The Nominees for the ACTRA Awards in Toronto 2006

The Nominees for the ACTRA Awards in Toronto 2006 are:

Sarah Polley to receive Award of Excellence

SARAH POLLEY began acting at the age of four. As a child, she appeared in dozens of films and television shows including the Canadian television series, Road To Avonlea, and Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Her breakthrough to adult roles was her portrayal of Nicole in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter. It was her second film with Egoyan, who wrote the part with her in mind when he adapted Russell Banks’ novel. She received her first Best Actress Genie nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Boston and Chicago Societies of Film Critics for The Sweet Hereafter. The buzz continued on at the Sundance Festival, where her starring role in the film Guinevere was showcased, and the entertainment media crowned her the ‘it girl’ of 1999. Sarah chose to return to Canada and appear in smaller, independent films such as Michael Winterbottom’s The Claim, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water, David Cronenberg’s EXistenZ, Hal Hartley’s No Such Thing, Thom Fitzgerald’s The Event and Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without Me, for which she won a Best Actress Genie Award. Sarah won a Genie Award for the short film she wrote and directed, I Shout Love. Sarah is a committed social activist, working diligently on issues of homelessness and public health care in Canada. She lives in Toronto.

WENDY CREWSON has just finished shooting The Covenant for Screen Gems/Lakeshore and is presently shooting Santa Clause III for Disney. Wendy received both Gemini and ACTRA Award nominations for her role in CBC’s Sex Traffic and was most recently seen in CTV’s highest rated The Man Who Lost Himself. Her credits include, FOX's award-winning series 24, A Home at the End of the World, which also stars Colin Farrell, The Clearing, opposite Robert Redford and Helen Mirren, The Santa Clause 2 and the independent Suddenly Naked, for which she was executive producer. She also starred opposite Sophia Loren in Between Strangers, (directed by Loren's son Edoardo Ponti) and in Perfect Pie. In 2002, she starred in ABC's thriller The Beast and the CBC telefilm The Many Trials of One Jane Doe (Gemini nomination). Although she is most recognizable from her role as the First Lady opposite Harrison Ford in Air Force One, she also drew attention for her performances in The Last Brickmaker in America, Bicentennial Man, What Lies Beneath, The Santa Clause, Corrina, Corrina and The Doctor. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Wendy received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University in Kingston and did post-graduate studies in London at the Webber Douglass Academy of Dramatic Arts and the American Repertory Theatre. In 2002 Wendy was honoured with the 2002 Gemini Humanitarian Award for her work for the ALS Society fighting Lou Gehrig's Disease.

MEGAN FOLLOWS left Green Gables a long time ago, but the legacy that is Anne lives on in the hearts and imaginations of fans, young and old, around the globe. Megan has parlayed her early fame into a diverse career, an admirable body of work, critical acclaim and numerous awards. Megan has the rare ability to seamlessly move from stage to television to feature films, domestically and Internationally. For instance this summer while she’s performing The Real Thing for Toronto’s prestigious Soulpepper Theatre the MOW Bookey’s Mark will be airing on CBC while her guest-starring turn on CSI: Miami will be airing on CBS. That’s the way it’s been for this award-winning actress since she left Avonlea. Her four Gemini Award nominations, most recently for the 2004 CBC drama Open Heart, include two wins for the Anne Of Green Gables series. Megan has also been nominated for a Genie Award (Alan King’s Termini Station), an Ace award, and most recently an ACTRA award for her portrayal of Sharon Twain in Shania: A Life in Eight Albums. That’s a lot of awards for a still-young actress (so we won’t even mention the Aftonbladet TV prize given to Sweden’s best foreign television personality.) Other television credits include CTV’s Robson Arms, Hockey Night, Inherit The Wind, Major Crime, The Stork Derby, Under The Piano (opposite Amanda Plummer) and The Hallmark Hall Of Fame MOW Plainsong. Film work includes the aforementioned Termini Station, Stacking, Reluctant Angel, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet and the academy award winning short film Boys And Girls. On stage Megan has played Juliet at Stratford, Nora, in Micheal Langhams productions of The Dolls House for the Guthrie Theatre and Atlantic Theatre Festival and in Uncle Vanya at the Geffen Playhouse. She also starred in Jack Obriens’ The Seagull at the Old Globe Theatre. Megan most recently completed her onstage run of Soulpepper Theatre’s Fool for Love. Megan lives in Los Angeles with her beautiful family.

