TORONTO — Canadian comedy icon Catherine O’Hara will be honoured by fellow Canadian performers when she is presented with the 2020 ACTRA National Award of Excellence on Saturday, April 18 during a special ceremony at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.
The ACTRA National Award of Excellence recognizes an ACTRA member’s career achievements and contribution to their fellow performers and Canada’s entertainment industry.
“Canadian actors are thrilled to honour our colleague, the multi-talented Catherine O’Hara, for her outstanding contribution to Canada’s entertainment industry,” said ACTRA’s national president, David Sparrow, in the news release. “From our beloved Canadian comedy series SCTV, to Best in Show, to playing ‘Moira’ on Schitt’s Creek for six award-winning seasons, Catherine’s body of work is truly exceptional.”
“As anyone who knows me will attest, I am forever boasting about all things Canadian,” Catherine O’Hara said in the release. “Thank you so much, fellow ACTRA members, if I wasn’t a good Canadian, I’d brag about this lovely honour, too.”
For her work as the eccentric and hilarious Moira Rose on the hit CBC series Schitt’s Creek, O’Hara has won four consecutive Canadian Screen Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, the 2016 ACTRA Toronto Award for Outstanding Performance, a 2019 Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, and 2020 SAG Award nominations for both Outstanding Performance in a Comedy Series by an Ensemble and Female Actor.
Other television credits include Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm and HBO’s Temple Grandin for which O’Hara earned Emmy, Satellite and SAG Award nominations.
O’Hara began her comedy career with Toronto’s Second City Theatre and, later with the troupe, which included fellow Schitt’s Creek star and 2010 ACTRA Award of Excellence recipient Eugene Levy, created the iconic Canadian sketch comedy show SCTV. Catherine earned four Emmy nominations and one win for her writing on SCTV.
O’Hara’s numerous film credits include Beetlejuice, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, The Life Before This, Where the Wild Things Are and many more. O’Hara collaborated with Christopher Guest and co-writer Eugene Levy four times on the critically acclaimed mockumentary films Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.
O’Hara joins past ACTRA National Award of Excellence winners including Jay Baruchel (2019), Molly Parker (2018), Kim Coates (2017), Neve Campbell (2016) and Jason Priestley (2015).
ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is the national union of professional performers working in English-language recorded media in Canada and represents the interests of more than 25,000 members across the country.
