Berend McKenzie

Berend McKenzie (he/she/they interchangeably) Treaty 13 Toronto Ontario based, award-winning playwright, screenwriter, producer, actor, and published author of Nigerian and Norwegian descent. Berend is known for their unflinching, first-person writing style, drawing from their own lived experiences as a black, mixed-race, queer Canadian. Berend is unafraid to tackle complicated and sensitive topics like homophobia and racism while imbuing his characters with heart-wrenching honesty and humor.
Berend began writing short plays in 2004 for the Loud & Queer Festival in Edmonton, Alberta, including Fashion Police, Meet the Munts, Bloodbath at St. Paul's, and Tassels. These pieces led to their first full-length play, the outrageous, award-winning queer puppet show for adults, Get Off the Cross Mary! In 2009, Berend embarked on their most ambitious and personal work to date and premiered the groundbreaking one-person show for young people, NGGRFG (Would you say the name of this play?) Performing in schools, festivals, and theatres across Canada, including the Vancouver and Edmonton International Fringe Festivals, the Young People's Theatre in Toronto, the Neptune and Bus Stop Theatres in Halifax, and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.
Berend’s published works include NGGRFG (Signature Editions), Tassels (Brindle & Glass), Hockey Night in Canada (Arsenal Pulp Press).
They are a 2021 inductee into the prestigious Writer's Guild of Alberta's 2021 Mentorship Program and began writing their first auto-fiction novel, OUT/LIAR.
Berend is a 2021 inductee in the Warner Brothers. Discovery X Global Access Writers’ Academy, the 2024 Emerging 20 Mentorship Program, the 2024 BSO Writing Mentorship Program as well as the 2024 Netflix-Banff Diversity of Voices Initiative.
Berend’s film and TV writing projects include their half-hour, outrageous, queer puppet show for adults, The Munts (make a movie), half-hour comedy Angry Little Black Man (optioned by Warner Brothers) and their full-length feature film, Hockey Night in Canada.
Berend's stage-acting credits include Poor Superman (The Arts Club Theatre), The Tempest (Leave it to Jane Theatre), The Coronation Voyage (The Vancouver Playhouse/NAC) and Beyond Therapy (Husky Guy Productions), where they won the People's Choice Award for best actress at the Vancouver International Fringe Festival. Berend’s film and TV acting credits include Life or Something Like It (Angelina Jolie), Andromeda, Connie and Carla (Nia Vardalos), Jeremiah and opposite Halle Berry in Catwoman.