Jackie Torrens is a Canadian actress, writer and filmmaker based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. [1] She was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
She began her career as an actress, most notably being cast as the frumpy but shrewd office manager Wanda Mattice in the television series Made in Canada in 1998. [2] Along with the rest of the show's core ensemble, she is a three-time Gemini Award winner for Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series, winning at the 16th Gemini Awards in 2001, [3] the 17th Gemini Awards in 2002, [4] and the 19th Gemini Awards in 2004. [5] They were also nominated, but did not win, at the 18th Gemini Awards in 2003, [6] and Torrens was individually a Canadian Comedy Award nominee for Best Performance by a Female, Television at the 3rd Canadian Comedy Awards in 2002. [7]
In 2013 she was cast as social worker Drucie Mackay in the television series Sex & Violence , for which she was nominated for Best Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards in 2015. [8]
She has also won an award from the Nova Scotia chapter of the ACTRA Awards for her performance in the film Across the Line , and was nominated for both Sex & Violence and the film Heartbeat .
Her stage plays have included Live! Nude! Animal!, [9] Five Fables, [10] Strange Antiques, [11] That Is My Heart [12] and Georama. [13]
She has received several Robert Merritt Award nominations both as a playwright and as a stage actress.
In 2014 she released the documentary film Edge of East. [14] With Jessica Brown, she is a partner in Peep Media, and has also released the documentary films My Week on Welfare, [15] Small Town Show Biz: 2 Dreams from a Harbourtown, Radical Age and Bernie Langille Wants to Know What Happened to Bernie Langille . [16]
Bernie Langille won the award for Best Atlantic Documentary at the 2022 FIN Atlantic Film Festival. [17]
Mary Cynthia Walsh is a Canadian actress, comedian, and writer. She is known for her work on CODCO and This Hour Has 22 Minutes.
Made in Canada is a Canadian television comedy which aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2003. Rick Mercer starred as Richard Strong, an ambitious and amoral television producer working for a company which makes bad television shows. A dark satire about the Canadian television industry, the programme shifted into an episodic situation comedy format after its first season.
Bette MacDonald is a Canadian comedian, actress, and writer, best known for her comedic television series Rideau Hall.
The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States and the BAFTA Television Awards in the United Kingdom. First held in 1986 to replace the ACTRA Award, the ceremony celebrated Canadian television productions with awards in 87 categories, along with other special awards such as lifetime achievement awards. The Academy had previously presented the one-off Bijou Awards in 1981, inclusive of some television productions.
Wendy Jane Crewson is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film The Doctor.
Richard Chevolleau is a Jamaican–Canadian actor, best known for playing Augur on Earth: Final Conflict from 1997 to 2002.
The Atlantic International Film Festival is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. AIFF is the largest Canadian film festival east of Montreal, regularly premiering the region's top films of the year, while bringing the best films of the fall festival circuit to Atlantic Canada.
The Wild Dogs is a Canadian drama film, directed by Thom Fitzgerald and released in 2002. Set in Romania, the film is an examination of the moral and ethical compromises that people can be forced into when living in poverty.
Candy Palmater was a Canadian actress, comedienne, and broadcaster. She was the creator and writer of her own national television show for APTN, The Candy Show, and hosted the daily interview series The Candy Palmater Show on CBC Radio One in summer 2016.
The Canadian Screen Awards are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media productions. Given annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the awards recognize excellence in cinematic achievements, as assessed by the Academy's voting membership.
Sex & Violence is a television series that first aired on 17 November 2013 on OUTtv in Canada. The series stars Jennie Raymond as a lesbian police constable, Olympia Dukakis as a victim advocate, Jackie Torrens as a social worker and Kerry Fox and Preston Carmichael as therapists. The original six-part show, focused on domestic violence, became the highest rated original drama in OUTtv's history and the channel announced its renewal on 8 May 2014. The third season debuted on OUTtv on 10 September 2017.
Heartbeat is a 2014 Canadian drama film written and directed by Andrea Dorfman. It was screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The film stars poet and musician Tanya Davis as Justine, an unfulfilled advertising copywriter who dreams of becoming a musician but struggles with stage fright.
Jennie Raymond is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for her three time Canadian Screen Award-nominated for best actress in a leading role and her two wins ACTRA Awardperformance in the drama series Sex & Violence. She won a Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Series at the 18th Gemini Awards for her recurring role in Blue Murder.
Love, Scott is a 2018 Canadian documentary film, directed by Laura Marie Wayne. The film profiles Scott Jones, a gay man who was left paraplegic in an anti-gay attack in 2013.
Alex Pugsley is a Canadian writer and filmmaker, most noted for directing the 2014 film Dirty Singles.
Catherine Fitch is a Canadian actress. She is most noted for her performance as Iris in the 1995 television film Butterbox Babies, for which she won the Gemini Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries at the 10th Gemini Awards in 1996.
The Gemini Award for Best Individual Performance in a Comedy Program or Series is a defunct award category, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 2001 to 2010 as part of its Gemini Awards program.
The Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Comedy Program or Series (Individual or Ensemble) is a defunct award category, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 1992 to 2000 as part of its Gemini Awards program.
The Gemini Award for Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series is a defunct award category, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 2001 to 2011 as part of its Gemini Awards program to honour ensemble performance in comedy programs. Winners and nominees were typically either sketch comedy shows, or the collective cast of a scripted narrative comedy series.
Bernie Langille Wants to Know What Happened to Bernie Langille is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Jackie Torrens and released in 2022. The film follows Bernie Langille, a man who is investigating the 1968 death of his namesake grandfather at CFB Gagetown under mysterious circumstances.