Ari Millen: Meet the New Clone on "Orphan Black"

Ari Millen, Orphan Black

You may not be that familiar with the name Ari Millen but over the next few months life is going to change drastically for this young man. Ari Millen is a 33-year old Canadian film, television and stage actor who is best known for playing Mark Rollins in the science fiction series Orphan Black. Last year it was decided that instead of killing off his character on the wildly popular television series, they would make him the new clone giving the brilliant Tatiana Maslany a run for her money.

Millen was born in Kingston, Ontario. As a child he aspired to play in the National Hockey League until, at the age of 17, a friend offered him a part in a small play and he decided to pursue the performing arts instead. In secondary school at Queen Elizabeth Collegiate and Vocational Institute, he spent his Ontario Academic Credit year studying theatre. He subsequently attended Ryerson University's Theatre School and graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

From 2010 to 2013, Millen appeared in a variety of small roles in the television series Nikita, Rookie Blue and State of Syn, and "Played" and was featured in the 100-person art project that was the subject of Ryan Hughes' short film, Makeout. Director Rodrigo Gudiño took notice of Millen and cast him in the sixth episode of the Copperheart Entertainment horror anthology, "Darknet", now available on Netflix US, Canada, UK and Ireland, which compliments his ongoing relationship with the Foresight Features team for which he played Dr. Igora in the cult hit, Monsters Brawl, followed by director John Geddes' Exit Humanity and, from the pen of Tony Burgess, Ejecta and Hellmouth. He also appears in four episodes of "State of Syn" as 'Hawk'. Most recently, he stars in Matthew Campagna's feature, Hunter's Moon, opposite Colm Feore, in addition to having a recurring role in the premiere season of "12 Monkeys" and a guest starring role in the second season of "Reign".

In August 2013 he successfully auditioned for a role on the second season of the science fiction series Orphan Black, after two unsuccessful auditions during the show's first season and won the role of Mark. The rest as they say, is history.

Ari Millen, Orphan Black

Since it's premiere in 2013, Orphan Black has amassed loyal fans from around the world. The award-winning Canadian television show shot in Toronto is about a woman (Tatiana Maslany) who discovers that she's a clone and explores the moral and ethical implications of it. 

In the upcoming season 3 Ari will be a prominent fixture on the series playing atleast five different clones (that he knows of so far!) As we discovered at the end of Season 2 (SPOILER ALERT) Millen is Project Castor, the male set of clones, and who knows how many there could be more in his future!

I spoke with Ari Millen at length in downtown Toronto about his career, working on Orphan Black and the opportunities it will bring, learning clone tricks from the brilliant Tatiana Maslany and what he has coming up next.

ORPHAN BLACK premieres Saturday, April 18 at 9 p.m. ET on Space. Seasons 1 and 2 of ORPHAN BLACK are available now on CraveTV™.