There are several similarities between being a hockey player and Dylan Playfair‘s character in the new series Some Assembly Required.
The 21-year-old Playfair, who is from a pro-hockey-playing family, gave up the game a couple of years ago to pursue acting. But in Some Assembly Required – which debuts Monday, Jan. 6 on YTV – Playfair’s character Knox is essentially a human crash test dummy.
“I was doing a lot of what Knox does, banging and crashing,” said a laughing Playfair, recalling his days in the Junior-A BCHL. “I wasn’t very skilled if you look at my statistics. I think I had one point in my rookie season and a lot more fights.
“I got a couple knocks on the head and I came to kind of a crossroads with hockey. I wasn’t enjoying it as much as my dad or my brothers. And I had just finished watching Friday Night Lights with Taylor Kitsch, and I researched his story, he had played for the Langley Hornets and had gone through pretty much the exact same thing in terms of leaving hockey and pursuing acting.
“But it has been fast for me when you consider what it usually takes to go from aspiring actor to working actor,” added Playfair, who also had a recent role as Marty Howe in the CBC production Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story. “Part of that was applying the work ethic that I understood from hockey.”
Some Assembly Required is about kids being put in charge of a toy company. Playfair’s Knox is described as someone who would crawl over broken glass to help a friend, but also might do it literally just because it sounds fun.
“I grew up half in Canada and half in the U.S.A., and I used to run home from school when I was in elementary and watch all the Nickelodeon shows,” Playfair recalled. “That was my dream to be on one of those kids shows. I used to think, ‘I could do that. I could be that funny.’ ”
Most acting roles would be safer than being an enforcer-type hockey player. That actually may not be the case for Dylan Playfair’s Knox. But at least the goal in Some Assembly Required is comedy, not concussions.
Bill.harris@sunmedia.ca