Saereen Qureshi, Recruitment Manager
Featured image courtesy of BBC America
On February 20, Excalibur rubbed elbows with attendees and nominees of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists Awards. ACTRA is the largest organization of cultural workers in Canada with their award show honouring some of the best talent over the course of the year.
One of the most popular discussions was diversity on screen, from cultural diversity to age diversity. Angelica Lisk-Hann, a stunt performer and the first black female stunt coordinator in Canada speaks about diversity, saying, “I remember back when I was young and I turned on the TV and saw the shows. I used to say to myself, ‘no one looks like me.’ Now I can turn on almost any channel, anywhere [and see people who look like me].”
Long-term ACTRA member and actress, Shanti Dhore believes that ACTRA supports diversity.
“When I was younger, I had auditions once a week. And now, years go by and I don’t get auditions.” With the help of ACTRA, she broke into the filmmaking industry and writes roles for older actors and women.
ACTRA President Ferne Downey’s speech mentions the need for more productions where women and girls […] see reflections of themselves in the characters we see on screen.
“I also think that it’s a much more dynamic industry in the sense that there’s so many Canadian co-productions that take place with other countries. So you’re getting a lot of stories that aren’t just told from the Canadian perspective, but they’re told from a French perspective or a Chinese perspective or whatever that co-production is. So it’s a pretty unique experience,” says Sarah Gadon, who won the 2016 Award of Excellence.
The need for actors to be able to make a living in the field was mentioned in Gadon’s acceptance speech. Acting is not a very stable job because there are no guarantees that you will have work the next day. In Christopher Plummer’s acceptance speech for Outstanding Performance for his role in Remember, he jokingly said, “If I win, does that mean I don’t have to pay my dues any more?” The audience laughed as they related to union fees.
As some actors cross the border for work, attendees had a lot to say regarding barriers of working in the American versus Canadian industry. Risa Sky Stone, actress and former theatre student at York says, “Having to work in the U.S. you definitely need your paperwork […] but I love working in Canada. I feel really blessed because I get to work a lot.”
Christine Horne, a York theatre alumna and a nominee for Hyena Road, comments, “I think if I wanted to work in the U.S., that would be a barrier for me, legally. [But] I am very happy to work in Canadian film and TV.”
Nigel Bennett who was nominated for Murdoch Mysteries points out that with the sinking Canadian dollar, there are benefits.
“There’s a lot more American product made [in Canada], especially at the moment with the mint dollar. Americans love it. They come up here and they get a 30 per cent bonus on their money.”
A lot of people were optimistic about the state of the Canadian acting industry. “It’s an exciting time to be an actor, but don’t tell that to your non-acting friends,” says Sparrow. Kevin Hanchard, who was a nominee for Orphan Black says he looks “forward to what’s in store for the future.”
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