Mimi Kuzyk

Mimi Kuzyk

Mimi Kuzyk, actor (born at Winnipeg 21 Feb 1952). Mimi Kuzyk was a child performer with the Winnipeg Ukrainian dance ensemble Rusalka and briefly studied at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. In 1977 she moved to Toronto and began her career as a professional actor.

Los Angeles beckoned in 1983 and Kuzyk found work almost immediately after arriving. A meeting with television mogul Steven Bochco about a new part in his landmark television series Hill Street Blues (1981-87) brought Kuzyk the role of hardnosed detective Patsy Mayo. The show became one of the most widely admired and often imitated American televised dramas in Hollywood history, and kickstarted the young newcomer's career in a way seldom seen in North America. She stayed with the series until 1986 and then took a role on L.A. Law, and appeared in 2 Canadian features - the Alberta-produced politically daring television movie Striker's Mountain (1985) and an odd schlock horror co-production The Kiss (1988).

In 1994 Kuzyk headed back to Toronto, where she starred opposite Donald SUTHERLAND in the science fiction made-for-television epic The Lifeforce Experiment (1994), and then appeared in the steamy high school thriller Malicious (1995). One of her best-known recurring roles was that of Pauline Drury on the Canadian drama Traders, a series that hit on the pulse of high-risk financing common to North America in the late 1990s.

In 2001 she won the part of Eleanor Bannet in Léa POOL's coming-of-age drama Lost and Delirious. The film about 3 schoolgirls' first romance at a private boarding school was a hit on the international festival circuit and earned a best supporting actress GENIE AWARD nomination for Mimi Kuzyk. That year, she returned to televised police procedurals with a recurring role as Kay Barrow, the deputy chief of police in the Toronto-based drama Blue Murder (2001-04). Her sober portrayal of the bureaucratic police chief was a standout role and earned her two GEMINI AWARD nominations for best supporting actress in 2001 and 2003.

Mimi Kuzyk has appeared in the feature films The Human Stain (2003) and The Final Cut (2004) and starred in Kardia (2006) and Your Side of the Bed (2012), both filmed in Canada. She has been seen in, among many other TV series, The L Word (2005), Ghost Whisperer (2007) and The Border (2009), in a recurring role as Judith Parker in the Canadian comedy series Sophie (2008-09) and in Cold Case (2010), Castle (2010) and InSecurity (2011).