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‘The Jays won in ’92 and ’93 when I was in sixth and seventh grade. They are my team,’ Toronto native says
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Published Feb 14, 2026 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 4 minute read
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Stephen Amell stars in “The Borderline.” Photo by Bell MediaArticle content
As far as Stephen Amell is concerned, the World Series ended after the Toronto Blue Jays won Game 5 in Los Angeles against the Dodgers.
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“The Blue Jays won 3 games to 2,” the Toronto native says. Ever since that heartbreaking Game 7 loss last November, Amell has been haunted. Images and clips from the series will appear on his social media feeds, but the actor can’t bear to watch them. “I just flee. It’s like I’m looking at crime scene photos.”
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Best known for starring on Arrow, The Flash, the Code 8 film series, Suits LA and Heels, Amell became a viral sensation when the ball club shared a video clip of him and his mother rooting on the Blue Jays at Dodgers Stadium last October.
He’s been cheering for the team since he was a boy growing up in Toronto.
“The Jays won in ’92 and ’93 when I was in 6th and 7th grade. They are my team. They are my ride or die, forever,” he says. “That World Series, it broke my heart.”
As he recalls his favourite Blue Jays moments ahead of the team’s 50th season celebrations, Amell animatedly speaks about what it was like to watch Game 5 with his mother. “We got these amazing seats right behind home plate and we had this perfect view of (pitcher Trey) Yesavage’s delivery,” he explains. “Watching the Dodgers swinging, it was like they were swinging at a bee that was floating around. They had no chance … I don’t know how you top that.”
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It was a far cry from the dismal end to the Blue Jays’ 2024 season that wrapped just as Amell was in Toronto and the nearby Thousand Islands region filming his new crime drama The Borderline alongside Hamza Haq.
Airing Fridays on Crave, the series casts Amell as a police officer tasked with investigating a crime linked to his childhood friend Tommy (Canadian Screen Award winner Haq), with whom he shares a dark secret. The reunion puts them in the crosshairs of a ruthless British crime family led by a matriarch (Oscar nominee Minnie Driver) on the hunt for missing drugs.
“The thing that hooked me was reading the first episode, getting to the end of it and then wondering, ‘Is my character the villain?’ ” Amell says of his reaction to an early script he received from Shaftesbury CEO Christina Jennings. “(Creator) Graeme Stewart (Saving Hope) has crafted some really fleshed out, three-dimensional, flawed characters.”
After playing a Syrian refugee and ER physician Bashir Hamed on CTV’s critically acclaimed medical drama Transplant, Haq says he wanted to try “something completely new.”
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“There’s no good guys in this,” he adds.
Hamza Haq and Stephen Amell star in the new crime drama “The Borderline.” Photo by Bell Media‘I specifically wanted to do a Canadian project’
The Borderline arrives just as Canadian television is having a moment. The Crave-produced Heated Rivalry has become an international sensation. Having homegrown shows embraced worldwide is “a great point of pride,” Haq says.
After becoming a hit for CTV, Transplant was picked up stateside by NBC and became must-see TV south of the border.
“When Canada gets behind Canadian content that’s a really good feeling,” Haq says.
Besides Amell and Haq, The Borderline stars Thomas Craig (Murdoch Mysteries) and Tamara Podemski (Outer Range, Reservation Dogs), who plays a Canadian Border Intelligence Agent investigating a double murder tied to Tommy.
Amell became a star playing Oliver Queen on The CW’s Arrowverse franchise. He further found success playing Jack Spade on the wrestling drama Heels. But Amell has regularly sought out work in his home country. Last fall he was in Toronto to plug the Nova Scotia-shot thriller Little Lorraine at the film festival.
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“My career started in Toronto working on a show called Rent-a-Goalie that was on Showcase way back in the day. Coming back here and shooting in my hometown and all the locations we got to go to was very important to me at this stage in my career,” he says. “I specifically wanted to do a Canadian project and I’m very proud of this.”
Stephen Amell stars as border-town police officer Henry Roland in “The Borderline.” Photo by BELL MEDIA
After appearing on the short-lived Suits LA, Amell wanted to do something closer to where he grew up. But he says The Borderline is just great TV — period.
“What we made is top notch television,” he says. “I think when you take these Canadian series and you give them a platform, people really dig them. And they should — it’s a good show.”
The Thousand Islands setting is sure to draw interest from viewers looking to plan upcoming trips. Amell calls the location “a very unique place in the world.”
“It has its own little quirks,” he says smiling.
But the pair hope that Canadians are inspired to visit other places in our vast country. Haq calls Montreal “one of the top three summer cities.”
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“Get out on the East Coast and drive the Cabot Trail,” Amell adds. Then there’s the four-day scenic train ride between Toronto and Vancouver his mother keeps promising him she’s going to do.
Of course, every Canadian should love the Blue Jays and make a pilgrimage to Rogers Centre to see them play. But in the midst of a deep freeze, Amell is looking forward to warmer months ahead.
“Every Canadian should go out to Alberta in the summer for those long days,” he smiles.
As for making it back to the Thousand Islands area for a second season of The Borderline, Amell says he hopes to return there later this year.
“I had an absolute blast shooting this … we shot it as a movie. I would do a second season for free. We’d love to do more.”
The Borderline streams Fridays on Crave.
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