If you’ve watched any TV in the past 25 years, you’ll recognize the many faces of Peter Keleghan.
From his collaborations with Steve Smith on Smith & Smith’s Comedy Mill and The Red Green Show to his guest appearances on Seinfeld and Murphy Brown and his award-winning roles on The Newsroom and Made in Canada, the Montreal native is one of this country’s most diverse actors.
He’s also one of this country’s greatest champions. He shops Canadian whenever possible. And when he saw the need for more support for Canadian talent, he spearheaded the Creative Arts Savings and Credit Union.
“It provides any and all banking services for creative arts types,” he says. “Being self-employed is your welcome to our bank, not the way out of the manager’s office.”
Keleghan currently co-stars in the CBC comedy series 18 to Life.
See the photo gallery of Peter Keleghan and Leah Pinsent's home.
A labour of love for Keleghan and his partner, actress Leah Pinsent, was writing, producing and starring in Love Letters for Canada, a CBC Valentine’s special based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play by A. R. Gurney. In it, real-life Canadian celebrity couples – including Colin Mochrie and Deb McGrath, Carlo Rota and Nazneen Contractor, Samantha Bee and Jason Jones – explore love and relationships.
“It’s old-fashioned and romantic, just like us,” says Keleghan.
Keleghan invited Star Spaces into his home.
Q: How would you describe your home in two words?
A: Comfortable and peaceful.
Q: Tell us about your home.
A: It is a 2,200-square-foot house located in the Beaches [area of Toronto]. It was built in 1920 and is cottage-style. We moved in 2003. It is exactly the house and location I always wanted – except for the squeaky floors and no garage. It is a cute, typical Beach home. It is surrounded by green in the summer.
Q: What attracted you to this space?
A: Location mostly, and a homey feeling we had from the moment we set foot inside. The house spoke to us. It also had a wood-burning fireplace, which was one of our prerequisites.
Q: Who else shares your home?
A: Our cocker spaniel, Higgins. He is named Higgins because he looks like an old British man – way too much skin on his face.
Q: What is your favourite room and why?
A: The kitchen. We had a picture from a newspaper of a Candice Olson-designed kitchen and we said, “Yes! That’s what we want.” All we did then was show the picture to the contractor, the tile guy and the kitchen guy. It’s all terracotta and black. It has stainless steel appliances and dark maple cabinets.
Q: How would you describe your decorating style?
A: Well, actually, I don’t have one except to say I know what I like. I don’t like trends. I like classic style, not fads. There are dark hardwood floors throughout the house. Each room is painted in a different colour. We don’t want everything to look the same way.
Leah and I both love history. We just returned from a trip to Spain. We were walking behind a 500-year-old building that was being renovated and spotted a broken piece of discarded hand-carved 16th-century trim. It’s now sitting on our mantel.
Q: What is your fondest memory in this home?
A: Cold winter evenings with a fire and the Christmas tree on.
Q: What’s the one item in this house you can’t live without?
A: My wife.
Q: Weekends at home, what are we most likely to find you doing?
A: Luxuriating over newspapers, coffee and a movie … or learning lines, if I have to.
Q: If your walls could talk, what would they say?
A: Boy these people have fun – we should stop listening now.
See the photo gallery of Peter Keleghan and Leah Pinsent's home.
