Juliani trained at the
National Theatre School of Canada and was the first alumnus of that school to serve there as a guest teacher. Early in his career, Juliani performed at the
Stratford Festival of Canada and was a member of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival Company. In 1966, Juliani joined the theatre department of
Simon Fraser University as an instructor. At that time, he also established the Savage God Theatre Company. Juliani took the name from a comment made by
William Butler Yeats after Yeats had seen a production of
Alfred Jarry's
Ubu Roi to signify literary and theatrical revolution. During 1973 and 1974, under a
grant from the
Canada Council, Julian traveled and studied world theatre. Afterwards, in 1974, Juliani established the
graduate studies program in theatre at
York University. In 1976, Juliani moved to
Edmonton where he produced work with Savage God in both that city and
Toronto. In 1978, he received a
Canadian Film Award nomination for
Best Actor at the
29th Canadian Film Awards, for his performance as
Jean-Baptiste Lagimodière in the film
Marie-Anne. In 1982, Juliani joined radio drama department of the
CBC in Vancouver, where he was the executive producer of special projects until 1997. In 1983, Juliani and
Sharon Riis earned a
Genie Award nomination for
Best Original Screenplay for the film
Latitude 55°, which Juliani also directed. That film earned a total of six Genie nominations. Juliani was an active member of artists’ unions and organizations, including
Equity, serving on its West Coast Advisory Committee, and
ACTRA. He was the National President of the
Directors Guild of Canada for 1986–1987 and later spent a decade as chairman of the B.C. District Council of the DGC. Juliani also served as President of the
Union of British Columbia Performers (ACTRA) from 1998 until his death. Juliani was also a founding member of the editorial board of the
Canadian Theatre Review. In Vancouver, under Juliani’s guidance, Savage God undertook a number of projects, including
The Shakespeare Project, a programme of
staged readings of the entire works of
Shakespeare. The project commenced in January 2000, and had been intended to span a number of years. With Juliani’s sudden death after a short battle with
liver cancer, Savage God produced the remaining plays in a three-day "Bard-a-Thon" in June 2004, ending with a production of
Hamlet. In addition to founding Savage God, Juliani was a co-founder and co-artistic director of "Opera Breve", a self-styled "micro" company. ==References==