The History of the ACTRA Awards

The ACTRA Awards in Toronto

As part of ACTRA’s 60th Anniversary celebrations in 2003, ACTRA decided to re-introduce the coveted ACTRA Award at celebrations across the country.

ACTRA Toronto was up first with the ACTRA Awards in Toronto, held in February, 2003 at the Royal Ontario Museum. Actors like a party, and this one was a lot of fun, managing to combine intimate and classy with let-loose fun. Our Awards Committee was still in the process of having a new statuette designed for these new revamped awards, so the three winners weren’t able to take home any hardware. But that didn’t take away from the celebration.

We knew that the 2004 awards would have an even larger audience, and with the ROM under renovation, the committee set about finding an appropriate venue. With restoration complete, the art-deco theatre on the seventh floor of the historical Eaton’s building was a perfect option, and the Awards Committee booked The Carlu for The ACTRA Awards in Toronto 2004.

The new ACTRA Award statuette made her debut in bronze at the 2004 awards, again held in February. Sculptor Adrienne Alison incorporated an allusion to the ancient Greek theatre with the delicate clothing of the draped figure. Adrienne captured an actor making her entrance in the small, lyrical award. ACTRA National ran a contest to name the new statuette, and we were pleased to have such an enthusiastic response from members.

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article from ACTRA’s 60th Anniversary edition of InterACTRA (2003)

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