The
Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress was awarded by the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television
The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...
from 1980 to 1983, for the best performance by non-
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 ...
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...
in a Canadian film.
The award and its
Foreign Actor companion were frequently criticized both by actors and film critics — Canadian actor
Christopher Plummer
Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...
criticized the distinction in his
Best Actor acceptance speech at the first Genies ceremony, and
Jay Scott
Jeffrey Scott Beaven (October 4, 1949 – July 30, 1993), known professionally by his pen name Jay Scott, was a Canadian film critic."Critic Jay Scott, 43 among world's best". ''Toronto Star'', July 31, 1993.
Early life
Scott was born in Lincol ...
called them "loathsome", dubbing them "the Colonial Category", in a 1982 article in ''
The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
''.
Jay Scott
Jeffrey Scott Beaven (October 4, 1949 – July 30, 1993), known professionally by his pen name Jay Scott, was a Canadian film critic."Critic Jay Scott, 43 among world's best". ''Toronto Star'', July 31, 1993.
Early life
Scott was born in Lincol ...
, "Canadian films do Jekyll and Hyde act". ''The Globe and Mail
''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', February 27, 1982.
The awards were discontinued after the end of the
4th Genie Awards
The 4th annual Genie Awards were held March 23, 1983, at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. The ceremony was hosted by comedian Dave Thomas."Thomas goes genteel for Genies". ''The Globe and Mail'', March 19, 1983.
''The Grey Fox'' was the ...
.
["Genie rules changed to include Americans". '']Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and pa ...
'', October 9, 1985. Initially, non-Canadian actresses were simply barred from being nominated in acting categories at all,
[ but beginning with the 7th Genie Awards non-Canadian actresses instead became eligible for the and/or the .][
]
Winners and nominees
References
{{Canadian Screen Awards