The ACTRA Awards are Canadian accolades presented since 1972 to celebrate excellence in cinema, television and radio industries. Initially it was organized and presented by the Alliance of Canadian Television and Radio Artists, That year, the television awards were taken over by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to create the new Gemini Awards, although ACTRA continued to present Nellies in radio categories.
The organization relaunched the awards in 2003, this time as a more local-focused film industry award, separately presented by each of ACTRA's regional chapters to honour performances in local film and television production, since expanded to incorporate web series and video games. before launching a comprehensive program for television and radio awards in 1972. The 1st ACTRA Awards that year only presented the Drainie Award alongside the new Earle Grey Award for actors and Gordon Sinclair Award for broadcast journalism, with its roster of categories beginning to expand the following year.
By 1978, there began to be talk in the industry of a "Nellie curse", as several broadcast personalities in the past couple of years had been fired or had their shows cancelled very soon after winning an ACTRA award. The same year also saw the first widespread complaints about ACTRA's nomination criteria, which limited honours in most categories to ACTRA members; even if ACTRA members had collaborated with non-ACTRA members, then only the ACTRA member could be considered for nomination.
That year further saw the public revelation of an unconfirmed but longstanding industry rumour that if Lloyd Robertson had won the award for Best News Broadcaster at the 4th ACTRA Awards in 1975, elements in the audience were planning to pie him in the face just to see if they could cause the normally unflappable Robertson to lose his composure. the issue arose because the CBC produced most of its programming directly, and thus nearly all CBC programming involved ACTRA members, while CTV broadcast far more programming from independent non-ACTRA producers. The boycott, which continued for several years thereafter, sparked discussions through the early 1980s about how to improve the management and delivery of Canadian television awards.
In this era, there was also significant concern about the fact that ACTRA only presented awards in categories such as acting, writing and journalism, but had no categories for television crafts such as cinematography or editing, as well as a controversy when ACTRA rejected the CBC's proposal of Dan Aykroyd as host, on the grounds that he was working in the United States and not an active ACTRA member.
By 1983, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's experimental Bijou Awards, which had been presented for the first time in 1981, were being proposed to replace the ACTRA Awards, but this did not proceed at this time; ultimately, responsibility for presenting the Canadian television awards was transferred to the Academy's new Gemini Awards in 1986.
Awards transferred to the Academy included the John Drainie Award, a lifetime achievement award for distinguished contributions to Canadian broadcasting, and the Earle Grey Award, which transitioned from ACTRA's award for best performance in a television film into the Academy's lifetime achievement award for acting.
Following the launch of the Geminis, the ACTRA Awards continued to honour radio programming.
Revival
Beginning in 2002, ACTRA took management of the John Drainie Award back from the Academy, presenting it thereafter at the Banff Television Festival.
On the 60th anniversary of the national union in 2003, now renamed the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists and representing only performers, the ACTRA Awards were resurrected in several of its branches across Canada as a local film and television award, presented by the organization's local chapters in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador and the Maritimes to honour achievements in film and television within their own regions. Depending on the level of production activity in their respective regions, some chapters of ACTRA present their awards annually, while others present their awards every two years.
However, the revived ACTRA Awards program also includes a national Award of Excellence, presented to an actor to honour their lifetime achievements; the national award of excellence is most commonly presented to an actor who is working in Hollywood, and would thus not be eligible for a regional chapter's local award of excellence. However, the national award of excellence is not necessarily always presented annually.
Some awards are handed out for performances, while others are given for union activism and contributions to the industry.