VICTORIA SNOW is a two-time Gemini Award winning actor, honoured for her performances on the series Street Legal and for her role in Norma Bailey’s film Daughters of the Country. Victoria was nominated twice for her continuing role in Paradise Falls.Ffeature film credits include Paul Gross’s Men With Brooms, Denys Arcand’s Stardom; The Safety Of Objects, Pressure Point, Iron Eagle IV, Jungleground, Double Take, Yellow Wedding, Destiny To Order; Millennium starring Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd and Alan Alda’s A New Life, starring Alda, Hal Linden and Ann-Margret. Victoria has also appeared in numerous movies for television, including Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story as Walter’s wife, Phyllis Gretzky, Stone Cold with Tom Selleck, Open Heart with Megan Follows, Kevin Sullivan’s The Piano Man’s Daughter, Blind Terror with Nastassja Kinski, Broken Cord with Jimmy Smits. Eric Till’s Getting Married in Buffalo Jump starring Paul Gross and Wendy Crewson, Love And Hate: The Colin Thatcher Story starring Kenneth Welsh and Kate Nelligan, as well as Jasper Texas, Lucky Girl, Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean among many others. She had a recurring role on the ESPN series Tilt was a series regular on Paradise Falls and Riverdale. Guest credits include This Is Wonderland, Queer As Folk, Blue Murder, Traders, Total Recall, The Famous Jett Jackson, Odyssey 5, The Newsroom, Anne of Green Gables, E.N.G., War Of The Worlds, Hardy Boys, Hidden Room and many others. Stage appearances include roles at Stratford, Shaw, at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, at the Neptune Theatre, as well as in productions at CanStage and Tarragon Theatre.

Outstanding Performance – male:

MICHAEL MIRANDA An ACTRA member since 1986 and a former ACTRA National and ACTRA Toronto Councillor, Michael is thrilled and honoured to be nominated for an ACTRA Award for his performance in Lives of the Saints. The opportunity of working with the legendary Sophia Loren is one that Michael will cherish for the rest of his life. Lives of the Saints marks the thirteenth time Michael has worked with the award-winning director Jerry Ciccoritti. And they say the number thirteen is unlucky! Michael has had the good fortune of working in all the disciplines of performance: film, television, theatre and radio. After 20 years as a professional actor, he always considers it a gift that he is ‘still in the game’. After all, he has ‘died a thousand deaths’: implosion, explosion, stake through the heart, gunshot to the back of the head, burned alive, killed by a puppet. And just plain old death of old age. Michael has the dubious distinction of still having the most violent rated death scene on American primetime television for his bloody bathroom demise in CBS’ FALCONE. Throughout Michael’s 20-plus years as an actor, he has had the privilege of working with some of Canada’s finest, among them Kate Nelligan, Paul Gross, Tony Nardi, Nick Mancuso, Nicholas Campbell, Cynthia Dale, Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty. Here’s to the next 20 years!!!

