My Car: Actor loves his fast, curvy Porsche

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Yannick Bisson

Profession: Actor

Age: 42

Hometown: Montreal

Notable achievements

More than 60 credits to his name including long-running roles in Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, High Tide opposite Rick Springfield, the U.S. hit Showtime drama series Soul Food, Flashpoint, The Listener and movies such as Casino Jack, Too Late To Say Goodbye, Animal 2, The Secrets of Comfort House

Stars in Murdoch Mysteries; season four premiered June 7

Currently

Directed an episode of Murdoch Mysteries, which will air June 21.

National spokesman for CIBC

Volunteer with Sheena's Place, a support centre for people affected by eating disorders

*****

He has more than 60 film and TV credits including a long-running role in the series, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye. Nowadays, Yannick Bisson plays Detective William Murdoch in the international hit series Murdoch Mysteries.

After years in front of the camera, the actor is stepping behind it, making his directorial debut in an upcoming episode of the new series. But he won't dump acting altogether. He loves the spotlight, even when it comes to his cars. Bisson drives a 2008 Porsche Cayman.

Why did you buy a Porsche Cayman?

It was my wife's idea - she got it for my birthday last year.

I turned 41 and it was our 20th wedding anniversary as well so it was all combined.

Between the five of us at the house, we've got four drivers, and a fifth one coming along so we got a couple of practical cars, but I also needed something to get to work when the ladies are out doing their thing in the other two practical cars.

I didn't need an SUV so I decided to take the plunge after years of admiring them from a far.

Is it a mid-life crisis car?

No. My mid-life crisis happened about six-seven years ago - I'm all good now.

What's your favourite feature on it?

The curves. I like my girls with great curves.

Anything you'd change on it?

I'd probably give it a better stereo, but then you never listen to it anyway. You listen to the awesome engine.

Are you a gear head - do you know what's under the hood?

I do. They've made some changes. It's a liquid-cooled engine now.

All Porsches are, but for a long time they were air-cooled and they had that very distinct note. The car has about 275 horse and around 280 lb-ft of torque.

But it's really about the weight balance - the car is mid-engined so it's like a cat on the road. It's all about the balance and how you can throw that weight around. That's the thing I like the most. In a straight line, who cares? When you're pushing it around a track, that's when it really shines.

Have you taken it to the track?

I'm afraid to because it's perfect as mint now.

And no matter how good of a driver you are, something always happens to your baby when you're at the track so I'm really hesitant.

But I'm ready to go. I've got the fire extinguisher in there, but I'd hate to get even a stone chip on it.

What does a Porsche say about you?

It says uncompromising in quality. Every Porsche is hand-built - one person, one engineer works on the car the entire way through so there's attention to detail and uncompromising quality for what you pay.

It's also like my work ethic - working twice as hard as the other guy so that we get the best product possible - that's what it says about me.

Any speeding tickets?

A cop tried to give me a speeding ticket, but I wasn't speeding.

He had to drum something up because he didn't like me driving by him in a beautiful Porsche so he invented a ticket on the spot. He said I didn't move over on the highway enough for him. That's the type of thing that you get when you drive a Porsche - people act really strangely around you.

I took him to court and I got off the ticket. I wasn't going to let that one sit - I thought it was reverse discrimination.

Does it have the personality of an actor - does it like the limelight?

Seeing that I'm a Canadian actor - I like a little bit of a filter on the limelight. But it is nice to open it wide and let it rip if you want to.

What was your first car?

The very first car I ever got was a 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit GTI. It was a bright red hatchback.

I loved that car. I was heading down the road towards a great German sports car. It was the best I could do at that time. It was used and it was the biggest disaster that I ever had - it had electrical problems, fuel distribution problems, paint problems - you name it. But I truly loved that car.

I bought it with my own money and I drove it until it just wouldn't go any more.

I bought a motorcycle and one of the mechanics where I bought the motorcycle bought the car off of me and it literally blew up a month later - it was a complete catastrophe. Needless to say, the guy wasn't too pleased.

You owned a motorcycle? Which one?

It was a 650 Yamaha. I was still a student. I was young and trying to be cool and not have to spend too much money.

I got hit on it twice and came away unscathed. I figured a third time I wouldn't get so lucky so I got rid of that and took the TTC for a few years after that.

What came after the bike and your TTC days?

I bought a Honda CRX Si, a two seater, and immediately after I took possession, my wife and I found out we were pregnant.

It had no backseat. It was a disaster - here I was stuck four years with that car so we did the most horrendous thing - I can't believe I'm admitting this - I installed a set of straps in the back and permanently installed a little racing baby seat in the back.

It worked really well but finally I had to trade it in for a four-door. My mother-in-law used to tell me no wonder your baby has digestion problems - she sits sideways in the back of your little sports car.

We had a long string of cars after that - Volvos, Acura, Mercedes, Chevy, GMC - a lot of SUVs because once the second and third daughter came along - you know how it is, it's like you're moving every time you leave the house.

I had a real collector's item at one point that was forever letting me down. To this day, aside from my Cayman, this was the love of my life. It was a unique, limited-run car. It was before Mercedes had the AMG division. It was a 190 2.3-16 valve - it was the first-ever manual transmission Mercedes-Benz to come to North America.

It was a five speed and it had a pure racing heritage and limited-run numbers so they could race it in Germany. It was super cool, black, sexy, but the stupid thing had all kinds of problems. I couldn't afford to keep up with it so I had to let it go.

But you're a Canadian actor - how did you afford these cars?

Foolishness. It's now been beaten out of me. I went and bought a Porsche - but it's a certified used Porsche. So I'm ahead of the game now.

If I could bring you the keys to any vehicle, what would it be?

An R8 V-10 coupe, black with the aluminum blade.

The interview has been edited and condensed.

pgentile@globeandmail.com