National ACTRA ceremonies
{| class="sortable wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|-
! style="width:180px;"|Ceremony
! style="width:150px;"|Date
! style="width:200px;"|Host(s)
! style="width:180px;"|Best Television Program
! style="width:180px;"|Best Radio Program
|-
|1st ACTRA Awards || April 14, 1972 || rowspan=6| Pierre Berton || colspan=2 rowspan=3
|-
|2nd ACTRA Awards || April 30, 1973
|-
|3rd ACTRA Awards || March 2, 1974
|-
|4th ACTRA Awards || April 23, 1975 || colspan=2| Next Year in Jerusalem
|-
|5th ACTRA Awards || April 21, 1976 || Emily Carr || Pro Nobis Peccatoribus
|-
|6th ACTRA Awards || April 14, 1977 || Beaverbrook: Life and Times of Max Aitken || The Assassination of Christopher Marlowe
|-
|7th ACTRA Awards || March 22, 1978 || Gordon Pinsent || Aberfan || A Bite of the Big Apple
|-
|8th ACTRA Awards || April 4, 1979 || Gordon Pinsent, Don Harron || A Gift to Last || The Other Self
|-
|9th ACTRA Awards || April 9, 1980 || Dave Broadfoot || Drying Up the Streets || Aftermath of Jonestown
|-
|10th ACTRA Awards || April 3, 1981 || Gordon Pinsent || The Canadian Establishment || Sunday Morning
|-
|11th ACTRA Awards || May 12, 1982 || Jim Carrey, Dixie Seatle || Just Another Missing Kid || This Year In Jerusalem
|-
|12th ACTRA Awards || April 16, 1983 || Don Harron || Billy Bishop Goes to War || Fruit of the Poisoned Tree
|-
|13th ACTRA Awards || April 3, 1984 || Laurier LaPierre, Ann Mortifee, Jayne Eastwood || The Undaunted || The Panther and the Jaguar
|-
|14th ACTRA Awards || April 3, 1985 || Roger Abbott, Joyce Davidson || Chautauqua Girl || George Orwell: A Radio Biography
|-
|15th ACTRA Awards || April 2, 1986 || Don Harron, Pierre Berton, Barbara Frum, Gordon Pinsent, Dave Broadfoot, Ann Mortifee || Charlie Grant's War || Glenn Gould: The Well-Tempered Polymath
|}
National Award of Excellence recipients
- 2003 — Leslie Nielsen
- 2004 — Lloyd Bochner
- 2005 — Tonya Williams
- 2007 — Kiefer Sutherland
- 2009 — Sandra Oh
- 2010 — Eugene Levy
- 2011 — Bruce Greenwood
- 2015 — Jason Priestley
- 2016 — Neve Campbell
- 2017 — Kim Coates
- 2018 — Molly Parker
- 2019 — Jay Baruchel
- 2020 — Catherine O'Hara
Regional awards ceremonies
UBCP/ACTRA Awards (Vancouver)
2012–2022
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:99%;"
|-
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Best Lead Actor
! scope="col" | Best Lead Actress
! scope="col" | Best Supporting Actor
! scope="col" | Best Supporting Actress
! scope="col" | Best Emerging Performer
! scope="col" | Best Voice
! scope="col" | Best Stunt
! scope="col" |
|-
! scope="row"| 2012
| Stephen Lobo (Sisters & Brothers)
| Camille Sullivan (Afghan Luke)
| rowspan="8" colspan="2"
| Kacey Rohl (Sisters & Brothers)
| Andrea Libman (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)
| Phil Mitchell (True Justice)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2013
| John Pyper-Ferguson (Motive)
| Gabrielle Rose (Crimes of Mike Recket)
| Tyler Johnston (Motive)
| Nicole Oliver (The Littlest Pet Shop)
| Colby Chartrand (True Justice)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2014
| Ian Tracey (Continuum)
| Sara Canning (Remedy)
| Taylor Hill (Leap 4 Your Life)
| Andrea Libman (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)
| Leif Havdale (Arrow)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2015
| Michael Eklund (Eadweard)
| Camille Sullivan (Ally Was Screaming)
| Dakota Daulby (Black Fly)
| Brian Drummond (Nerds and Monsters)
| Leif Havdale (Arrow)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2016
| Aleks Paunovic (Numb)
| Camille Sullivan (The Birdwatcher)
| Jacob Tremblay (Room)
| Lee Tockar (Slugterra)
| Adrien Hein (Arrow)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2018
| Bob Frazer (The Cannon)
| Karin Konoval (The X-Files)
| Daniel Doheny (Adventures in Public School)
| Sabrina Pitre (Chuck's Choice)
| Brett Chan, Gerald Paetz, Andrew Chin, and Mark Chin (Darc)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2019
| Ben Cotton (Crown and Anchor)
| Camille Sullivan (Kingsway)
| Steven Roberts (In God I Trust)
| Erin Mathews (Super Monsters Furever Friends)
| Eli Zagoudakis, Nathaniel Shuker, and Marshall Bingham (Arrow)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2020
| John Cassini (Daughter)
| Carmen Moore (Rustic Oracle)
| Brendan Fletcher (Night Hunter)
| Jenn MacLean-Angus (Daughter)
| rowspan="3"
| Giles Panton (Absolute Carnage)
| Corry Glass and Adrian Hein (The Detour – The Sister)
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2021
| Christopher Shyer (Debris)
| Camille Sullivan (Hunter Hunter)
| Hiro Kanagawa (Deeper I Go)
| Eden Summer Gilmore (The Good Doctor)
| Brent Miller (Ninjago)
| Brett Chan, Andrew Chin, Yusuf A. Ahmed, Aliya Iskakova, Jennifer Li, and Derick Vizcarra (Kung Fu)
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2022
| Stephen Lobo (Donkeyhead)
| Agam Darshi (Donkeyhead)
| Eric McCormack (Drinkwater)
| Leah Gibson (Joe Pickett)
| Ian Hanlin (Angry Birds: Summer Madness)
| Marny Eng, Colby Chartrand, Kevin Fortin, Leif Havdale, and Jeff Sanca (Sonic the Hedgehog 2)
|
|}
2023–2025
After the 2022 awards, the categories of Best Lead Actor, Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress were eliminated, and the Best Performance, Made for Television Movie and Best Short Performance categories were added.
