Fredi Magazine Special Digital Edition 2017 | Page 63

When your father is former NHL player and current NHL coach Jim
Playfair, it’s easy to believe that your future involves a pair of skates
and a hockey stick. At the age of 19, Dylan Playfair realized that his
future was not going to follow in the footsteps of his father. Since that
decision, he has never looked back.
Twenty five-year-old Dylan Playfair grew up
playing the game he loves, believing he may
have a future in hockey, knowing realistically
he’d peak at 30 and then have to figure out
where to go from there. However, 6 years ago,
he sustained a concussion and took time off to
reflect on the game, where it was going, and
his potential role. “I was never a goal scorer
– my role was to provide grit and toughness”,
Playfair recalls. “Even back then, watching the
NHL, the writing was on the wall – my style
of game was not going to translate into a suc-
cessful hockey career.” The maturity to see this
at 19 is extremely rare, and Playfair already
had an idea of what direction he should look
to next. “I was a huge Friday Night Lights
fan, and was impressed with (and inspired by)
Taylor Kitsch.” Kitsch is a BC-born actor who
also grew up playing hockey, but transitioned
into acting after a knee injury ended his junior
career. “Taylor did it successfully, so I thought
why not pursue that avenue myself. I spoke to
my parents and my coach, and my mind
was made up.”
Playfair moved to Vancouver, where,
with no connections, he landed a job
as a production assistant, willing
to do whatever was necessary so
he could learn firsthand about the
industry. Soon he met a good friend
who would become integral to his
future success, Jared Keeso.
Keeso is best known for creating the CraveTV
hit Letterkenny, based on the original Youtube
shorts Letterkenny Problems. “Meeting Jared
was absolutely one of the best things that hap-
pened to me,” Playfair says. “He became one
of my closest friends and introduced me to my
agent.” Playfair had been taking acting classes
at this time, and soon landed a role in the TV
movie Mr. Hockey – the Gordie Howe story,
playing Gordie’s son Marty Howe. “This was
really personal to me – with my hockey back-
ground, and winning a Leo award was a huge
cherry on top.” The Leo’s are a BC awards
ceremony, and Playfair won the 2014 award for
best supporting performance by a male in
a television movie.
After a couple of small roles, Playfair landed
the role of Knox Knoxford for 3 seasons
and 56 episodes on YTV’s Some Assembly
Required. Then, came the role he may be best
known for – Reilly on Letterkenny. The show
has a simple premise – a look into the lives
of farmers, hockey players and skids in the
small Ontario town of Letterkenny. Playfair’s
Reilly is a dedicated hockey player who always
shares the screen with best friend and linemate
Jonesy, played by Andrew Herr. The incred-
ible timing and fantastic hockey dialogue by
the duo has developed a cult-like following
for Reilly and Jonesy throughout Canada and
the US. “People love these characters because
they’re based on a lot of guys who exist in
junior hockey rooms everywhere,” Playfair
explains. “I have a lot of buddies to thank
for the inspiration of the character.” The
machine-gun-like pace of the lines the duo
delivers seem so natural,but Playfair attributes
the success of the characters to both the
Photos courtesy of Bobby Quillard
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