Hamza Haq Relishes His Role in CTV’s TRANSPLANT: ‘I Get to Finally Play the Good Guy.’

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede The new CTV Original drama TRANSPLANT is just the right kind of medicine for lead actor Hamza Haq, on both professional and personal levels. On the professional side, Haq believes that the Canadian-made TRANSPLANT – which debuts Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV – provides a completely fresh take on what is already one of TV’s most beloved genres. “I’m hoping that we give people what they want, which is a medical drama, and then they realize what they’re actually watching is an immigrant story as well,” Haq said. And on the personal side? “I get to finally play the good guy,” Haq said. “Or I’m finally not the villain.” In TRANSPLANT, Haq stars as Dr. Bashir “Bash” Hamed, a Syrian doctor with battle-tested skills in emergency medicine who is trying to make a new life for himself and his young sister in Canada. When viewers first meet Bash, he is working in a restaurant, having been thwarted in his efforts to pursue a medical career in his new country. But after an unforeseen circumstance shakes up Bash’s life, as well as the lives of several others, the door opens a crack. Bash gets a chance through a coveted residency in the Emergency Department of one of the best hospitals in Toronto, York Memorial. This is an impressive step in Haq’s acting career to lead the deep and talented cast of TRANSPLANT, which also includes Laurence Leboeuf, John Hannah, Jim Watson, Ayisha Issa, Torri Higginson, Sirena Gulamgaus, Linda E. Smith, Grace Lynn Kung, and Sugith Varughese. But after roles in series such as CTV’s THE INDIAN DETECTIVE and QUANTICO, as well as being named one of Canada’s Rising Stars in The Hollywood Reporter in 2017, Haq admitted that he stepped back from the business for several months, due to some frustration over the types of roles he was being offered. “I wanted to make sure that I was doing it for the right reasons,” he explained. “I had been playing bad guys for a while. I think the biggest indication that I’ve progressed in my career is not so much the scale of the project that I’m getting, but it’s more my ability to say no to certain things. Because regardless of what my financial stability is, I know what I don’t want to do any more. I know what shouldn’t be demanded of actors – especially actors of colour.” But Haq is thrilled with the complexity and depth of TRANSPLANT, describing it as “the right reason to act.” “Joseph Kay (the show’s creator and writer) had this idea about wanting to tell this story, and I think I heard him say once that Bash is the type of character we’ve seen in every single show, but he’s never the lead,” Haq said. “You know, there’s an immigrant in every show. There’s a refugee in every show. And usually it’s the one-off, it’s the cab driver, and even if it’s the doctor, it’s a small part, you know what I mean? But you get to go home with this one. I think that’s groundbreaking in its own right.” Haq believes the lofty but attainable goal for TRANSPLANT is to be both highly entertaining and also culturally significant in getting audiences to think about certain things in different ways. “To be the show that gives viewers a medical drama but also tells an immigrant story, I think that’s a really smart collaboration,” Haq said. “Canada has done a great job offering opportunity, but an opportunity for survival is different than an opportunity to excel. People want to contribute. They want to do more than survive. Many don’t get that opportunity, but this is a story of somebody who does.” billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv