Award connects Cardinal with one of his acting mentors
Lorne Cardinal, perhaps best known for his role in the sitcom “Corner Gas,” remembers the first time he met trail-blazing actor August Schellenberg.
It was in the early 1990s, at an awards party hosted by Canadian Stage, when Cardinal encountered Schellenberg, the first Indigenous person to graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada.
“I saw him there and I decided to get my courage up . . . asked him a couple of questions and he made the time and he answered and I was like ‘Wow, that was awesome,’ ” Cardinal told the Star in an interview.
“That was my first-star encounter and he was just totally great and encouraging.”
Decades later, Cardinal won an honour named after his mentor, the August Schellenberg Award of Excellence, at the annual imagine NATIVE Awards on Sunday night.
The award recognizes an actor’s work that celebrates the spirit and commitment that Schellenberg showed in his career.
A Canadian theatre, film and television actor, Schellenberg died in August 2013 after a long battle with lung cancer. He was featured in the “Free Willy” film series, playing the character Randolph, and was also in “Black Robe” and “The New World.”
Cardinal saw first-hand how brilliant Schellenberg was.
The two ended up working together on several projects including “Tecumseh: The Last
Warrior,” “North of 60,” “Crazy Horse” and the documentary film “Chasing Lear,” which was based on Schellenberg’s dream project.
“Just to be in his stratosphere is quite a huge honour,” Cardinal said.
“Chasing Lear” was the National Arts Centre production of “King Lear,” but with an all-Indigenous cast on the main stage in Canada for the first time.
Cardinal played Sgt. Davis Quinton on the Emmy-nominated comedy show “Corner Gas.” In 2018, he was awarded best actor at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco for “Kayak to Klemtu.”
Currently, he’s working on another season of “Corner Gas Animated” and Season 2 of “Molly of Denali,” the first animated children series in the United States featuring an Indigenous lead character.
He said the show is important because it allows Indigenous children to hear their language and see themselves represented on television.
“They’re excited to hear their language and see their faces on the TV. It gives them a sense of pride which is amazing,” Cardinal said.