OCNews

‘Tis the season for warming up by the fire, sipping hot chocolate and spotting an Okanagan College alumnus starring in your favourite, cheesy Christmas movie.

A literal Jack of all trades, Harrison Coe doubles as a journeyman electrician at Capra Electric in Vernon and also as a professional actor. Coe has appeared in television shows such as The X-Files, Millennium, Stargate, the Outer Limits and also starred in a film with Sylvester Stallone called Eye See You.

He made his Hallmark movie debut this year, starring in Fixing Up Christmas. Since then, Coe has been cast in four other roles this year.

“Fixing Up Christmas was the first role that I took after a bit of a hiatus,” says Coe. “The director, crew and cast were all incredible to work with and I really enjoyed doing it. After that, I did another Hallmark movie called A Christmas Star, and that one was also really fun to be a part of.”

Coe was born in Vernon and raised in Calgary before moving to Vancouver to pursue an acting career. He then moved to Toronto where he met his wife and had a son.

“Your life changes after having a kid and your priorities shift. I quit acting, we decided to move back to Vernon and I started to think about a more stable career. Being an electrician appealed to me the most, so I sought out Okanagan College.”

Coe took the Electrical Pre-Apprenticeship program at OC in August 2016 and finished his Level 4 in March 2020.

“My time at Okanagan College was really great,” says Coe. “The highlight for me was the quality of instructors. They were all amazing; they made it enjoyable, they were helpful, they were thorough in their teaching. They made the experience so great.”

Although Coe still enjoys working as an electrician, he still gets the acting itch sometimes.

“I pursued acting for most of my life and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do. I still need the stability of my job as an electrician and I’m just really fortunate that I’ve found a company to work for that allows me to take time off so that I can do both.”

Watch Coe in Fixing Up Christmas online at www.citytv.com.

Country star and Audio Engineering and Music Production alumnus Ben Klick also had a cameo in a Hallmark movie that premiered last weekend. Klick plays the lead singer of a band that performs during a Christmas festival in Time for Them to Come Home for Christmas, produced by Blake Shelton.

“I got a phone call from a friend of mine, who’s also the fiddle player in my band,” says Klick. “Hallmark wanted him to put together a band that was country-esque and they wanted the lead to look like a younger, skinnier Blake Shelton, so I sent over some photos of myself and within 48 hours I got the gig.”

Klick plays the lead singer of the band but this time, no singing was required.

“We actually had to mime the whole thing. We couldn’t play any of our instruments or sing because they needed to be able to hear the conversation of the two leads that were watching and dancing to the music we were ‘playing.’ It was complete silence but we had a ball!”

Klick graduated from OC in September 2015, and shortly after, released his debut album entitled Today. He went on to play nearly 60 dates across North America the following year.

Since then Klick has released two more albums, received multiple British Columbia Country Music Awards, International Country Music Awards, Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and the 2017 Young Alumni Award from OC’s Alumni Association.

Klick is also the organizer of an annual music festival, Music Fest MS, which raises money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada. In three years, the event has raised over $100,000, one of the largest, single-day fundraisers put on by a third party in MS history.

Now, Klick can add movie star to his growing resume.

“I don’t think I’ll actively seek out more acting gigs, but I definitely would welcome them again,” Klick says with a laugh. “I can’t keep a straight face for anything.”

Klick has a new single coming out this Friday that he wrote in honour of frontline workers. “More Than Just A Number” premieres on Dec. 17 at www.BenKlick.com.