Dame Gladys Constance Cooper, was an English actress, theatrical manager and producer, whose career spanned seven decades on stage, in films and on television.
George Elroy Boyd was a playwright and a former co-host of the CBC Morning News. He was the first black national news anchor in Canada, working as an original anchor of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Newsworld, which launched in 1989.
Canada's contemporary theatre reflects a rich diversity of regional and cultural identities. Since the late 1960s, there has been a concerted effort to develop the voice of the 'Canadian playwright', which is reflected in the nationally focused programming of many of the country's theatres. Within this 'Canadian voice' are a plurality of perspectives - that of the First Nations, new immigrants, French Canadians, sexual minorities, etc. - and a multitude of theatre companies have been created to specifically service and support these voices.
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as Afrika Solo, the first stage play to be written by a Canadian woman of African descent; its sequel Harlem Duet; and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. The complexities of intersecting identities of race and gender are central themes in her works, as well as inclusion of songs, rhythm, and choruses shaped from West African traditions. She is also passionate about "the preservation of Black theatre history," and involved in the creation of organizations like the Obsidian Theatre and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.
Holly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio.
Esther "Essie" Davis is an Australian actress and singer, best known for her roles as Phryne Fisher in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and its film adaptation, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, and as Amelia Vanek in The Babadook. Other major works include a recurring role as Lady Crane in season six of the television series Game of Thrones, Sister Iphigenia in Lambs of God, and the role of Ellen Kelly in Justin Kurzel's True History of the Kelly Gang.
Denise Filiatrault, is a Canadian actress and director.
Lorena Gale was a Canadian actress, playwright and theatre director. She was active onstage and in films and television since the 1980s. She also authored two award-winning plays, Angélique and Je me souviens.
Judith Clare Thompson, OC is a Canadian playwright. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canada, the Walter Carsen Performing Arts Award, the Toronto Arts Award, The Epilepsy Ontario Award, The B'nai B'rith Award, the Dora, the Chalmers, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, both for Palace of the End, which premiered at Canadian Stage, and has been produced all over the world in many languages. She has received honorary doctorates from Thorneloe University and, in November 2016, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
Marianne Letitia Ackerman is a Canadian novelist, playwright, and journalist. Mankind and Other Stories of Women, her fifth work of prose fiction, was published by Guernica Editions in 2016. Her play Triplex Nervosa premiered at Centaur Theatre in April 2015. Triplex Nervosa Trilogy was published by Guernica in 2020.
Seana McKenna is a Canadian actress primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Salome Bey was a U.S.-born Canadian singer-songwriter, composer, and actress who lived in Toronto, Ontario, since 1966.
Susan Irene Glover is a Canadian actress, best known for playing Sarah in Naked Josh. She is also known for voicing Mrs. Wood in Arthur, Izabella Dehavalot in Amazon Jack, Mrs. Schuman in Spaced Out, Mrs. Larkin in later episodes of What's With Andy? (2003–2007), Tubby's mom in The Little Lulu Show, Lucille in Samurai Pizza Cats, General Jinjur in the 1986 anime The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Miss Dalee in My Goldfish is Evil.
John Paterson is a Canadian director, devisor, dramaturg, translator, actor and theatre creator who works across Canada, the United Kingdom, and internationally. His favourite credits include directing the installation of The List (BoucheWHACKED!), the site-specific The Women of Troy and F. Garcia Lorca’s The Love of Don Perlimplin for Belisa ; production dramaturgy on the English language premiere of H. Muller’s Macbeth: nach Shakespeare; and playing Adolf Hitler and Walt Disney in The Blue Light and Scheffler in The Ugly One.
Imago Theatre is a professional feminist theatre company based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The company was founded in 1987 by Andres Hausmann, Ray Tomalty, and Kelly Patterson, and is now led by the current Artistic and Executive Director, Krista Jackson. Imago Theatre is a catalyst for conversation, an advocate for gender inclusion and a space that centres feminist values and artistic practices. Imago's ethos is that by holding space for gender-inclusivity and giving power to women and gender-diverse people, art can create a more inclusive, safe, compassionate world.
Rosemary Dunsmore is a Canadian TV, film, and theatre actress, director, and educator. She was awarded a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her 1982 performance in Straight Ahead/Blind Dancers. In 2009 she won the ACTRA Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film The Baby Formula. She has starred in some well-known Canadian productions, including The Campbells, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, Road to Avonlea, Mom P.I., Murdoch Mysteries and Orphan Black.
Alexander Hausvater is a Romanian-Canadian stage director.
The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God is a drama written and produced by Canadian playwright Djanet Sears. The production ran from October 2003-March 2004, co-produced by Obsidian Theatre and Nightwood Theatre, and was reprised in 2015 at the National Arts Centre and Centaur Theatre. A print version of this play was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2003.
Micheline Chevrier is a bilingual Canadian theatre director, artistic director, dramaturge, mentor and teacher in Montreal.
