Ann-Marie MacDonald (born October 29, 1958) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

playwright, author, actress, and broadcast host who lives in

Montreal, Quebec, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. MacDonald is the daughter of a member of Canada's military; she was born at an

air force base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

near

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the Rhine, the border with Fra ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. She is of partial Lebanese descent through her mother.

Life and career

MacDonald won the

Commonwealth Writers Prize Commonwealth Foundation presented a number of prizes between 1987 and 2011. The main award was called the Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was composed of two prizes: the Best Book Prize (overall and regional) was awarded from 1987 to 2011; the Best ...

for her first novel, '' Fall on Your Knees'' (1996), which was selected for Oprah Winfrey's Book Club in January 2002. MacDonald received the Governor General's Award for Drama, the

Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area. The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...

, and the

Canadian Authors Association The Canadian Authors Association is Canada's oldest association for writers and authors. The organization has published several periodicals, organized local chapters and events for Canadian writers, and sponsors writing awards, including the Gover ...

Drama Award for her play, '' Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)''. MacDonald hosted the CBC documentary series '' Life and Times'' for seven seasons. MacDonald also hosted CBC's flagship documentary program, ''

Doc Zone ''Doc Zone'' was a documentary series on CBC Television which showed both independently produced and in-house productions. It was presented by the author, actor and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald. The series started in 2006 and concluded in 2015 ...

'' for eight seasons. She appeared in the films ''

I've Heard the Mermaids Singing ''I've Heard the Mermaids Singing'' is a 1987 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Sheila McCarthy, Paule Baillargeon, and Ann-Marie MacDonald. It was the first English-language Canadian feature film to win an a ...

'' and ''

Better Than Chocolate ''Better Than Chocolate'' is a 1999 Canadian romantic comedy film shot in Vancouver and directed by Anne Wheeler. Plot Maggie ( Karyn Dwyer) has moved out on her own and has started a relationship with Kim (Christina Cox). Maggie's mother Lila ...

'', among others. MacDonald's 2003 novel, '' The Way the Crow Flies'', was partly inspired by the Steven Truscott case. Her third novel '' Adult Onset'' was released in 2014 and has been translated into five languages. Her fourth novel ''Fayne'' was published in 2022. She was the inaugural Mordecai Richler Reading Room Writer in Residence at Concordia University, and she coaches students in the Acting and Playwriting Programs at the

National Theatre School of Canada The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, french: École nationale de théâtre du Canada) is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants ...

. In 2008, MacDonald was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

of humanities by the

University of Windsor , mottoeng = Goodness, Discipline and Knowledge , established = , academic_affiliations = CARL, COU, Universities Canada , former_names = Assumption College (1857-1956)Assumption University of Windsor (1956-1963) , type = Public universi ...

. In May 2015, MacDonald was the "big-name author" and "public face" of the inaugural Canadian Authors for Indies Day, organized to bring attention to

independent bookstores An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, c ...

across the country. Nearly 100 stores and 270 authors participated in the nationwide event. In December 2018, MacDonald was named as an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

, in recognition of "her multi-faceted contributions to the arts in Canada and for her advocacy of

LGBTQ+ ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...

and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

". MacDonald is married to the Canadian playwright and theatre director

Alisa Palmer Alisa Palmer is a Canadian theatre director and playwright. She was the artistic director of Nightwood Theatre from 1993 to 2001. Palmer is currently the artistic director of the English section of the National Theatre School of Canada. Early l ...

Works

Theatre

* '' This is For You, Anna'' - 1983 (play, collective creation) * ''Nancy Drew, The Case of the Missing Mother'' - 1984 (play, co-authored with

Beverley Cooper Beverley Cooper is a Canadian actor, director, dramaturg, and playwright who works in film, radio, television, and theatre. Acting Cooper trained in acting and graduated from Studio 58 in Vancouver in 1979. In 1982, ''Toronto Star'' critic Gina M ...

) * ''Clue in the Fast Lane'' - 1985 (play, co-authored with Beverley Cooper) * '' Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)'' – 1988 (play) * '' The Arab's Mouth'' – 1990 (play) * '' Nigredo Hotel'' – 1992 (opera libretto) * '' The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls'' – 1995 (play, co-authored with

Jennifer Brewin Jennifer Brewin is a Canadian writer, director, and artistic director. She is known for co-creating ''The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls'' and her other work with Common Boots Theatre, formerly known as Theatre Columbus and the Caravan F ...