The Nominees for the ACTRA Awards in Toronto 2006 are:
Sarah Polley to receive Award of Excellence SARAH POLLEY began acting at the age of four. As a child, she appeared in dozens of films and television shows including the Canadian television series, Road To Avonlea, and Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Her breakthrough to adult roles was her portrayal of Nicole in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter. It was her second film with Egoyan, who wrote the part with her in mind when he adapted Russell Banks’ novel. She received her first Best Actress Genie nomination from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and the Best Supporting Actress Award from the Boston and Chicago Societies of Film Critics for The Sweet Hereafter. The buzz continued on at the Sundance Festival, where her starring role in the film Guinevere was showcased, and the entertainment media crowned her the ‘it girl’ of 1999. Sarah chose to return to Canada and appear in smaller, independent films such as Michael Winterbottom’s The Claim, Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water, David Cronenberg’s EXistenZ, Hal Hartley’s No Such Thing, Thom Fitzgerald’s The Event and Isabel Coixet’s My Life Without Me, for which she won a Best Actress Genie Award. Sarah won a Genie Award for the short film she wrote and directed, I Shout Love. Sarah is a committed social activist, working diligently on issues of homelessness and public health care in Canada. She lives in Toronto.
Outstanding Performance – female:
	PAULA BOUDREAU was born in Toronto. The youngest of eight irascible siblings, Paula became accustomed early to having to fight to be heard. Handy training, indeed for the aspiring young actor she was soon to become. And act she did. First at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where she earned a degree in Drama/Music, and then at theatres across Canada, where she received rave reviews tackling everyone from Shaw to Sondheim to Andrew Lloyd Webber. She then proved herself to be the quintessential quadruple threat by seamlessly making the transition from stage to screen. Paula is best known for her portrayal of Tippy in the hit PAX TV series Doc opposite country music legend Billy Ray Cyrus, for which she received a Gemini nomination in 2003. Her second Gemini nomination came in 2005 for her critically acclaimed role in CBC’s ensemble mockumentary The Tournament. She has also guest-starred in the award winning CBC series, This is Wonderland, Kojak for the USA Network, and has had a recurring role on Naturally, Sadie for the Family Channel. Paula currently resides with her talented director husband and three phenomenal children on the outskirts of Toronto.
	WENDY CREWSON has just finished shooting The Covenant for Screen Gems/Lakeshore and is presently shooting Santa Clause III for Disney. Wendy received both Gemini and ACTRA Award nominations for her role in CBC’s Sex Traffic and was most recently seen in CTV’s highest rated The Man Who Lost Himself. Her credits include, FOX's award-winning series 24, A Home at the End of the World, which also stars Colin Farrell, The Clearing, opposite Robert Redford and Helen Mirren, The Santa Clause 2 and the independent Suddenly Naked, for which she was executive producer. She also starred opposite Sophia Loren in Between Strangers, (directed by Loren's son Edoardo Ponti) and in Perfect Pie. In 2002, she starred in ABC's thriller The Beast and the CBC telefilm The Many Trials of One Jane Doe (Gemini nomination). Although she is most recognizable from her role as the First Lady opposite Harrison Ford in Air Force One, she also drew attention for her performances in The Last Brickmaker in America, Bicentennial Man, What Lies Beneath, The Santa Clause, Corrina, Corrina and The Doctor. A native of Hamilton, Ontario, Wendy received a Bachelor of Arts from Queen's University in Kingston and did post-graduate studies in London at the Webber Douglass Academy of Dramatic Arts and the American Repertory Theatre. In 2002 Wendy was honoured with the 2002 Gemini Humanitarian Award for her work for the ALS Society fighting Lou Gehrig's Disease.
	MEGAN FOLLOWS left Green Gables a long time ago, but the legacy that is Anne lives on in the hearts and imaginations of fans, young and old, around the globe. Megan has parlayed her early fame into a diverse career, an admirable body of work, critical acclaim and numerous awards. Megan has the rare ability to seamlessly move from stage to television to feature films, domestically and Internationally. For instance this summer while she’s performing The Real Thing for Toronto’s prestigious Soulpepper Theatre the MOW Bookey’s Mark will be airing on CBC while her guest-starring turn on CSI: Miami will be airing on CBS. That’s the way it’s been for this award-winning actress since she left Avonlea. Her four Gemini Award nominations, most recently for the 2004 CBC drama Open Heart, include two wins for the Anne Of Green Gables series. Megan has also been nominated for a Genie Award (Alan King’s Termini Station), an Ace award, and most recently an ACTRA award for her portrayal of Sharon Twain in Shania: A Life in Eight Albums. That’s a lot of awards for a still-young actress (so we won’t even mention the Aftonbladet TV prize given to Sweden’s best foreign television personality.) Other television credits include CTV’s Robson Arms, Hockey Night, Inherit The Wind, Major Crime, The Stork Derby, Under The Piano (opposite Amanda Plummer) and The Hallmark Hall Of Fame MOW Plainsong. Film work includes the aforementioned Termini Station, Stacking, Reluctant Angel, Stephen King’s Silver Bullet and the academy award winning short film Boys And Girls. On stage Megan has played Juliet at Stratford, Nora, in Micheal Langhams productions of The Dolls House for the Guthrie Theatre and Atlantic Theatre Festival and in Uncle Vanya at the Geffen Playhouse. She also starred in Jack Obriens’ The Seagull at the Old Globe Theatre. Megan most recently completed her onstage run of Soulpepper Theatre’s Fool for Love. Megan lives in Los Angeles with her beautiful family.
