Ian has worked in the entertainment industry for three decades as a writer, director, producer and performer.
Ian is the co-author (with his brother, Will Ferguson) of the bestselling humour book in Canadian history (350 000 copies and counting) How To Be A Canadian, which was shortlisted for the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and which won the CBA Libris Award as the best non-fiction book of 2002. His memoir, Village of the Small Houses, won the 2004 Leacock Medal and has been translated into Japanese and Italian. His writing has been featured in The Penguin Anthology of Canadian Humour and he was a contributing author for Me Funny and Second Chapter: The Canadian Writer’s Book. Ian is also a prolific and award-winning playwright and dramaturge. Plays include Uncle Joe Again, Elephant Shoes (winner of the Alberta Culture Award), The Daughters of Judy Lamarsh and Naming the Animals.
Ian is the creator of the live, improvised soap operas Die-Nasty (Edmonton) and Sin City (Toronto/ Victoria) both of which were nominated for Canadian Comedy Awards, with Die-Nasty, which is entering its 20th season, winning in 2006. The five year run of Sin City included three seasons at The Second City as well as an hour-long CBC-TV comedy show, Liquid Soapz, for which Ian Ferguson was co-executive producer, creator and stage director. He has also written for Smith & Smith Productions (producers of Supertown Challenge and The Red Green Show) and Abbott Ferguson Productions (producers of Sketch.com and The Royal Canadian Air Farce). Ian was part of the development team for CBC’s Seeing Red. More recently he directed the first four episodes of the sitcom Always a Bridesmaid, and is producing and directing Drama Camp Productions’ all female stand-up/ sketch comedy show Broad Comedy for APTN, as well as directing and writing Gone South: How Canada Invented Hollywood for Super Channel.
Ian holds an MFA in Directing (York University), BFA degree in Acting (University of Alberta) and studied set design at Mount Royal College. Ian has taught directing, acting and improvisation at York University, Simon Fraser, University of Victoria, the Second City Toronto, St. Albert’s Children’s Theatre, and the City of Edmonton, and is a highly regarded and much in demand performance coach.
Ian is a member of the Aboriginal Media Producers Association.