, Martha Ross, Leah Cherniak, and

) * ''

Anything That Moves ''Anything That Moves'' was a literary, journalistic, and topical magazine published in the United States from 1990 to 2001. The magazine's mission was to confront and redefine concepts of sexuality and gender, to defy stereotypes and broad defin ...

'' – 2000 (book and lyrics for musical) * '' Belle Moral'' – 2005 (play; a substantially revised version of ''The Arab's Mouth'' (above))

Novels

* '' Fall on Your Knees'' (1996) * '' The Way the Crow Flies'' (2003) * '' Adult Onset'' (2014) * ''Fayne'' (2022)

Filmography

Films

* '' The Wars'' (1983) * '' Unfinished Business'' (1984) * ''

'' (1987) * ''

Where the Spirit Lives ''Where the Spirit Lives'' is a 1989 television film about Aboriginal children in Canada being taken from their tribes to attend residential schools for assimilation into majority culture. Written by Keith Ross Leckie and directed by Bruce ...

'' (1989) * '' Where the Heart Is'' (1990) * ''

Paint Cans ''Paint Cans'' is a 1994 Canadian comedy film written, produced and directed by Paul Donovan and based on his book of the same name. A satire of Canadian film and television production, the film stars Chas Lawther as Wick Burns, a bureaucrat in ...

'' (1994) * '' Getting Away with Murder'' (1996) * ''

'' (1999) * ''The Girlfriend Interviews'' (short, 2001) * ''Interviews with My Next Girlfriend'' (short, 2002)

Television (as actress or host)

* '' Rubberface'' (TV movie, 1981) * ''Mafia Princess'' (TV movie, 1986) * '' Hot Shots'' (TV series, 1986) * ''

Airwolf ''Airwolf'' is an American action military drama television series that centers on a high-technology military helicopter, code-named ''Airwolf'', and its crew. The show follows them as they undertake various exotic missions, many involving e ...

'' (TV series, 1987) * '' Adderly'' (TV series, 1987) * ''

Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future ''Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future'' is a science fiction-action television series, merging live action with animation based on computer-generated images, that ran for 22 episodes in Canadian and American syndication. A toy line was ...

'' (TV series, 1987) * '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' (TV series, 1987–1989) * ''

Diamonds Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, bu ...

'' (TV series, 1988) * '' Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop'' (TV series, 1988–1991) * '' Street Legal'' (TV series, 1990) * '' Beyond Reality'' (TV series, 1991–1992) * '' E.N.G.'' (TV series, 1992–1993) * '' Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story'' (TV movie, 1993) * '' The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story'' (TV movie, 1994) * '' Due South'' (TV series, 1995) * ''Friends at Last'' (TV movie, 1995) * ''Her Desperate Choice'' (TV movie, 1996) * '' Life and Times'' (TV documentary series host, 1996–2006) * ''Too Close to Home'' (TV movie, 1997) * ''A Taste of Shakespeare'' (TV series, 1997) * '' The Industry'' (TV series, 2003) * ''The Unsexing of Emma Edmonds'' (TV movie, 2004) * ''

The L Word ''The L Word'' is a television drama that aired on Showtime from January 18, 2004 to March 8, 2009. The series follows the lives of a group of lesbian and bisexual women who live in West Hollywood, California. The premise originated with Ilene ...

'' (TV series, 2006) * ''

Slings & Arrows ''Slings & Arrows'' is a Canadian television series set at the fictional New Burbage Festival, a Shakespearean festival similar to the real-world Stratford Festival. It stars Paul Gross, Stephen Ouimette and Martha Burns. Rachel McAdams appeared ...

'' (TV series, 2006) * ''

'' (TV documentary series host, 2009–2015)

Television (as writer)

* '' Street Legal'' (TV series, 1988) * '' Beyond Reality'' (TV series, 1992) * '' Ready or Not'' (TV series, 1994–1995)

References

External links

Ann-Marie MacDonald official website

Ann-Marie MacDonald's
entry in

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

*
Publisher's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Ann-Marie 1958 births Living people Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian film actresses Canadian women novelists Canadian television hosts Governor General's Award-winning dramatists Canadian lesbian actresses Canadian lesbian writers LGBT broadcasters from Canada 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists LGBT dramatists and playwrights Canadian LGBT novelists Officers of the Order of Canada People from Baden-Baden Canadian television journalists 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Canadian people of Lebanese descent Canadian expatriates in Germany Expatriate actresses in Germany Canadian women television personalities Canadian women television journalists Canadian women television hosts Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Canadian Screen Award winners 21st-century LGBT people