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
!rowspan="2" | Year
!colspan="3" | Best Lead Performance
!colspan="3" | Best Supporting Performance
!rowspan="2" | Best Short Performance
!rowspan="2" | Best Voice
!rowspan="2" | Best Stunt
!rowspan="2" |
|-
!Motion Picture
!Series
!Made for Television Movie
!Motion Picture
!Series
!Made for Television Movie
|-
! scope="row"| 2023
|Cardi Wong (Golden Delicious)
|Sarah Chalke (Firefly Lane – '"Heart Shaped Box")
|Greyston Holt (House of Chains)
|June B. Wilde (Blood)
|Gabrielle Rose (The Night Agent – Eyes Only)
|rowspan="2"
|Jess McLeod (A Little Vacation)
|Ian Hanlin (The Guava Juice Show – "DoomsRoi Device")
|Mike Mitchell; Matt Mylrea, Gerald Paetz, Chris Webb (The Night Agent – "The Call")
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2024
|Michelle Harrison (re: Uniting)
|Jewel Staite (Family Law – "The Chickens Come Home to Roost")
|Faith Wright (Buying Back My Daughter)
|Priscilla Faia (Calamity Jane)
|Kandyse McClure (Virgin River – Calculated Risk)
|Garfield Wilson (DTF?)
|Brian Drummond (Sonic Prime – "No Escape")
|Lauro Chartrand-Del Valle and Sharlene Royer; Janene Carleton, Jordan Davis, Simon Pidgeon, Matthew Phillips, Quentin Scheider (Tracker – "Klamath Falls")
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2025
|Emily Lê (Paying for It)
|Marci T. House (Tracker - Exodus)
|Bethany Brown (We Three Kings)
|Bradley Stryker (13th Round)
|Patrick Gilmore (School Spirits - Fire, Talk to Me)
|Trevor Lerner (The Santa Class)
|Kevin McNulty (Attendance)
|Brian Drummond (Super Team Canada – And So It Begins.../Do You Mind if We Continue?
|Marny Eng, Colin Decker, Jonathan Vellner (The Last of Us – "Through the Valley")
|
|}
ACTRA Awards in Montreal
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="width:99%;"
|-
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Year
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Award of Excellence
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Outstanding Performance
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Outstanding Voice Performance
! scope="col" rowspan="2" | Outstanding Stunt Performance
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Outstanding Videogame Performance
! scope="col" rowspan="2" |
|-
! scope="col" | Male
! scope="col" | Female
! scope="col" | Male
! scope="col" | Female
! scope="col" | Male
! scope="col" | Female
|-
! scope="row"| 2005
| Vlasta Vrána
| Bruce Ramsay (Baby for Sale)
| Claudia Ferri (Ciao Bella)
| colspan="2"| Terrence Scammell (Tripping the Rift)
|
| colspan="2" rowspan="5"
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2007
| Walter Massey
| Alain Goulem (The Tournament)
| Laurence Leboeuf (Human Trafficking)
| colspan="2"| Michel Perron (Monster Allergy)
| Stéphane Lefebvre (Last Exit)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"|2020
| colspan="8"
|
|-
! scope="row"|2021
|Caroline Dhavernas
|colspan="7"
|
|-
! scope="row"| 2004
| Sonja Smits
| Brent Carver (Elizabeth Rex)
| Diane D'Aquila (Elizabeth Rex)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2005
| Paul Gross
| Richard Chevolleau (The Eleventh Hour)
| Kristen Thomson (I, Claudia)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2006
| Sarah Polley
| Tom McCamus (Waking Up Wally: The Walter Gretzky Story)
| Samantha Weinstein (Big Girl)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2007
| Wendy Crewson
| Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her)
| Maria del Mar (Terminal City)
| colspan="2"| Len Carlson (Atomic Betty)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2008
| Eric Peterson
| Aaron Poole (This Beautiful City)
| Caroline Cave (This Beautiful City)
| colspan="2"| Matt Watts (Canadia: 2056)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2009
| Peter Keleghan
| Nicholas Campbell (The Englishman's Boy)
