Born in Sunderland, England and raised in Alberta, Canada from the age of four, Rennie was first struck with the passion to act living in the town of Edmonton. Callum orignally wanted to be a mountaineer. One of his friends during his high school years in Edmonton was Bruce McCulloch,whose later claim to fame would be being in the Kids In The Hall comedy troupe. Bruce introduced Callum to punk music such as D.O.A. and the Viletones. Listening to punk music inspired Callum to get a mohawk haircut. His friend got him some voice work on CJSR (an Edmonton university radio station). At the age of 25, he was performing roles at the A.B.O.P. Theatre in Edmonton, and moving on to an uplifting season at the Shaw Festival. Callum was introduced to the art of acting that would prove to be his true destiny.
He was going to attend university, but after getting his student loan he bought a truck instead and went fishing. Ditching university, he started to dabble in drugs. On a bad deal he found himself in Vancouver, where he took up drinking and a bit of acting. His drinking came to a halt after he got into a brawl in a bar and was thrown through a window. A shard of glass went into his eye and damaged his retina. It was when the doctor told him that he could have lost his eye that he got clean and decided to pursue acting as a career. is senses. Those thick glasses in "Double Happiness" were his own.
After relocating to Vancouver, Callum quickly caught the attention of the casting community and began auditioning for film and television. He appeared in many of the series produced there including Lonesome Dove, Highlander and The X-Files, and had a co-starring role in the series My Life as a Dog. Callum's performance as the nerdish boyfriend opposite Sandra Oh in the feature Double Happiness, gained him his reputation as one of Canada's finest actors. In addition to a deluge of critical acclaim, the role earned Callum his first Genie Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category.
Callum subsequently appeared in many impressive leading roles including the television movie Paris or Somewhere (Canwest Global Network) and the feature film Curtis's Charm. He continued to rivet audiences with his tough-edged performance as Billy Talent in Bruce McDonald's feature Hard Core Logo, and Rennie received critical praise for his portrayal of con man Jerry Bines in the CBC television adaptation of David Adams Richards' For Those Who Hunt The Wounded Down. His haunting performance as the enigmatic Bines also inspired critics to compare him to American icon James Dean.
In addition to co-starring opposite Paul Gross in Due South , Rennie has been seen in the feature films Masterminds (Columbia Pictures), starring Patrick Stewart and Academy Award winner Brenda Fricker; Excess Baggage (Columbia Pictures), with Alicia Silverstone; Tricks (Showtime), with Mimi Rogers and Tyne Daly; and is a co-star in the CBC series Twitch City. He can also be seen in the David Cronenberg film eXistenZ, starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law. His most recent film role was in the critically acclaimed independent movie Memento.
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