From humble beginnings in North York to leading man, actor Adrian Walters and his rise is a story of faith bridging art.
“I want to continue to work on things that excite me, challenge me, and allow me to discover worlds that are different from my own. My whole goal is to be used in a great way.”
Canada has produced its share of Black leading actors in recent years. Among the leading men are Shamier Anderson, Stephan James, Adrian Holmes and Lyriq Bent to name a few. Now there’s another leading man on the rise.
After appearing in series like Star Trek: Discovery and The Handmaid’s Tale, Toronto’s Adrian Walters made his debut as a lead actor in the 2025 film It Comes In Waves about a family of four that flee Rwanda to find a supposed better life in Ottawa, Canada only to face the challenges of inner city life.
For Walters, the path to leading man was years in the making. He grew up in the Keele and Lawrence area in North York, the youngest of seven children. He was born to parents who immigrated to Canada from Jamaica at 19 years old, in the late 1970s, in order to pursue a better life. Although he and his family would eventually move to Brampton, it was during his childhood in North York he would get the bug for acting while reenacting scenes from his favorite movies and making skits to entertain his family.
His mother would introduce him to background acting work as a way for him to afford the things he wanted, including video games.
He made his acting debut in Must Be Santa where, as a child actor, he would meet actor, writer, and producer Arnold Pinnock, who he would work with again many years later on The Porter. Little did he know that Pinnock would eventually be a mentor, close friend, and brother who would have a profound impact on his life and career.
It was while working with Walters on The Porter that Pinnock first noticed his potential as a lead actor. During an early morning phone call, Pinnock challenged Walters to focus on making that a reality. Walters and his team accepted that challenge and held out for a leading role.
“He put a battery in my back”, Walters told SHIFTER. “Not even six months later, Amir, Fitch, and Weggon [producers of It Comes In Waves] come knocking with this project which is a leading role. The first time I’ve been asked to lead a feature film. After he [Pinnock] put that battery in my back.”
“I didn’t form my own personal journey with Christ until I was 20 or 21, when I started this acting journey.”
Walters met the opportunity with pure joy and excitement, but soon the pressure of finally becoming a lead turned into fear and anxiety.
“As I meditated on the task at hand, it started to intimidate me. This is a heavy story. I asked myself, ‘Why you? What makes you think you’re ready to tell this story? Why now?’ For a month and a half, I meditated on what would be the most viable excuse I could tell them that I no longer wanted to do this, and to go find someone else. The fear was mounting.”
But he soon turned to what always brought him a sense of peace—prayer, the Bible, and his faith in God. This gave him the confidence to know he was, in fact, the man for the job.
“Then I just started to attack the task at hand”, he added.
Like his love for acting, the seeds of faith were planted many years earlier at home. His mother would pray for him regularly, while his grandmother would remind him to pray and read his Bible. But it wouldn’t be until his early 20’s and his pursuit of acting that he would discover God for himself.
“I didn’t form my own personal journey with Christ until I was 20 or 21, when I started this acting journey.”
While working a construction job in Scarborough he would have a defining experience that would change his life. Standing on a balcony in Scarborough, he saw a family smiling and selling fruits out of the back of their minivan. Despite probably not making a lot of money, they seemed to have found joy, contentment, and alignment, things that Walters craved for himself. Looking at his surroundings on the construction site, he felt the exact opposite. Although he didn’t pray much, he immediately started talking to God about finding what that family had found.
“I kept saying, ‘Guide me. Show me the way.’”
“As I moved throughout the industry, it became very apparent that I not only needed Christ to sustain me, but I needed him creatively.”
“Your No’s aren’t necessarily rejection, it’s more so refinement. It gives you the space to grow in your character and abilities, so when you get to where you’re going, not only will you have the ability to deliver, it means you won’t implode.”
Immediately he remembered his love for acting. From there, the next steps revealed themselves, including hiring an agent. But despite the path being clear, success wasn’t instant. It would be years before he would be booked for a role, but still, he found joy in the process.
“Just in the process of trying to learn a monologue, I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement”, he recalled. “I was elated. My brain felt like it opened up in a new way. I was experiencing myself in a greater way. And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s exactly what I was pursuing…For the first three years, I didn’t work, but I didn’t even notice because I was having so much fun in the process.”
Still, Walters kept the dream alive. He put images and affirmations on his bedroom walls to remind himself of where he was going, and every now and then small wins would inspire him to keep going.
“I’d keep leaning and praying and somehow God would open a door that, even if it didn’t lead to a booking, it let me know I was on the right path.”
Then in his fifth year as an actor, the dam finally broke. Soon his acting income surpassed his construction income and he was finally able to make the transition into full-time acting. Looking back, the ups and downs played an important role in making him the man and actor he is today.
“Your No’s aren’t necessarily rejection, it’s more so refinement. It gives you the space to grow in your character and abilities, so when you get to where you’re going, not only will you have the ability to deliver, it means you won’t implode. I’ve heard ‘No’ so much that it’s hard to be bigheaded about anything.”
For Walters, there’s no place for ego. His story is one about faith bridging art, not only personally but creatively. He believes that as an actor, his job is to lean on God instead of allowing the praise that comes with being an actor to go to his head.
“As I moved throughout the industry, it became very apparent that I not only needed Christ to sustain me, but I needed him creatively.”
“For the first three years, I didn’t work, but I didn’t even notice because I was having so much fun in the process.”
Now, with his first ever lead role in the rearview mirror, Walters still has many aspirations to check off his list, including starring in a romantic comedy, playing a musician in the 1960s, starring in a big summer blockbuster that he can watch with his family, and starring in a biopic, something the late filmmaker Charles Officer, who referred to Walters as “Young Sidney”, referring to Sidney Poitier, saw for him.
But ultimately, Walters is simply out to make a contribution to the world and to discover more of himself and the world around him.
“I want to continue to work on things that excite me, challenge me, and allow me to discover worlds that are different from my own. My whole goal is to be used in a great way…I want to be surprised along the way and get to do exciting things, and work with exciting filmmakers who allow me to make my contribution that’s actually remembered, and to have staying power, and allow me to drive this thing forward.”
And by all indications, he is on the brink of doing just that.
Kevin Bourne is SHIFTER’s Toronto-based editor and Senior Entertainment Reporter focusing on Black music and film & TV. He was named one of 340 international voters for the Golden Globe Awards and a Tomatometer-Approved Critic by Rotten Tomatoes.
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