Assassin’s Creed actor coming to FanCon

Beloved characters don't enter the public psyche only through the door of television or comic book or movie, anymore.

The video game is also a storytelling platform that has evolved its heroes and villains into popular figures.

One of the best known of these is Jacob Frye, the roguish anti-hero from the Assassin's Creed franchise.

He is essentially a British ninja.

He is a favourite among cosplayers because of his trademark hats and hoods.

He is a king in the steampunk movement for his long coats, combinations of quilting and leather and gadgetry adorning his long jackets and striking Victorian formal-wear also designed to help his assassination action.

Jacob Frye himself will be at Northern FanCon this year, in the form of Welsh-Canadian actor Paul Amos.

"It's something I've always wanted to do. Most of my life I've been an avid gamer, from the Spectrum 48k to the Commodore, Omega, Sega, PlayStation 1, 2 and 3 then I had a daughter so we had to kick that out of the house, but then I got the job with Assassin's Creed so I had to get the PS4 for tax purposes so it's back in the house now," said Amos from his home in the Toronto area where he lives with his young family.

So for a video game fan, what's it like to be clicking the controls and hear your own voice coming out of the machine?

"Ahhhhh, it's kinda weird," he confessed.

"It was a long job. It took four months to mo-cap the thing (motion capture his body movements to inform the computer animation), and then we were in the (voice recording) booth for three months, and (other details) so the job was about a year long.

"That's a while to get used to that character - it was a day-in, day-out thing. So it's weird but it's not weird."

Amos said the Assassin's Creed "is a really incredible franchise" for relating to its fan base.

There is a loyal group that enjoys delving into the lore and aesthetic of the game's realm.

"I think it's the No. 1 most cosplayed character in the world" so he has lately gotten himself involved with pop culture conventions because there was an expressed desire for the fans to see the real people who create and embody their fanaticism.

But Amos gets approached at fan conventions, or "cons," for much more than just his Assassin's Creed character.

He was also a significant part of the made-in-Canada-set-in-Canada hit show Lost Girl playing the flamboyant character Vex with a Clockwork Orange kind of dark swagger.

He was in 24 of those episodes, and always in dramatic fashion.

"It's not often that homegrown material gets a spot at cons alongside Walking Dead and those kinds of shows," he said, but Lost Girl got that international reaction.

Another celebrity guest coming to FanCon is Kris Holden-Ried who played in 77 episodes of Lost Girl, but he also worked with Amos on another project getting kicked down the fan field.

Holden-Ried plays the title character and Amos plays arch enemy Mister Gold in the new animated webseries Captain Canuck.

It doesn't get much more Canadian than that project, then additionally the Canadian content of Lost Girl, but you also have to factor in that Amos has had roles in Murdoch Mysteries and even the TV movie Degrassi Goes Hollywood, which is one of the most celebrated Canadian franchises ever.

Not bad for a fellow from Wales.

Amos is a graduate of the world renowned London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, worked as a youth with British theatre agencies like the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, then came to Canada to perform with the famed Stratford Festival before television, movies, internet and video game roles lined up for him.

"Always, always onto the next thing," he said, describing the life of the professional actor.

"I'm not sure what that's going to be for me. After working on the game for a year, I took a bit of a break, there, for a month. I'm just getting back into looking at projects, auditioning for projects, hopefully I can get another series in a larger role capacity, that runs over the summer."

He has become someone used to world travel and international residency, but said he is pleased to put down roots in Canada right now with his wife and five-year-old daughter.

"Canada is doing really well at the moment. There's a lot of great shows, there's a lot going on, it looks like that will continue.

"Filming is booming in Toronto. I think most of the lots are full, so there's no real reason to leave at the moment. I think culturally, Canada is a fantastic place to be, Toronto is an excellent city that's only getting better, I live in a fantastic place that overlooks the city as well, so why go anywhere else?"

Well, anywhere but Prince George, that is.

"I typed in Best Bars In Prince George," he said, "and I'm really looking forward to Nancy O's" as well as meeting all the fans of his various projects who will mill about at Northern FanCon this weekend.