ABOUT US
Adam Kelly Morton
The founder of I.O. Acting & Creative Studio in 2009, Adam was born in N.D.G., Montreal, Quebec. Raised in the West Island of Montreal (in Pierrefonds) he attended John Rennie High School and John Abbott CEGEP (Health Science). He pursued his studies at Concordia University, attaining a B.Sc in Biology in 1995 and a B.FA in Theatre Performance and English Literature in 1999. In 2001, he completed his MFA in Acting at York University, Toronto, and in 2021, he completed a Master of Arts (MA) in Creative Writing with Distinction from Teesside University, UK (distance learning).
Teaching/Consultancy
In addition to teaching since 1999, Adam has helped applicants auditioning for theatre programs in Canada and the UK gain admittance to prestigious conservatory programs such as The Actors Studio and Circle in the Square in New York City; York University and George Brown College in Toronto; and Concordia University, Dawson College and John Abbott College Professional Theatre in Montreal. He has coached actors on an individual basis for feature film auditions (for starring roles in Canada, the US, and Denmark). Adam has also worked as a private acting coach on a Hollywood film (White House Down), in addition to providing coaching/self-tapes for visiting Hollywood, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver actors working on projects such as X-Men, Quantico, Helix, Santa Clarita Diet, and others.
As a teacher, Adam has over two decades of experience. At the university level he taught undergraduate acting while completing his Master of Fine Arts in Acting at York. He has taught high school English and Drama at Trafalgar School for Girls, John Rennie High School and at the Cartier Adult Education Centre. He was also a substitute teacher for many years in elementary and high schools on the West Island. Adam also taught Camera Acting, Acting for Animators, and several other courses at Dawson College while maintaining his role as I.O. Acting & Creative Studio’s main teacher.
As a script consultant, Adam’s first project was the feature film Polytechnique (see below). He has consulted on several play, short film and feature film projects in English and in French, and has collaborated with noted filmmakers such as Denis Villeneuve, Elias C. Varoutsos, Sid Zanforlin, and Nyambura Waruingi.
Adam’s acting workshops have been appointed by Cinesite Animation company, the Quebec Drama Federation (QDF) and by the Quebec Writer’s Federation (QWF). He has been a guest speaker at York University, Toronto Metropolitan University (Ryerson), Concordia, McGill, and at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for International Women’s Day. He also taught workshop acting classes at McGill University, and for kids at the Pointe Claire Public Library.
Writing and Life
In addition to dozens of screenplays and scenes for film & TV, as well as scores of sketches for comedy, Adam has published short stories, articles, reviews, and poetry. A list of his publications can be found here. In 2020, Adam released his first collection of stories and novella, Harmony Street: Misremembered Stories from Montreal.
These days, Adam is working on several television pilot projects including Vike, a fantasy-mystery series that won the WildSound Fantasy/Sci-Fi Screenplay Competition, and was a Finalist in the Los Angeles International Screenplay Awards, and in the Filmmatic Drama Screenplay Awards. Adam's subsequent project: a pre-WW2 espionage series called Die Ahle (The Awl), won Best Pilot at the San Pedro Intl. Film Festival, was a Finalist in the Screenwriters Network TV Pilot Competition, and a Semi-Finalist at the Seattle Film Summit. His pilot Dramical won the Montreal Independent Film Festival Award for Best Unproduced Script.
Adam lives and works in N.D.G., Montreal, where he is VP of the board for the Monkland Community Centre. Oh, and he’s also married with four young children, so there’s not much sleep—but still plenty of tabletop games, coffee, and chaos.
Performance
As a performer, Adam's stage career began at the age of five and he has acted ever since. In 1992 he co-founded the Wahoo Family Theatre Company, mounting classical productions and children’s theatre.
In 1998, Adam wrote and directed his first full-length play, Periostracum: a site-specific work (set in a bar) for the Montreal Fringe Theatre Festival.
After a multitude of other independent and university productions, Adam’s professional stage career began at the Factory Theatre Toronto, where he landed the title role in Necessary Angel’s production of The Piper by Colleen Murphy, directed by Richard Rose. He later went on to play the role of Luke O’Connor in Ota, an adaptation of Robert Lepage’s Seven Streams of the River Ota. He also played in a number of indie-produced and Fringe productions, including Harold Pinter’s One for the Road and John Osbourne’s Look Back in Anger, respectively. 