	VICTORIA SNOW is a two-time Gemini Award winning actor, honoured for her performances on the series Street Legal and for her role in Norma Bailey’s film Daughters of the Country. Victoria was nominated twice for her continuing role in Paradise Falls.Ffeature film credits include Paul Gross’s Men With Brooms, Denys Arcand’s Stardom; The Safety Of Objects, Pressure Point, Iron Eagle IV, Jungleground, Double Take, Yellow Wedding, Destiny To Order; Millennium starring Kris Kristofferson and Cheryl Ladd and Alan Alda’s A New Life, starring Alda, Hal Linden and Ann-Margret. Victoria has also appeared in numerous movies for television, including Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story as Walter’s wife, Phyllis Gretzky, Stone Cold with Tom Selleck, Open Heart with Megan Follows, Kevin Sullivan’s The Piano Man’s Daughter, Blind Terror with Nastassja Kinski, Broken Cord with Jimmy Smits. Eric Till’s Getting Married in Buffalo Jump starring Paul Gross and Wendy Crewson, Love And Hate: The Colin Thatcher Story starring Kenneth Welsh and Kate Nelligan, as well as Jasper Texas, Lucky Girl, Leona Helmsley: The Queen of Mean among many others. She had a recurring role on the ESPN series Tilt was a series regular on Paradise Falls and Riverdale. Guest credits include This Is Wonderland, Queer As Folk, Blue Murder, Traders, Total Recall, The Famous Jett Jackson, Odyssey 5, The Newsroom, Anne of Green Gables, E.N.G., War Of The Worlds, Hardy Boys, Hidden Room and many others. Stage appearances include roles at Stratford, Shaw, at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, at the Neptune Theatre, as well as in productions at CanStage and Tarragon Theatre.
	Samantha Weinstein made her feature film debut as Danielle in David Weaver's black comedy, Siblings (TIFF 2004), at the age of eight. She went on to play the title role of Josephine in the award-winning short film, Big Girl ( Best Short-TIFF 2005). Recently Samantha completed the lead role of Sara in the short film, Ninth Street Chronicles, and Piper in Ken Finkleman's ensemble cast of At The Hotel. She has made several television guest appearances and has appeared in two TV movies, TNT's The Winning Season and Swarmed for The Sci-Fi Network. Samantha is a grade five student.
Outstanding Performance – male:
	SHAWN ASHMORE is currently in production recreating his role as Bobby Drake/a.k.a. Iceman in the third installment of the X-Men films. Shawn received a 2004 MTV Movie Award for Breakthrough Male for his role in X2: X-Men United. Recent projects include 3 Needles, an indie feature for writer-director Thom Fitzgerald. Shawn will be seen starring alongside Stockard Channing, Lucy Liu, Sandra Oh, Chloe Sevigny and Olympia Dukakis. In The Quiet, an independent dramatic thriller Shawn stars opposite Edie Falco, Elisha Cuthbert and Camilla Belle. Recent credits include Miramax Film’s Underclassman, the title role in The Terry Fox Story, an original movie that aired on CTV. Shawn appeared in the leading role in Earthsea for the SCI FI Channel starring alongside Isabella Rossellini, Danny Glover and Kristin Kruek. Shawn’s career took off in 1994 when he was nominated for a Gemini Award for his work as Waylon Tibbins, the starring role in the TV movie Guitarman. When he was 17, he won the role of Jake on Nickelodeon’s series Animorphs and worked on the series for two seasons. He immediately followed with the starring role of Tyler Connell on Disney Channel’s In a Heartbeat, X-Men and the starring role in the independent feature, Wolf Girl. Then he was off to Vancouver to shoot a guest-starring role on the TV show The Outer Limits, back to L.A. for a short film, and finally off to Toronto for a starring role in the Disney Channel’s hit TV movie Cadet Kelly. He starred alongside his twin brother as a child in Gross Misconduct. In addition, Shawn has also guest- starred in the popular WB series, Smallville.
