APPLAUSE

Performers from across British Columbia were honoured in Vancouver on November 23 at the eighth annual UBCP/ACTRA awards show. Camille Sullivan won the Best Actress Award for her role in Kingsway and the Best Actor Award went to Ben Cotton for his role in Crown and Anchor.

The Best Emerging Performer Award went to Steven Roberts for his role in In God I Trust and Erin Mathews won the Best Voice Award for her role in Super Monsters Furever Friends. Stunt coordinator Eli Zagoudakis and stunt performers Nathaniel Shuker and Marshall Bingham took home the Best Stunt Award for Arrow. Lesley Ewen was the recipient of the Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award and the John Juliani Award of Excellence was presented to Mel Tuck.

ACTRA Toronto is presenting the 2020 ACTRA Toronto Award of Excellence to Jean Yoon on February 22. Jean is perhaps best known for her work on the CBC TV adaptation of Kim’s Convenience for which she received the 2017 ACTRA Toronto Award for Outstanding Performance Female and two Canadian Screen Award nominations. Jean’s credits include Dragon Boys for which she received a 2007 Gemini nomination, Orphan Black, The Expanse, and the Emmy award-winning show Peg + Cat. In 2011, Jean was named one of NOW magazine’s Top 10 Theatre Artists. On behalf of ACTRA, Jean spoke before the CRTC to make the case for continued investment in Canadian programming at the 2016 hearings on English-language television licence renewals. Jean has served as an ACTRA Toronto Councillor and ACTRA National Councillor.

Michelle Thrush received the 2019 August Schellenberg Award of Excellence. Michelle is a performer and producer known for her work on Pathfinder, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Dead Man and Jimmy P: Psychotherapy of a Plains Indian, which was nominated for Palme D’Or and César awards. Michelle won a Gemini award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for her portrayal of Stoney in Blackstone. To read more about one of Michelle’s latest shows, Tribal, check out her interview in our Fall 2019 issue of ACTRA Magazine. ACTRA is a proud sponsor of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival’s August Schellenberg Award of Excellence.
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Canadian performers honoured ACTRA’s 2019 Woman of the Year, Newfoundland-based member Noreen Golfman, on October 19 at a special event in St. John’s. Mary Walsh, ACTRA’s 2013 Woman of the Year, and ACTRA National President David Sparrow presented the award to Noreen. ACTRA bestows this honour annually on an ACTRA member who excels in both her artistic and advocacy achievements. For a list of past recipients, please click here. Noreen is the founding director and chair of the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF), which celebrated its 30-year anniversary in 2019 and is  one of the longest-running women’s film festivals in the world. Noreen also serves as vice-chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation, co-chair of the Business and the Arts Newfoundland Labrador and chair of the board of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. An ACTRA member since 1992, Noreen is also a cultural writer, reviewer and performer for such media outlets as CBC Radio and Television. Noreen played ‘Ariel Flint’ on the long-running CBC Radio comedy The Great Eastern for which she won the Broadcasting Corporation Newfoundland Award.

Congratulations to Jonathan Dubsky and Daniel Rindress-Kay, producers of FUBU, the winner of the Jury Prize for Best Short at the 2019 ACTRA Montreal Short Film Festival. The film, which stars Jonathan, Daniel, Jennifer Miller and Scott Humphrey, also took home the prize for Best Ensemble Cast. The award for Best Director was won by Gad Isaac Amar for the film Night Walk. The Festival, established in 2003, is organized by YEAA Montreal as an annual showcase for short films created by ACTRA members under Montreal’s Member Initiated Production Agreement.

Andy Jones has been appointed to the Order of Canada. He has been performing, directing and writing since the early 1970s, and was a founding member of the legendary Newfoundland and Labrador comedy troupe CODCO. Named as a Member of the Order, Andy was appointed by Governor General Julie Payette. Donald Sutherland and Buffy Sainte-Marie were both promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada, the highest of the three levels of the honour. Also promoted within the Order were Martin Short and William Shatner who are both now Officers of the Order in recognition of their lifetime of achievement and merit in service to Canada or to humanity at large.

Ruth Lawrence was honoured by Women in Film & Television Atlantic with its 2019 WAVE Award for her outstanding contributions to film, television and digital/screen-based media in Atlantic Canada. Ruth had a banner year in 2018-19 during which she released her first documentary, Circus by Komatik, directed her first feature film, Little Orphans, which was awarded funding by Telefilm Canada’s ‘Talent to Watch Program,’ and starred in the upcoming feature, Under the Weather. She wrote and directed Hopeless Romantic, which has been premiering on the festival circuit to critical acclaim. Ruth also launched the New Voices Project, with the Nickel Independent Film Festival, producing four shorts written and directed by emerging diverse filmmakers in Newfoundland. A proud ACTRA member, Ruth has served as an ACTRA Newfoundland/Labrador councillor, a National councillor and as Treasurer of ACTRA National.‍