On camera, Adam drew experience from a number of commercials and made-for-tv projects. He had a bit part in Canada: A People’s History playing an Irish upstart. He was featured for many years in a UK commercial (for Anadin, an Aspirin-like product). In 2003, he acted in his first feature film, playing the role of Reese in Remembering Moore, directed by Peter Cho. He was the lead actor in the web series Montreal Hearts (see below). In recent years, Adam acted in several true crime programs including Fatal Vows and Deadly Secrets for American cable networks, as well as in the feature film Les Oiseaux Ivres, directed by Ivan Grbovic. He also appeared Jenn Wexler's The Sacrifice Game in 2023 starring Mena Massoud. 
The Anorak
Developed as a graduate performance assignment, Adam’s play The Anorak–a 90 minute monologue about the life and death of Marc Lépine (perpetrator of the Montreal Massacre at l’Université de Montréal)–made its debut in 2000 at York University.
The Montreal premiere took place in September 2004 at Zeke’s Gallery. In March 2005 the show was performed at the Queen’s University Engineering Department in Kingston. Additional Montreal productions have taken place at McGill University, TMU (Ryerson) and Concordia.
In 2007 the play won the Montreal English Critic's Circle Award (MECCA) for Best Script, also garnering Best Actor and Best Overall Production nominations. The play was listed in 2006 for Best of the Year in the Montreal Mirror, as well as in La Presse. In 2004, The Anorak was named in the Montreal Gazette’s Best Plays of the year. The French version L’Anorak, translated by Genevieve Charbonneau, premiered in Quebec City in Fall 2008.
After seeing the play at McGill University in 2006, Executive Producers Karine Vanasse (Pan-Am, Ma Fille-Mon Ange) and Max Rémillard (Remstar) hired Adam as Script Consultant for the feature film Polytechnique. Working closely with director Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner, Sicario, Arrival) Adam helped integrate the character of The Killer (Marc Lépine) into the film.
Adam performed The Anorak in French on the 20th anniversary of the massacre, at l'Université de Montréal, December 6, 2009. The play made its first run overseas, with performances taking place in London, UK, starring Felix Brunger, and directed by Matthew Gould. Adam reprised the role for the 25th anniversary of the massacre in 2014, at the Montreal Improv Theatre.
A film version of the play starring Alex Dubois was a Finalist at the Southern California (SoCal) Film Awards, and an Official Selection of the Docs Without Borders International Film Festival in Delaware, USA.
Comedy and Film
To balance the tragic subject of The Anorak in his performing life, Adam co-founded the sketch comedy troupe The Dancing Cock Brothers in 2005. Over a five-year span, the DCBs brought nasty sketch comedy to Montreal and Toronto with performances at both Fringe Festivals and Sketchfests, Main Hall and Petit Campus, to name a few.
In 2010, the DCBs disbanded and made the move into film, where Adam served as the show-runner and lead actor for Montreal Hearts, a comedy series by the newly formed Gung Horse Productions. The show ranked on Indie Soap of the Week charts for 8 weeks and was nominated for an ISOW Viewer’s Choice Award.
Montreal Hearts was also featured on ABC news via a profile on Funny or Die, where it was nominated in the Top Comedy Videos of the Year for 2010.
In 2011, Adam made his first short, Communication Policy. He wrote, directed and edited the film, with students of I.O. Acting Studio being cast in the principal roles. CP was an Official Selection at the Moving Image Film Festival of Toronto and at the Rome International Film Festival in 2012.
His short film Foreign Language was an Official Selection of the SoHo NYC International Film Festival and of the Rochester International Film Festival in 2013, where it was selected for the Best of the Fest compilation. The Montreal premiere took place at the NDG Off The Wall Film Festival where it won the Fan Favourite Award.
Having completed the short film How To Talk To Boys, Adam turned his attention to the romantic comedy Bridges Over Montreal. With production in December 2012, and post-production completed in June 2013. It eventually yielded a short film, Adiel & Didier, that went on to the Beloit International Film Festival and the NDG Off The Wall Festival in 2014.
Most recently, Adam collaborated with I.O. Actors Guild in the creation of You'll Be Great, a short film completed in 2022.
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