In some ways, Bruce Greenwood is a typical Canuck. Throughout his career the venerable actor from Noranda, Quebec, has supplied steady support to bigger names, never hogging the spotlight, always letting his American costars shine as brightly as they need to.

His résumé includes over 120 film and television credits, and as with so many famous Canadians not named Bieber, his career started modestly with a recurring role in the definitive north-of-the-border production, The Beachcombers. He sounds classically Canadian when asked over the phone where he is calling from, “Toronna” rolling off his tongue with ease.

There is, however, nothing typical about the work Greenwood does in his latest feature, Elephant Song, opening Friday (March 6). Directed by Charles Binamé and shot in Montreal, the film pits two of this nation’s finest talents against each other, with Greenwood playing a psychiatrist investigating the disappearance of one of his colleagues, opposite fellow Quebec native Xavier Dolan as a troubled young patient who was the last person to see the missing shrink. Most of the film takes place inside an office and the plot quickly turns into a cat-and-mouse game between two willing participants. Greenwood has already won praise for the acting clinic he puts on, guiding his character through the many phases of frustration and bargaining he endures.

“Yeah, that’s one of the things that was appealing about it in the first place, it’s like a deck of cards,” says Greenwood about the intricacies of the film. “You keep dealing these cards, one after another. I had long conversations with Charles about how hard we wanted to lay these cards on the table and, you know, how softly you want to lay them down. And in terms of keeping all that stuff sort of close to the chest and laying it out in really tiny bits, I think that’s one of the strengths of the script. It’s a little bit like a slow drip of a really intense drug, you know?”

Greenwood lives in L.A. these days and is probably best known to audiences for his work in the newest Star Trek franchise and movies like Capote, but his connection to his native country can be found on his IMDb page. “I guess because I know a lot of people up here, I get the opportunity to come and do stuff in Canada,” he replies, when asked if it’s important to him to do Canadian projects when he doesn’t need to.

“It’s not so much that I search people up because they’re Canadian as much as I try to take advantage of scripts that are strong. I’ve been very lucky with the Canadian filmmakers I’ve worked with, in that a lot of them are tremendously talented and have some great product.”

He didn’t mention whether or not he was shovelling his neighbour’s driveway and eating a box of Timbits while giving that last answer, but the California sun obviously hasn’t baked all the Canadian spirit out of him.