Norman’s work as an actor, writer, filmmaker, and visual artist aims to create a more responsible and realistic reflection of people in his communities.
He was in the acting company at Stratford Festival in 2025, performing in As You Like It, Forgiveness, and Dangerous Liaisons. Other performances include Rosmersholm (Crow’s Theatre), The New Canadian Curling Club (Theatre Orangeville/Drayton Entertainment), Hamlet, as Rosencrantz (Stratford Festival), Death and the King’s Horseman (Stratford Festival), The Canadian (Thousand Islands Playhouse), Chimerica (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre/Canadian Stage), The Kite Runner (Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre), Fugitives (Theatre Conspiracy), Exit the Dragon (Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre), You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Gateway Theatre) and productions with Touchstone Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre, LA Opera and more. Among many roles in film and TV, favourites include a supporting role in Resident Evil: Afterlife and a series regular role in Todd and the Book of Pure Evil.
He is currently writing Aging Youth Gang (Tom Hendry Award finalist, Tyrone Guthrie Award at Stratford Festival) with development from Theatre Passe Muraille, fu-GEN Theatre Company, and Crow's Theatre, and Eunuch X Pirate (Tyrone Guthrie Award at Stratford Festival) as Playwright in Residence at Outside the March. Theory premiered at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto and had an American premiere by Mosaic Theater Company of Washington, D.C. Theory received The Voaden Prize, was nominated for the Carol Bolt Award, and is published by Playwrights Canada Press. Pu-Erh received four Dora Award nominations, including Outstanding New Play, and was a finalist for The Voaden Prize. Other plays and performance pieces include The Zoonotic Story (Stratford Festival/National Arts Centre), I Know I’m Supposed to Love You (Touchstone Theatre), Deirdre Dear (LaBute New Theater Festival, St. Louis), In this moment. (Nuit Blanche), and Black Blood (Tapestry New Opera, with composer Christiaan Venter). Theory and Ms. Desjardins were recorded as audio dramas for PlayME/CBC Podcasts. He has been a member of playwright/creator units at Stratford Festival, Tarragon Theatre, fu-GEN Theatre Company, Tapestry Opera, and Canadian Stage. He was a Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize finalist.
Current screenwriting projects include the series Jewelz and feature Rowds, which were workshopped at the Loughborough Lake Writer’s Retreat (Mongrel Media/Crow’s Theatre), and the series Blood Rush (The Black List’s Top List, Coverfly's Red List, WeScreenplay Diverse Voices quarterfinalist) with co-writer Darragh McDonald.
Films he has written and directed include Anne Darling, Hello Faye, Marnie Love, and Light 01, which have screened at international film festivals and on television. He was Second Unit Director on The Tracey Fragments, a feature film directed by Bruce McDonald and starring Elliot Page. Awards for his filmmaking include the Norman Jewison Filmmaker Award and Jack Kuper Award for Filmmaking.
Beginning when he was thirteen, his graffiti and street art could be found under bridges, on freight trains, behind warehouses, in transit tunnels, and on living room walls, from New York City to Brisbane. He has exhibited his paintings and drawings in such venues as Flying Rooster Contemporary Projects/Galerie Youn (Montreal), Hot Art Wet City (Vancouver), DV8 (Vancouver), curcioprojects (New York City), Art Gallery of Mississauga, and spaces in Toronto including Art Gallery of Ontario, Board of Directors, Well and Good, Base Gallery, Shift Gallery, and more. Painting and illustration clients include LVMH, Bruce Mau Design, National Film Board of Canada, MTV, CBC, Eye Weekly, Rice Paper Magazine, and many more. He was featured on CBC Radio 3’s “MAKE: Next Generation Canadian Creators,” CBC’s ZeD TV, MuchMusic, MTV, and in numerous publications and documentaries.
His work is featured in the books Reading Wide Awake: Politics, Pedagogies, and Possibilities by Patrick Shannon, and Voices Rising: Asian Canadian Cultural Activism by Xiaoping Li. Speaking engagements include New York University about his play Theory, Central Technical School (Toronto) about urban art, Lord Byng Secondary School (Vancouver) about a career in the arts, and The Humanitas Festival (Toronto) about inclusivity in media. He received a Toronto Clean and Beautiful City Appreciation Award for his mural work. He has received multiple grants from Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council.
He is delighted to be a teaching artist with organisations including Stratford Festival, and a mentor through organisations including the Paprika Festival (Toronto) and Playwrights Guild of Canada.
He holds a BFA (Honours) in Film from Toronto Metropolitan University, and a BFA in Acting/Theatre from University of British Columbia. Norman was born in Guangzhou, grew up in East Vancouver, and had divided his time living and working in Los Angeles and Toronto, where he is based.
Norman was his high school's valedictorian and was once a Vancouver City Champion in freestyle wrestling, winning the gold medal for 38kg when he strategically dropped weight from his normal 41kg. That was a long time ago. He weighs more now.