He’s a biker, the cowboy and the pick up truck driver on TV and in real life he was the freestyle skier, volleyball and baseball player you knew at Kelly Road high school who turned pro volleyball player.
He’s Murray (Murf) Laidlaw.
“My goal was always to be a pro athlete,” Laidlaw said.
After going to university, he spent years playing professional volleyball all over the world.
“I retired from that when I got a really cool job offer,” Laidlaw said. “It was a marketing job with Molson. That’s when I realized I liked talking to people as I was an introverted athlete before that. So that’s when I took the job of marketing Molson all over BC and I was hosting parties.”
He created a social media presence for Molson before that was cool and shot lots of videos and that’s when he realized he liked acting.
Once he burnt out of the Molson gig he thought about going back into pro volleyball but injuries sidelined him pretty quick.
His acting career started when he was coaching volleyball and a talent scout discovered him. His first audition got him a job and he was hooked. He went on to play some serious characters and now he’s shining a little humour on the situation.
Laidlaw returned home recently and found his way into commercials and acting for film and television.
His latest local commercial is for Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog.
It’s kinda funny. (Good news, it’s supposed to be.)
He’s hoping this is the start of something and said he’s loving this light-hearted, joyful character he created.
“My goal is to be based in Prince George and build my career from here,” Laidlaw said.
Check out the commercial at Chung Chun Rice Hot Dog video with Murf Laidlaw.
