Special ceremony held at Canadian Consular Residence in Los Angeles
Toronto, ON (January 21, 2010) — ACTRA honoured Canadian star Eugene Levy with an ACTRA Award of Excellence on this afternoon at a reception at the Canadian Residence of David Fransen, Consul General of Canada in Los Angeles.
“Aside from being an accomplished performer and a comic genius, one of the things that makes Eugene so special is his investment in his community, ” said Ferne Downey, ACTRA National President.
Born in Hamilton, Canada, the comedy-legend is known to audiences around the world having starring in more then 40 films and the ground-breaking sketch-comedy TV series SCTV.
Previous honours for Mr. Levy include Canadian Comedy Awards, the Banff TV Festival’s Sir Peter Ustinov Award, the Gemini’s Earle Grey Award, induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame and the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He won a Grammy Award for co-writing the title track to A Mighty Wind and was nominated for a Golden Globe nomination for Best in Show.
Mr. Levy has been consistently generous in giving back to his Canadian community. He has participated in countless charities and fundraising efforts, remains a committed and active Second City Alumni and is Chair of Telefilm Canada Features Comedy Lab.
Internationally acclaimed director and founder of the Canadian Film Centre, Norman Jewison made a special appearance at the event to speak about his long-time friend and colleague.
The ACTRA National Award of Excellence recognizes a member’s career achievements and contribution to fellow performers and the Canadian industry. Previous recipients include Sandra Oh, Kiefer Sutherland, Tonya Lee Williams, Lloyd Bochner and Leslie Nielsen. Today’s reception marked the sixth occasion ACTRA has partnered with the Canadian Consulate to present the ACTRA Award of Excellence reception and reach out to the union’s members living in Los Angeles.
ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is the national organization of professional performers working in the English-language recorded media in Canada. ACTRA represents the interests of 21,000 members across Canada – the foundation of Canada’s highly acclaimed professional performing community.
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Media Contacts:
Carol Taverner, Public Relations Officer, ACTRA, 416-644-1519, ctaverner@actra.ca
Roz Wolfe, Senior Advisor, Canadian Consulate General, 213-346-2777, Roz.Wolfe@international.gc.ca