January 13, 2023 (Toronto, ON) – On Tuesday, January 10, 2023, David Gale was acclaimed by the ACTRA Toronto Council to serve as President for a second term. The President sits for a two-year term in accordance with the ACTRA Toronto By-laws.

“I am grateful for the support from members of the ACTRA Toronto Council who have entrusted me to serve as President for a second term,” said Gale. “When folx speak of the last two years, they use words like unprecedented, isolated and pivot. We have faced these challenges directly and I am proud of all we have accomplished. I look forward to my second term as President to continue this work to improve the lives of professional performers.”

Over his first two-year term, Gale was instrumental in moving the union’s work online – from the ACTRA Awards, to the Members’ Conference, collective bargaining, committee work and more – all to continue to support members when performers were the amongst the first to return to the workplace after the initial lockdown.      

David Gale is a Gemini and Galaxi award-winning performer with four decades of experience and his union leadership credentials are equally stellar. Prior to becoming ACTRA Toronto President, Gale served for 13 years as ACTRA Toronto’s Vice President, Communications. Additionally, he published the Performers suite of magazines, he wrote and directed the ACTRA Awards in Toronto and hosted the union’s celebrity podcast ACTRA Spotlight. Gale helped create the Young Emerging Actors Assembly (YEAA) and proudly helped establish outACTRAto, ACTRA Toronto’s first queer Committee. Gale also served as executive liaison for ACTRA Toronto’s senior members’ Act Your Age (AYA) and sits on the Executive of ACTRA National, the National Bargaining Team and is co-chair of the National Constitution Committee.

David is a long-time advocate and champion of equality and diversity in the industry. Committed to continuing the union’s work to address systemic discrimination, David said, “We must strive to be more transparent and accepting. As the first openly gay President of ACTRA Toronto, I remind us all that our Equality Statement is not just a bunch of words.  No, they are words to live by.”

ACTRA Toronto is the largest organization within ACTRA, representing more than 15,000 of Canada’s 28,000 professional performers working in recorded media. 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.

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Media contact:
Jennifer McGibbon, Public Relations Officer, jmcgibbon@actratoronto.com, 416-642-6710