Barbara Budd (born May 23, 1951) is a

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

actress, narrator and radio announcer. Between 1993 and April 30, 2010, she was the co-host of

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

's '' As It Happens''.

Early life

Budd was born in

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the most populous city in Canada's Niagara Region, the eighth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2021, St. Catharines has an area of and 136,803 residents. It lies in Southern Ontario, south of Toronto ac ...

. She studied theatre performance at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

degree in 1974.

Career

Budd worked for five seasons as a company member at Canada's

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...

under Robin Phillips (1975–1980), most notably playing Cathleen in a 1977 production of ''

Long Day's Journey into Night ''Long Day's Journey into Night'' is a play in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill in 1939–1941 and first published posthumously in 1956. It is widely regarded as his magnum opus and one of the great American plays of the ...

'' and Emilia in a 1979 production of ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

''. She continued to act for other theatre companies, and had minor film roles, in the 1980s before joining CBC Radio, for whom she worked as a

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

and substitute host, as well as an occasional guest performer on '' Royal Canadian Air Farce''."Budd to cohost As It Happens". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', September 16, 1993. Three of her guest appearances with Air Farce appear on the troupe's 1990 album '' To Air Is Human, To Farce Divine''.''To Air Is Human, To Farce Divine''
at airfarce.com. In one of her most famous sketches with ''Air Farce'', a businessman befuddled by the complexities of the new GST calls the government's information line; Budd plays the customer service representative, who answers his tax questions in the steamy and seductive tone of a

phone sex Phone sex is a conversation between two or more people by means of the telephone which is sexually explicit and is intended to provoke sexual arousal in one or more participants. As a practice between individuals temporarily separated, it is as ...

operator. She joined ''As It Happens'', succeeding Alan Maitland, in 1993. She had done voice work on animations including shows such as '' RoboCop: The Animated Series'', ''

Dinosaucers ''Dinosaucers'' is a 1987 animated television series co-produced in the United States and Canada; developed and produced by DIC Animation City in association with Lightyear Entertainment and Coca-Cola Telecommunications. The show was created b ...

'', '' Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends'', '' Stunt Dawgs'', ''

Babar Babar (), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ''babr'' (Persian ...

'', ''

The New Archies ''The New Archies'' is an American animated sitcom produced by DIC Entertainment, DIC Animation City, based upon the characters by Archie Comics. The series, originally produced for NBC's Saturday-morning cartoon, Saturday morning schedule and br ...

'', '' Rupert'', '' Little Shop'', ''

Blazing Dragons ''Blazing Dragons'' is an animated television series created by Terry Jones and Gavin Scott, and co-produced by Nelvana, Ellipse Animation, & Carlton Television. A coinciding graphic adventure video game was released for the original PlayStati ...

'', '' Stickin' Around'', ''

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

'', ''

Ultraforce The Ultraforce is a fictional superhero group that appears in American comic books published by Malibu, and later Marvel. The purpose of the group was to protect the public and keep other "Ultras" (superheroes) from becoming unruly. The group co ...

'', ''

Pippi Longstocking Pippi Longstocking () is the fictional main character in a series of children's books by Swedish author Astrid Lindgren. Pippi was named by Lindgren's daughter Karin, who asked her mother for a get-well story when she was off school. Pippi is ...

'', ''

Bob and Margaret ''Bob and Margaret'' is an adult animated sitcom created by David Fine and Alison Snowden and co-produced by Nelvana Limited and Channel 4 as a collaboration, both financial and artistic. The last two seasons were co-produced without Channel 4 ...

'', and '' Little Rosey'', and provided the voice of "Skyress" on ''

Bakugan Battle Brawlers is a Japanese anime television series produced by Nelvana Animation and TMS Entertainment under the direction of Mitsuo Hashimoto. The story centers on the lives of creatures called Bakugan and the "battle brawlers" who possess the ...

''. She continues to narrate documentary films, recordings, and classical music concerts. On the March 29, 2010 episode of ''As It Happens'' she announced that she would be leaving the show on April 30 as CBC had elected not to renew her contract, and asked listeners to send her a photo so she could "put a face to the ears". She subsequently revealed that she was never a permanent employee of CBC Radio, but spent her entire tenure with the network as a freelance contractor. Since departing CBC Radio, Budd has returned to

Stratford, Ontario Stratford is a city on the Avon River (Ontario), Avon River within Perth County, Ontario, Perth County in southwestern Ontario, Canada, with a 2021 Canadian census, 2021 population of 33,232 in a land area of . Stratford is the County seat, s ...

, where in addition to her ongoing work as host, moderating panel discussions and appearing as a guest speaker, she is writing a book.

Awards

In 2009, Budd received the Bryden Award by

as an alumnus who has attained extraordinary achievements and made remarkable contributions to York. Budd received

ACTRA The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is a Canadian trade union representing performers in English-language media. It has over 30,000 members working in film, television, radio, and all other recorded media. Th ...

's John Drainie Award in 2011 for her distinguished contribution to Canadian broadcasting.Barbara Budd wins ACTRA award

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, May 2, 2011.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Budd, Barbara Canadian television actresses Canadian voice actresses Classical music radio presenters York University alumni Living people CBC Radio hosts Actresses from Ontario Actors from St. Catharines Royal Canadian Air Farce 1951 births Canadian Shakespearean actresses Canadian women radio hosts