Karen LeBlanc

Last updated
Karen LeBlanc
Karen LeBlanc.jpg
LeBlanc in 2017
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Actress, singer
Years active1992–present

Karen LeBlanc is a Canadian film, television and musical theatre actress.

Contents

Early life

LeBlanc grew up in Tottenham, Ontario to family from Nova Scotia. She attended the musical theatre program at Sheridan College. [1] [2]

Career

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]

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryNominated workResultRef.
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 ActressWon [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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wendy Crewson</span> Canadian actress

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Linda Cardellini</span> American actress (born 1975)

Linda Edna Cardellini is an American actress. In television, she is best known for her starring roles on Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), ER (2003–2009) and Bloodline (2015–2017), as well as her portrayal of Judy Hale on Netflix's Dead to Me (2019–2022), for which she earned a nomination for the 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. She also appeared as Sylvia Rosen on AMC's Mad Men between 2013–2015, receiving an Emmy nomination in the category of Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.

Helen Shaver is a Canadian actress and film and television director. After appearing in a number of Canadian movies, she received a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress for her performance in the romantic drama In Praise of Older Women (1978). She later appeared in the films The Amityville Horror (1979), The Osterman Weekend (1983), Desert Hearts (1985), The Color of Money (1986), The Believers (1987), The Craft (1996),Tremors 2: Aftershocks (1996) and Down River (2013). She received another Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress nomination for the 1986 drama film Lost!, and won a Best Supporting Actress for We All Fall Down (2000). Shaver also starred in some short-lived television series, including United States (1980) and Jessica Novak (1981), and from 1996 to 1999 starred in the Showtime horror series, Poltergeist: The Legacy, for which she received a Saturn Award for Best Actress on Television nomination.

Patricia Colleen Nelligan, known professionally as Kate Nelligan, is a Canadian stage, film and television actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1991 film The Prince of Tides, and the same year won the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Frankie and Johnny. She is also a four-time Tony Award nominee for her work on Broadway, receiving nominations for Plenty (1983), A Moon for the Misbegotten (1984), Serious Money (1988) and Spoils of War (1989).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molly Parker</span> Canadian actress

Molly Parker is a Canadian actress, writer, and director. She garnered critical attention for her portrayal of a necrophiliac medical student in the controversial drama Kissed (1996). She subsequently starred in the television thriller Intensity (1997) before landing her first major American film role in the drama Waking the Dead (2000). She gained further notice for her role as a Las Vegas escort in the drama The Center of the World (2001), for which she was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tina Keeper</span> Canadian actress, producer and former politician

Tina Keeper, OM is a Cree actress, film producer and former politician from Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicole Stamp</span> Canadian actress

Nicole Stamp is a Canadian actress, filmmaker, actor, filmmaker, playwright, and television host.

Julie Anne Stewart is a Canadian stage, film, television and voice actress, and director. She is most commonly known for her role as Sgt. Ali McCormick from the CTV television series Cold Squad.

Back Alley Film Productions is a television production company founded by Janis Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell and based in Toronto, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec Canada. Founded in 1989, Back Alley is a creator and producer of original content for television with programming available in more than 120 countries worldwide.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best leading performance by an actor in a Canadian television series. Previously presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television to the best leading performance by an actress in a Canadian television series. Previously presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards.

The Donald Brittain Award is a Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to honour the year's best television documentary on a social or political topic. Formerly presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards. The award may be presented to either a standalone broadcast of a documentary film, or to an individual full-length episode of a news or documentary series; documentary films which originally premiered theatrically, but were not already submitted for consideration in a CSA film category before being broadcast on television, are also considered television films for the purposes of the award.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor in Comedy Series is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best leading performance by an actor in a Canadian television comedy series.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Actress in Comedy Series is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best leading performance by an actress in a Canadian television comedy series.

Theresa Tova is a Canadian actress, singer and playwright. She is most noted for her play Still the Night, which won several Dora Mavor Moore Awards in 1997 and was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 1999 Governor General's Awards.

Karen Robinson is a British-Canadian film, television, and stage actress. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her appearance on the television series Mary Kills People. She also won a 2021 Screen Actors Guild Award as part of the Schitt's Creek cast.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress in Comedy Series is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best performance by an actress in a supporting role in a Canadian television comedy series.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series or Program is an annual Canadian television award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best supporting performance by an actress in a Canadian dramatic television series or television film. Previously presented as part of the Gemini Awards, since 2013 it has been presented as part of the Canadian Screen Awards.

Patricia Collins is a British-Canadian actress, prominently associated with the Stratford Festival.

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.

References

  1. Before Nurse.Fighter.Boy, Karen LeBlanc wore many hats The Georgia Straight
  2. Biography Karenleblanc.com
  3. Mike Hale (2011-09-18). "Cigars? Cigarettes? Catty Rivalries?". New York Times . Archived from the original on 2015-02-13. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  4. "New Musical, Outrageous, Has World Premiere in Toronto Sept. 19-Oct. 21". Playbill , September 19, 2000.
  5. 1 2 3 Ken Eisner (2009-02-04). "Before Nurse.Fighter.Boy, Karen LeBlanc wore many hats". Georgia Straight. Archived from the original on 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  6. "Karen LeBlanc". IMDb.
  7. Lesley Goldberg (2012-03-09). "ABC's 'Beauty and the Beast' Adds 'Defying Gravity' Actress". The Hollywood Reporter . Archived from the original on 2014-08-27. Retrieved 2015-02-12.
  8. Petski, Denise (April 8, 2021). "'The Kings Of Napa': Ebonee Noel, Rance Nix, Karen LeBlanc, Yaani King Mondschein To Star In OWN Drama".
  9. Coffman, Taylor (2023-01-17). "Amazon Adds Sharon Taylor to 'Cross' for Re-Casting". The Nerd Stash. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  10. 1 2 Brent Furdyk, "2022 Canadian Screen Award Nominees Announced, ‘Sort Of’ & ‘Scarborough’ Lead The Pack". ET Canada , February 15, 2022.
  11. "The Gemini nominees are..." at Playback: Canada's Broadcast and Production Journal (29 Sept, 2008) Retrieved from ProQuest   196342946
  12. "Dreamer. Director. Acting Coach" by Jennie Punter, The Globe and Mail (9 Feb, 2009) Retrieved from ProQuest   382653468
  13. "Actors nominate Baby, Nurse" by Marise Strauss at playbackonline.ca
  14. "Quebec tale of 10-year-old boy wins prizes at Atlantic film fest". Canadian Press, September 19, 2008.
  15. Cassandra Szklarski, "Denis Villeneuve's 'Polytechnique' lands leading 11 Genie nominations". Canadian Press, March 1, 2010.
  16. Vlessing, Etan (February 22, 2023). "Canadian Screen Awards: TV Drama 'The Porter' Leads With 19 Nominations".