[2] A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba,[3] he began his acting career with the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Stratford Festival,[4] and had a small role in a 1956 Broadway production of Tamburlaine the Great, before spending some time as part of the company of the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, England.

[1] While working with the Alexandra, he also had occasional television acting roles in BBC drama anthology series.

[6] He also had several credits as a television director in this era, including the television film A Remnant of Harry and numerous episodes of the anthology series Festival and Norman Corwin Presents and the drama series Quentin Durgens, M.P..[7] In 1972, he was a key creator of Theatre Passe Muraille's collective play Bethune!, about the life of Norman Bethune.

[9] He later made various guest appearances in television series through the 1980s and 1990s, and acted in films such as Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks, Day One, The Nutcracker Prince, Sam & Me, Naked Lunch, Getting Gotti, Harrison Bergeron and Margaret's Museum.

On March 21, 1985 the play "Einstein" by Gabriel Emanuel, premiered at the TWP (Toronto Workshop Productions) Theatre starring Peter Boretski in the title role.