Born in Wisconsin in 1951, Larry and family emigrated to Edmonton, Alberta ten years later. In elementary school he won a city wide contest to attend classes at the Edmonton Art Gallery where he was taught by renowned Alberta artist, Sylvain Voyer. Then from 1966-68 his family lived in Dacca, East Pakistan (now Dhaka, Bangladesh) where, after school, he learned to play the sitar. Meeting Ravi Shankar in Calcutta, Larry would later see him whenever Mr. Shankar toured western Canada. In 1971 Larry played sitar as the opening act for British rock group, Procol Harum the night they recorded their platinum selling LP, Procol Harum – Live with the Edmonton Symphony. Receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Music (French Horn and Composition) from the University of Alberta, he earned his tuition playing guitar and singing in rock bands and composing music for theatre productions and films. As well he took UofA Extension art courses at night studying with two other renowned Alberta artists; painting in oils with family friend Harry Wohlfarth, and watercolour with Harry Savage. He also was a resident music director at the Citadel Theatre, toured Europe with the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, recorded music for several children’s albums and toured North America with the Canadian Rock Opera’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. 1976 Larry was off to Brandeis University in Massachusetts to get a Master’s Degree in Acting, culminating in a stint at the Off Broadway theatre, Café LaMama, NYC. His first major film acting role was in the Canadian classic, The Hounds of Notre Dame, which was followed by roles in two Oscar winning films; Clint Eastwood’s, Unforgiven and Ang Lee’s, Brokeback Mountain. Over the years Larry has been in dozens of TV series and feature films. The latest one, a Hallmark romantic comedy called A Vintage Bride is due to be released in the Spring of 2023. See the IMDB.com website for more film and TV credits. In 1982 he married Tanya Ryga and from 1983-85 they lived in Mexico and various places throughout South America. In Mexico Larry met and worked with German Expressionist artist Georg Rauch, learning to do silk-screen and furthering his skills in watercolour and oil painting. While there Larry experienced his first commercial success selling his art. After returning to Alberta Larry accepted a position in the Theatre Studies Department at Red Deer College (RDC) where he taught acting and directing. And in 2001 he and colleague Don Armstrong founded the Motion Picture Arts Program. During this time he kept up with his art studies taking night classes at RDC. Larry has had multiple exhibitions in Alberta including in 2010 a solo show at the Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery (MAG) entitled, Mapping Creativity – A Journey of Transformations. As part of the exhibition Larry and filmmaker James Wilson made a feature length documentary film, Mapping Creativity (see movie on: vimeo.com/43999625 PW: June2012). It included interviews with various acclaimed Albertans in the arts and followed Larry’s creation of a large six by nine foot painting, Guardians of the Sleeping Duck, which is now permanently on display at RDC. In 2018 two other large six by nine foot paintings from the Mapping Creativity exhibition were accepted into the RDC art collection. In 2021 he took part in an exhibit at the MAG called, Our West Country - plein air painting in Alberta’s Eastern Slopes. He retired from teaching in 2018 and is painting full time. Taking part in his community by donating art for fundraisers for numerous organizations such as the Red Deer Regional Hospital, Sylvan Lake Victim Services, etc. he also gets involved with art shows and sales throughout the region. Currently he is very proud to be associated with Grant Berg and represented at the Grant Berg Gallery in Grande Prairie.