José Avelino Gilles Corbett Lourenço was born in Antigonish, Nova
Scotia, while his Portuguese father and Port Hawkesburian mother were still in university. Oops! But it turned out okay. They raised him on raw wheat and oil sands in Fort McMurray and Edmonton, had him high-schooled north of Victoria, BC, and then higher-schooled at McGill in Montreal. Now he lives in Toronto with a scruffy little dog and a decidedly less-scruffy little brother. A former columnist for the Toronto Star, his writing has appeared in McSweeney’s, CBC Radio’s Definitely Not The Opera, the Globe and Mail, the National Post, Fashion Magazine and Toro Magazine. As a creative consultant, he’s worked on television and online campaigns for Nike, McDonald’s, Volkswagon, General Mills and Dentyne. Stops at MuchMusic and the CBC as a producer gave way to directing: music videos for the Rural Alberta Advantage, Woodhands and Andrew Austin; a web series promoting author John Ortved’s “The Simpsons: An Uncensored,
Unauthorized History”; as well as the forthcoming short film “Hollow Bones”. His first feature-length screenplay, “Valedictorian”, is in development with producers Mason Novick and Brad Van Arragon