cook and a Hole in the Sky - TV Movie, Signboard Hill Productions 1995
Old Man - TV Movie, Hallmark Hall of Fame 1997
What the Deaf Man Heard - TV Movie, Hallmark Hall of Fame 1997
You Know My Name - TV Movie, Ancient Mariner Films 1999
A House Divided – TV Movie, Paramount Television et al 2000