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Cabbagetown resident Graham Abbey's road from stage to screen has taken a few detours but he now feels he is exactly where he should be.

Abbey currently inhabits the role of Det. Sgt. Gray Jackson, a tough but sometimes reckless customs officer on the acclaimed CBC drama The Border.

While he has a long theatre background - he grew up in Stratford and has a lengthy list of stage credits to his name - Abbey did not always harbour dreams of acting.

"I acted when I was a kid at Stratford for two seasons and that was enough to scare me away for good, I thought," he said.

Rather than pursuing a career in acting, he focused on other passions, studying politics at Queen's University. He was gearing up to earn a degree in law when he decided to take one last kick at the acting can.

"I thought I'd give it one more year to get it out of my system," he said.

Fortunately for audiences, that didn't go as planned. Abbey returned to the stage in 1997 and spent more than a decade starring in various Shakespearean plays and other works. He earned a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 2002 for his lead role in Ross Petty's Snow White and the Magnificent Seven.

Having made a name for himself in theatre, he decided to move to Toronto and try his hand at screen acting, auditioning for a variety of television shows.

"After 11 years (in theatre), I figured it was now or never," he said. "I was fortunate after doing so much theatre to land into TV."

After a few guest parts on shows such as Billable Hours and 'Til Death Do Us Part, Abbey was able to catch the eye of casting directors looking to fill the role of Gray Jackson, a character the actor feels well-suited to playing.

"He's a laid-back country, blue-collar guy," Abbey said. "It's not too far off from my life, but of course I don't get to run around with guns in real life."

The actor acknowledged the switch from stage to screen has been a challenge at times, particularly given the fast-paced nature of the television business. He said he was lucky to have had strong veteran television actors to help him deal with the learning curve.

"I just picked the brains of the more experienced actors and watched the other cast members," he said.

He said the caliber of the show has also helped ease any misgivings he may have had in making the move from a Shakespearean theatre background to television.

"You can't match Shakespeare and you kind of expect the shift to TV to be a big drop-off," he said. "But the subject matter and what (The Border) has got to say is intelligent, topical and relevant."

When Abbey has some down time in between hectic shooting schedules, he is focusing on writing with fellow industry professionals, including fellow Border star Jonas Chernick. With the recent labour strife among American television writers creating openings, he said he is excited to see where those projects lead.

"I always enjoy writing and with Jonas and the other guys, we really click," he said. "It's a tough time in the business, but in the long run I think it'll be a good thing because (Canadian stations) will get more indigenous work, more Canadian work."

In addition to his career success, Abbey has found a personal comfort zone in Cabbagetown, which has a bustling arts community and offers the benefits of maintaining a quaint atmosphere despite its proximity to the downtown core.

"It feels like a small town and I haven't ever really been a big-city guy," Abbey said.

Abbey and his Border castmates are returning to CBC for their second season, with the season premiere airing at 9 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 29.