Karen LeBlanc | |
|---|---|
| LeBlanc in 2017 | |
| Occupations | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1992–present |
Karen LeBlanc is a Canadian musical theatre actress and singer.
LeBlanc grew up in Tottenham, Ontario to family from Nova Scotia. She attended the musical theatre program at Sheridan College. [1] [2]
Starting with a minor role in the 1992 television movie Split Images, LeBlanc's credits include guest appearances in television series including Trailer Park Boys , Producing Parker , Soul Food , Mutant X , and most notable The Playboy Club (2011) playing Tina Turner and singing two of Turner's signature songs, "Shake a Tail Feather" and "I Want to Be Made Over". [3] As regular, she first starred in the final season of the CBC sitcom Material World from 1992 to 1993. She appeared in 2000 fantasy-comedy film Santa Who? starring Leslie Nielsen. She co-starred in a number of made-for-television movies, including Snap Decision (2001), Guilt by Association (2002), Lucky Day (2002), Martha: Behind Bars (2005), Knights of the South Bronx (2005), and Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome (2012). On stage, she has appeared in productions of Outrageous! , [4] Rent . [5] and Cinderella . [5] She has also performed as a backing vocalist for Chaka Khan, Rik Emmett and Glass Tiger. [5]
LeBlanc starred in the short-lived the CW drama series Runaway in 2006. For her recurring role in ReGenesis , she was nominated for Gemini Awards for Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series in 2008. [6] In 2009, LeBlanc received positive reviews and Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance in the drama film Nurse.Fighter.Boy . Her other film credits include Make It Happen (2008) and Dolan's Cadillac (2009). Also that year, she starred in the ABC drama series, Defying Gravity . [7] Her other series regular credits including Soul (2009), Shattered (2010–11), Cracked (2013), Insomnia (2018), Frontier (2017–18), and Ransom (2018-19). She also had a recurring roles in Motive , Trailer Park Boys and Killjoys . As regular, LeBlanc starred on the second season of Peacock series Departure in 2021, and in 2022 starred in the Oprah Winfrey Network prime time soap opera The Kings of Napa . [8] Also in 2022 had the role of as Dr. Lilly Crawford, in CBS's Fire Country. [9]
She was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Lead Performance in a Web Program or Series at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022 for the web series For the Record . [10]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Gemini Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Guest Role, Dramatic Series | ReGenesis | Nominated | [11] |
| 2009 | ACTRA Award | Outstanding Performance - Female | Nurse.Fighter.Boy | Nominated | [12] [13] |
| Atlantic Film Festival | Best Actress | Won | [14] | ||
| Canadian Screen Awards | Best Actress | Nominated | [15] | ||
| 2022 | Canadian Screen Awards | Best Supporting Performance, Web Program or Series | For the Record | Nominated | [10] |
| 2023 | Canadian Screen Awards | Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Program or Series | Departure | Nominated | [16] |