Ardon Bess (born 1941) is a Canadian actor best known for appearing in a Heritage Minutes short film about the 1958 Springhill mining disaster portraying survivor Maurice Ruddick,[1] and for playing Nestor "The Jester" Best in the sitcom King of Kensington.[2][3]
Bess was born in Kingstown, St. Vincent and the Grenadines.[4] After completing his secondary school education in St. Vincent, he became a bank teller.[5] Before moving to Canada, Bess was acting in and directing local amateur theatre in Kingstown. He moved to Canada in 1964[5] and first lived in Oakville, Ontario with his father. He briefly studied architecture at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in Toronto. Bess was encouraged by a classmate[6] at Ryerson to go to an acting audition which took place after a soccer practice they were both attending. Following that audition, Bess was offered his first professional theatre role as Sakini in a production of The Teahouse of the August Moon. Subsequently, Bess left Ryerson to attend the National Theatre School of Canada.[5]
He has also appeared in other films and television roles including Trailer Park Boys,[5] How She Move, Take the Lead, The Ladies Man, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Prom Night, King of Kensington,[5] and Jewel.[7] He earned a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for his role in One Heart Broken Into Song.[8]
In 2000, Bess' role of Don in the short film My Father’s Hands earned him a Golden Sheaf Award in the category of best performance by a male.[9]