Chris Gauthier, a prolific British-born, Canadian actor known for his roles in the television shows “Once Upon a Time” and “Eureka,” died on Friday. He was 48.
Tristar Appearances/Event Horizon Talent, which represented Mr. Gauthier, said in a statement that he died “after a brief illness.” His representatives did not say where he died.
Mr. Gauthier had roles in more than 20 movies, including “40 Days and 40 Nights” in 2002, “Freddy vs. Jason” in 2003 and “Watchmen” in 2009. He also appeared in dozens of television shows, including “Supernatural,” “Smallville,” “Charmed” and “A Series of Unfortunate Events,” according to IMDb, and in several short films.
He was best known for playing William Smee in “Once Upon A Time,” a series that blended real life and fantasy in the fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine, where storybook characters live, trapped by an evil queen. Mr. Gauthier appeared in 14 episodes as Smee, who is based on the “Peter Pan” character Mr. Smee, Captain Hook’s first mate.
Mr. Gauthier also played Vincent, a cafe owner, on the science fiction TV series “Eureka.” He appeared in 67 episodes of that show, from the pilot episode and through Season 5, according to IMDb.
In an interview in 2021, Mr. Gauthier said that he started acting in school plays and that he acted in amateur and professional theater during high school.
“I was always a ham, trying to be a funny guy,” he said.
Chris Gauthier was born on Jan. 27, 1976, in Luton, England. He said in an interview in 2020 that he moved to Canada when he was 5 and grew up in a small town in British Columbia. In a 2010 interview, he said he saw a local theater production of “Sing of a Song of Sixpence” during elementary school that inspired him to think about becoming an actor.
“There wasn’t a lot going on there in terms of film and television,” he said. “So for me, it was about just the love of acting. It wasn’t about money. It wasn’t about anything but the sheer love of acting.”
After moving to Vancouver at about age 20, his acting career onscreen began in 2000, when he appeared in an episode of the TV series “Cold Squad.” His first two film credits were in 2002 for small roles in “40 Days and 40 Nights” and “Insomnia.”
His television roles were largely limited to appearances in one or a few episodes on shows like “The L Word” and “Dead Like Me” until “Eureka” premiered on the Syfy Channel in 2006. The show takes place in the fictional Pacific Northwest town of Eureka, where many of the world’s brightest minds live in an odd collective that produces technological inventions the rest of the world does not know about.
Mr. Gauthier said in 2010 that during the audition for the character Vincent, described in the casting call as “metrosexual,” he gave a contrasting performance to the other actors, who were “basically a bunch of guys who were wearing half-tops and skintight jeans.”
“As each actor came out of the audition room, they commented, ‘Tone it down,’ or don’t be too eccentric, let’s say,” he said. “When it was my turn, I just did my thing and they were like, ‘Perfect.’ They loved it, and I think it was probably the juxtaposition of my burlyesque physique mixed with some effeminate tones.”
Among his more recent credits, Mr. Gauthier appeared in seven episodes of the western drama “Joe Pickett.”
Information about his survivors was not immediately available.
He said in interviews, his wife had encouraged him to move to Vancouver to pursue an acting career in television and film.
“I wasn’t super-duper motivated because I was happy doing plays,” he said of the move. “But I was like ‘OK,’ and it worked out.”