| Rosemary Dunsmore (The Baby Formula)
| colspan="2"| Jamie Watson (Peep and the Big Wide World)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2010
| Colin Mochrie
| K. C. Collins (Guns)
| Kathleen Munroe (Flashpoint)
| colspan="2"| Julie Lemieux (Spliced)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2011
| Fiona Reid
| Maury Chaykin (Less Than Kind)
| Molly Parker and Tracy Wright (Trigger)
| colspan="2"| Seán Cullen (Jimmy Two-Shoes)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2012
| Rick Mercer
| Christopher Plummer (Barrymore)
| Amy Price-Francis (King)
| colspan="2"| Billy MacLellan (Afghanada)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2013
| Shirley Douglas
| Shawn Doyle (The Disappeared)
| Tatiana Maslany (Picture Day)
| colspan="2"| Shannon Kook-Chun (Requiem for Romance)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2014
| R. H. Thomson
| Rick Roberts (Jack)
| Amanda Brugel (Sex After Kids)
| colspan="2"| Terry McGurrin (Scaredy Squirrel)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2015
| Tantoo Cardinal
| Gavin Crawford (Two 4 One)
| Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)
| colspan="2"| Cory Doran (Total Drama)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2016
| Sarah Gadon
| Christopher Plummer (Remember)
| Catherine O'Hara (Schitt's Creek)
| colspan="2"| Julie Lemieux (Numb Chucks)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2017
| Yannick Bisson
| Joey Klein (We're Still Together)
| Jean Yoon (Kim's Convenience)
| colspan="2"| Linda Kash (Fugget About It)
| Kim's Convenience
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2018
| Jennifer Podemski
| Stuart Hughes (The Drawer Boy)
| Sheila McCarthy (Cardinals)
| colspan="2"| Saara Chaudry (The Breadwinner)
| Baroness von Sketch Show
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2019
| Jayne Eastwood
| Stephen McHattie (Crown and Anchor)
| Amybeth McNulty (Anne with an E)
| Mark Little (Cupcake & Dino: General Services)
| Bryn McAuley (Top Wing)
| rowspan="3" | Schitt's Creek
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2020
| Jean Yoon
| Dalmar Abuzeid (Anne with an E)
| Cara Ricketts (Anne with an E)
| Carter Hayden (Hotel Transylvania: The Series)
| Bryn McAuley (Hotel Transylvania: The Series)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2021
| Jani Lauzon
| Jesse LaVercombe (Violation)
| Tamara Podemski (Coroner)
| Cory Doran (Doomsday Brothers)
| Bahia Watson (Total Dramarama)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2022
| Art Hindle
| Dayo Ade (Cinema of Sleep)
| Kelly McCormack (Sugar Daddy)
| Joshua Graham (Go, Dog. Go!)
| Angela Asher (Silver Cord Trailer)
| rowspan="3" | Sort Of
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2023
| Angelica Lisk-Hann
| Eric Peterson (Junior's Giant)
| Raven Dauda (Five Days at Memorial)
| Billy MacLellan (Each Man's Son)
| Bahia Watson (My Little Pony: Make Your Mark)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2024
| Maria del Mar
| Salvatore Antonio (Slasher)
| Elizabeth Saunders (SmokeBreak)
| Cory Doran (Super Wish)
| Maria Nash (Pinecone & Pony)
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2025
| Debra McGrath
| Rick Roberts (The Light Before the Sun)
| Stefani Kimber (The Players)
| Rabiya Mansoor (Bad Accountant)
| Deven Mack (Sonic Prime)
| Genevieve Adam (Deceitful Above All Things)
| Deven Mack (Sonic Prime)
| Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent
| style="text-align:center;"|
|-
! scope="row"| 2026
| Paul Sun-Hyung Lee
| Adrian Walters (It Comes in Waves)
| Nina Kiri (Out Standing)
| Ci Hang Ma (School Spirits)
| Pierre Simpson (Night of the Zoopocalypse)
| Gabbi Kosmidis (Night of the Zoopocalypse)
| Athan Giazitzidis (Mittens & Pants)
| Heated Rivalry
| style="text-align:center;"|
|}
See also
- Canadian television awards