TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) has chosen Jean Freeman as its 2014 Woman of the Year.
Each year ACTRA’s Women’s Committee bestows this honour on a woman who has shone both in her artistic and advocacy achievements. Freeman is the fifth recipient of the award, and joins past winners Shirley Douglas, Tantoo Cardinal, Sandi Ross and Mary Walsh.
Freeman may best known to Canadian television audiences as the Mayor’s grandmother on the hit CTV series Corner Gas, a role she played for six years. She was the first actor to join the Saskatchewan branch of ACTRA in 1967 and has been named a Life Member of the union, as well as the Canadian Public Relations Society, the Regina Women’s Network and Regina Little Theatre. She was one of the first employees of CKCK-TV and later became a CBC Radio on-air personality on Matinee Comment in Winnipeg and Regina.
Her list of honours includes a lifetime achievement award in the Mayor’s Arts & Business Awards, Woman of Distinction from the Regina YWCA and the Trimark Canadian Women's Mentor Arts and Culture Award. Freeman co-authored ‘Fists Upon a Star: A Memoir of Love, Theatre and Escape From McCarthyism’ with the late theatre pioneer Florence Bean James, which has been short-listed for a 2014 Saskatchewan Book Award. Her children’s book ‘Terror on Turtle Creek’ has also been short-listed.
“Jean Freeman is not only an accomplished actor, she is a writer, a communicator and a pioneer in the Saskatchewan film and television industry,” said ACTRA national president Ferne Downey, in the announcement. “When trouble came to Saskatchewan with the provincial government dismantling the film and television tax credit incentives, Jean fought back. We applaud Jean for the vision and strength she has provided to her union and the province’s whole entertainment industry.”
“After 47 gratifying and rewarding years as a member of ACTRA, this honour is definitely the high point of all we’ve been through together,” added Freeman. “As my friends in Dog River might say, ‘It’s like lightning in a bottle – or maybe a jam jar!’”
