Patrick McKenna plays a great shifty guy. Fortunately, he takes that as a compliment.

"Yes, thank you," McKenna said with a laugh. "I think you kind of have to be shifty to be a Canadian actor. I list it under 'special skills' on my resume."

Well, McKenna's shiftiness comes in handy tonight for his guest appearance on the excellent CBC drama series The Border.

McKenna plays Donald Campbell, the Canadian external affairs minister. Campbell finds himself caught between an Arctic iceberg and a hard place, as the lives of some trapped Canadian sailors are turned into political bargaining chips.

"Denis McGrath wrote the episode and Denis and I are friends," McKenna said. "And Mark Wilson, who plays Moose on The Border, we've been best friends for over 30 years. So I think they put a little buzz in people's ears about me. You know, 'McKenna's available!'

"Because of Mark and Denis, I had been watching The Border and was a big fan. And it's such a great character, very Canadian in terms of meaning well, but somewhat misguided."

McKenna has run the gamut in his career when it comes to goofball comedy on the one hand (Harold Green on The Red Green Show) and serious drama on the other (Marty Stephens on Traders). And McKenna even takes on otherworldly parts from time to time, as he recently has been playing Clarence the angel in a Toronto stage production of the classic Jimmy Stewart film It's a Wonderful Life.

"Of the two (comedy and drama), comedy is harder to play, but it's the one that's closest to my heart," McKenna said. "I got into this industry to have fun and comedy propels that.

"I've had opportunities to play horrible, horrible people and I just choose not to go there. For me, that's not a healthy journey."

Nonetheless, McKenna is fascinated by the grey areas that are in evidence when he's playing someone who is compromised, like his character on The Border tonight.

"With dramas, I like to think I'm playing evil guys who are fun to watch," McKenna said. "That's what I look for, the guy who's wholesome until he can't be any more."

And apparently a beard helps in that regard. McKenna has one -- a real one -- in the episode tonight.

"I had it because I was in the middle of another project and I couldn't shave it off," McKenna said. "They would have preferred I didn't have it, but I think it worked out well.

"It's contemporary in its look but it's evil in its nature. It added to the shiftiness."

So, are you saying all people with facial hair are shifty, Patrick?

"Nooooooo," McKenna said with a humourously nervous chuckle.

He then added after a pause, "I know plenty of people without facial hair who are shifty, too."