Born in Brampton, Toronto, Ontario, on April 30, 1978, Labine and his family relocated to Vancouver, BC, shortly before he made his initial attempts to break into the acting business. After being introduced to a talent agent by his mother, Labine landed roles in local theater and numerous commercials before making his television debut on the Canadian series “Street Legal” (CBC, 1987-1994) in 1991. Roles on other Canadian television programs and American series that lensed in Canada followed, including “The Road to Avonlea” (CBC, 1989-1996) and “The X-Files” (Fox, 1993-2002), for which he appeared twice in 1996. Labine signed on to his first series the following year – “Breaker High” (UPN, 1997). Though the show co-starred Ryan Gosling and enjoyed attractive locations on a cruise ship, it lasted but one season.
Back to guest appearances for Labine, including parts on “Millennium” (Fox, 1996-99) and “First Wave” (Sci-Fi Channel, 1998-2001). Labine also contributed voice-over work to the animated series “Action Man” (Fox Kids, 2000-02). More mature roles began to come his way, as well. Labine appeared in several TV movies, including Robert Altman’s TV movie “Trixie” (2000), “Mr. Rice’s Secret” (in which he co-starred with his brother, actor Kyle Labine from “The Perfect Score”) and “Get Carter” (2000).
In 2001, Labine signed on to another series – the offbeat supernatural show “Dead Last” (WB, 2001), in which he played a member of a rock band who, with the help of a medallion, could see ghosts. Not surprisingly, the series failed after only a few episodes, but Labine’s work attracted considerable interest with other networks – two of which (ABC and the WB) launched a bidding war in an effort to retain him. ABC came out the winner, signing Labine to a development deal. The initial fruit of that deal was the series, “That Was Then” – one of two 2002 programs that dealt with nostalgic protagonists returning to their teenage days (the other was the WB’s “Do Over”). Despite excellent notices for Labine’s brash and funny best-buddy character, the series did not survive a full season.
More film and television work followed, including two episodes of James Cameron’s “Dark Angel” (Fox, 2000-02); recurring roles on “Kevin Hill” (UPN, 2004-05) and “Jake 2.0” (UPN, 2003-04); a memorably villainous turn in Antitrust” (2001); and the amusing “Evil Alien Conquerors” (2002), in which Labine played a formerly giant visitor in deep denial of his current average height. He also attracted critical attention for his portrayal of John Belushi in “Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of ‘Mork and Mindy’” (2005), before signing on to “Invasion.” When not working on “Invasion,” Labine, along with his brother and best friend, wrote and performed in a hip-hop band called Figures of Speech.