	TOM McCAMUS is a long-standing member of the acting ensembles of the Shaw Festival and the Stratford Festival. During his eight years at the Shaw Festival, he played leading roles in their productions of Peter Pan, Once In A Lifetime, Marathon 33, Holiday, Murder on the Nile, Androcles & The Lion, Too True To Be Good and Man Of Destiny. During his last seven seasons, he had appeared in the Stratford Festival productions of Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, Waiting For Godot, Camelot, Coriolanus, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Country Wife, Hamlet, The Comedy of Errors and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Recent roles include Tim Tooney in the highly acclaimed Novocento at the Edinburgh Fringe and Montreal’s Theatre de Quat’sous, Marc Blitzstein in It’s All True and Dodge in Capture Me, both at the Tarragon Theatre and, at the Stratford Festival, the title role in Richard III, MacHeath in The Threepenny Opera, Apemantus in Timon of Athens and Hubert in King John. Tom received the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Actor for his performance in Theatre Plus’ production of Abundance. Tom won the Genie Award for Best Actor for his work in David Wellington’s feature film I Love A Man In Uniform and received another Best Actor nomination for Wellington’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, in which he reprised his role as Edmund Tyrone from the Stratford Festival’s critically acclaimed production. A role in Atom Egoyan’s feature film, The Sweet Hereafter, earned Tom a Best Supporting Actor Genie nomination. Other film credits include the role of Walter Gretzky in Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Ginger Snaps (The Prequel), Siblings, Perfect Pie, Trinity, Possible Worlds, Century Hotel, Guilty As Sin and Beautiful Dreamers. Among his numerous television credits are the lead role of Eckhart in Mutant X and appearances on Emily of New Moon, Due South, Street Legal, The Newsroom and The Eleventh Hour.
	MICHAEL MIRANDA An ACTRA member since 1986 and a former ACTRA National and ACTRA Toronto Councillor, Michael is thrilled and honoured to be nominated for an ACTRA Award for his performance in Lives of the Saints. The opportunity of working with the legendary Sophia Loren is one that Michael will cherish for the rest of his life. Lives of the Saints marks the thirteenth time Michael has worked with the award-winning director Jerry Ciccoritti. And they say the number thirteen is unlucky! Michael has had the good fortune of working in all the disciplines of performance: film, television, theatre and radio. After 20 years as a professional actor, he always considers it a gift that he is ‘still in the game’. After all, he has ‘died a thousand deaths’: implosion, explosion, stake through the heart, gunshot to the back of the head, burned alive, killed by a puppet. And just plain old death of old age. Michael has the dubious distinction of still having the most violent rated death scene on American primetime television for his bloody bathroom demise in CBS’ FALCONE. Throughout Michael’s 20-plus years as an actor, he has had the privilege of working with some of Canada’s finest, among them Kate Nelligan, Paul Gross, Tony Nardi, Nick Mancuso, Nicholas Campbell, Cynthia Dale, Dave Thomas and Joe Flaherty. Here’s to the next 20 years!!!
	Joe Pingue is currently shooting Rent A Goalie, a series for Showcase. This past fall Joe worked with Mike Mabbot on his latest feature film, Citizen Duane. Also in the can for Joe is Talk To Me, a two-hour pilot for TNT television. The series plans to shoot in Toronto this spring. Past feature film credits include Boondock Saints, Knockaround Guys and Highwayman. Joe’s television projects include Il Duce Canadese, The Murdoch Mysteries, This Is Wonderland, Wild Card, Kojak, Blue Murder, TwitchCity, and The Newsroom. The short film Leo is directed by David Hyde and written by Adam Till. Joe also wrote and directed the short The Fur Store, which screened at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in 2003 and is part of the Toronto International Film Festival's Short Film Circuit.
	DOV TIEFENBACH was born in Toronto, and began acting at the age of 12 when he landed his first job as the adorable Jimmy, with a love-obsession for Neve Campbell in the short film Love Child. Shortly thereafter, Dov won the coveted role of Nick Burns in the Broadway/Roundabout Theatre production of A Thousand Clowns, in which he starred alongside Judd Hirsch. After completing his first Broadway venture, Dov returned to Toronto and was subsequently cast as a series regular on the sketch comedy show, Squawk Box. Since then, Dov has worked non-stop and has quickly risen to the status of ‘young up and coming’ actor to watch. Dov received strong and favourable reviews for his work in the HBO feature Cheaters. His portrayal of the alienated and ultimately vilified snitch, Irwin, was a major career breakthrough for this exciting young actor. Film releases include Revolution’s Snow Cake, which is set to open the 2006 Berlin Film Festival. Other film releases: New Line’s Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle, Paramount’s Against The Ropes, Little Stevie in the Miramax feature Getting Over It starring Kirsten Dunst, New Line’s Knockaround Guys opposite John Malkovich and Nick Nolte as well as the New Line’s Jason X. Canadian film work includes his award-winning performance as the slow-witted Ronnie in Flower & Garnet, The Delicate Art of Parking, Thom Fitzgerald’s (The Hanging Garden, Beefcake) film Wolf Girl and the Sophia Loren film Between Strangers. He has appeared in more than a dozen television projects, including ESPN’s recent poker series Tilt, Wonderfalls for FOX, HBO's Dear America, Showtime’s Beyond The Call for director Tony Bill and ABC’s Purple Haze. He was a series regular on Little Men and was quite memorable in the recurring role of the impish nephew on the hit Canadian television series, Made In Canada (Ken Finkleman & CBC). Next, Dov will be seen in the showcase series Billable Hours. Dov is also talented singer and musician.