Arts & Culture

Aleks Paunovic, Canadian actor, writer, and producer.

Photo courtesy Ben Cope

Canadian actor builds list of film and TV credits

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:39 PDT, Fri April 14, 2023

Last Updated: 3:50 PDT, Mon May 8, 2023

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Born in Winnipeg, Canadian actor Aleks Paunovic is also a producer, and a writer, with three decades of work in film and television. Coming from a family of boxers, Aleks himself became a former champion boxer until a shoulder injury ended this career. While playing in a rock band, Aleks auditioned for a role in a TV movie. He got the role, and turned his boxing athleticism into a stunt acting career and the rest is history. In 2001, he stopped in Vancouver on his way to Los Angeles when 9.1.1. happened and entry into the US changed, so Aleks made Vancouver his home. He built an amazing career as an actor adding writing for film and television to his list of credentials.

You may have seen him over the past few years in the popular television series Arctic Air, Van Helsing, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Snowpiercer, and most recently in the Marvel television miniseries, Hawkeye. He has an extensive list of film credits as well including Freaks, War for the Planet of the Apes, and Zero Contact starring alongside Anthony Hopkins.

Our City Tonight has interviewed Aleks on more than one occasion and sat down with him to catch up on his latest projects.

OCT: The last time we had you join us was just before the pandemic started. You have been working steadily despite these challenges. Let’s jump right into your most recent television series called GenZeroes, tell us all about this unique project.

AP: GenZeroes is a project that I am executive producing and starring in. I am working with some amazing Vancouver talent. We have some great people involved, House of Kibaa, a tech company, is producing the project. I am very excited to be part of this and not only the live-action part of it, but the comic book version of it as well.

OCT: As we understand it, this is a Sci-Fi chronicle that takes place 200 years after earth is basically destroyed in 2022, the plundering aliens have left, and the survivors have formed ten separate factions that now compete for control of the planet.

AP: We did not want to create the typical post-apocalyptic story where everything‘s dirty and people are just trying to survive. We created the scenario that reflected 200 years into the future when the aliens are not even part of the storyline. The earth is kind of thriving and the question remains as to whether the aliens are coming back or not. My character Bishop, and amazing actress Nicole Muniz, who plays my daughter on the show, follows the different factions and is the new way of living. Matt Venables and Jeremy Smith, from Van Helsing, are producing it and are the showrunners. They also wrote the series.

OCT: Your last movie, Zero Contact, had you travelling all over the world even during the pandemic and amidst the lockdown. That must have been quite the experience. We know you must have lots on your plate because you’re always travelling and working. What are your big plans for the rest of 2023.

AP: Yes, I have lots of big plans for the year!
We shot Zero Contact, starring Anthony Hopkins, and that was an amazing experience. It was the
first feature film shot as an NFT with producer Rick Dugdale, and Enderby Production. Lionsgate picked it up as a feature. This was exciting for us because on top of that, it fueled the idea for doing a second and third film in the series. Last December, we started in Antarctica, which is so incredible. No Hollywood scripted feature has ever been shot in the Antarctic.

OCT: Sounds like that must have been extremely challenging to get there?

AP: Yes, getting there was really tough. We had to fly from Chile to Antarctica where there were no airports, the planes literally landed right on the ice, and we were all staying in tents. It was truly a remarkable experience to be a part of that and we continue it in 2023 as we shoot the second and third in this series. In fact, we will again be shooting all over the world.

OCT: It is great that you are filming the live-action GenZeroes series in Vancouver and further able to support local talent in all areas.

AP: I love the idea that we can keep it here and what is really exciting to me is that a lot of people have taken notice plus some very big production companies have also taken notice. As a result, we are close to partnering with someone else to either go the television route or the feature film franchise route. I also love that we can offer our friends jobs on the show.

Check out and follow Aleks Paunovic on his social media platforms to find out what he is doing next. You can also go to genzeroes.com to experience the GenZeroes universe.

The interview video can be seen on richmondsentinel.ca/videos