A celebration of Canadian culture
The 14th annual ACTRA Awards were presented at a live show and gala at The Carlu in Toronto, hosted by comic Martha Chaves with live music by Salsa Norte.
ACTRA Toronto is the largest organization within ACTRA, representing more than 15,000 of Canada’s 22,000 professional performers working in recorded media in Canada. As an advocate for Canadian culture since 1943, ACTRA is a member-driven union that continues to secure rights and respect for the work of professional performers.
The top nod for outstanding performance, female, went to Catherine O’Hara (Moira Rose in Schitt’s Creek); outstanding performance, male, was awarded to Christopher Plummer (Zev Guttman in Remember).
Outstanding performance, voice, went to Julie Lemieux ( Granny Butternut in Numb Chucks). Sarah Gadon was presented with ACTRA Toronto’s 2016 Award of Excellence.
“Sarah Gadon is amazing,” says ACTRA Toronto president David Sparrow. “She has built up a significant body of film, TV and animation work in her multi-faceted performing career. As an advocate, she has demonstrated her keen grasp of the larger issues facing our industry, speaking at the heritage committee hearings on feature film and as a member of the ACTRA bargaining team during independent production agreement negotiations. She personifies the leadership qualities many young performers are displaying in our union.”
Toronto is the third-largest screen-based production centre in North America, behind Los Angeles and New York City. Toronto’s film and television industry directly employs more than 25,000 people. In 2014, screen-based production companies invested a record $1.23 billion in on-location filming in Toronto.