MacIvor was born in Sydney, Nova Scotia and educated at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and then at George Brown College in Toronto.

In House and Here Lies Henry, MacIvor portrays one character who speaks directly to the audience, acknowledging their presence.

In 1992, 2-2 Tango was included in Making Out, the first anthology of Canadian plays by gay writers, alongside works by Ken Garnhum, Sky Gilbert, David Demchuk, Harry Rintoul and Colin Thomas.

MacIvor and Brooks later collaborated with Iris Turcott to create the play Who Killed Spalding Gray?, in which MacIvor performs the part of a fictional character partly based on the style of deceased American actor Spalding Gray.

In the early 2000s MacIvor wrote, co-wrote and directed several independent films, which were usually made in his home province of Nova Scotia.

[11] In 1998, MacIvor won the award for overall excellence at the New York International Fringe Festival for his play Never Swim Alone.