St. John’s, NL (March 8, 2022) — ACTRA Newfoundland is delighted to honour the extraordinary Ruth Lawrence for International Women’s Day 2022.
“Ruth is one of the hardest working individuals in this community and not only has she provided opportunity for herself, but she has provided for others and has had a generally nurturing attitude toward helping others. She has helped grow our numbers and has strengthened the unity of our union by staying positive, productive, and inclusive.” ACTRA Council Member, Andy Malone.
Ruth has managed to reach extraordinary heights in a time when heights are even more out of reach than usual. Pandemic? What pandemic? In the last year alone, Ruth and her company, Blue Pinion Films, have been a producer-director of the Bell Fibe productions, Tales from the Floordrobe, Beers with the By’s, We Are Here, Isthisanology, and The Adventures of Gary and Lou. She also served as a producer of The Missus Downstairs for Torbay Ponies and directed and produced the digital adaptation of The Cut of It with her company White Rooster Theatre of which she is Artistic Director. On top of all that, Ruth has had a hand in casting commercials, as well as background and principal performers for several of the many projects that filmed in NL this past year. She has worked tirelessly as a writer, director, casting director, producer, and actor – she was wonderful as the record producer in episode two of the past season of Hudson and Rex.
Her extraordinary year was preceded by a rich history as a director/writer/actor/producer in film and theatre. Some highlights include her feature film directorial debut in 2020, Little Orphans, which premiered in theatres across the country and was the winner of the Borsos Competition at the Whistler Film Festival for Best Canadian Feature; the 2019 release of her first CBC-TV documentary, Circus by Komatik; and the 2018 portmanteau feature, Hopeless Romantic, for which she was a writer-director. In addition, Ruth directed the Ennis Sisters’ music video, Shine Your Light for the 100th anniversary of the CMHA and the short film, Talus & Scree. She wrote and performed in the short film Sweet Pickle, and served as a co-producer on the feature film, Hunting Pignut which went on to win two best feature awards. Ruth is also a former Festival Director of the Nickel Independent Film Festival and one of the founders of the Women’s Work Festival. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Ruth’s involvement in the industry and what she had achieved during her career.
Ruth has been an ACTRA member since 1996. She served on the ACTRA NL council for 25 years, 6 of those years as National Councillor during which time she also spent a year as National Treasurer. She finally took over the reins of the ACTRA NL Presidency from 2020 – 2022. During her tenure she was instrumental in the development of the CAPE Fund and saw the membership reach the 300 mark, among many other significant milestones.
An advocate for gender equality and equity, increased work opportunity, diversity and inclusion, and professional development for all, Ruth is always the first to lend her support to fundraising initiatives and promote the work of all local artists. There is little that happens in the arts community that is not supported by Ruth in some way and ACTRA NL is beyond thrilled to shine the light on her today. She is a champion of all, a tireless leader, a true cultural ambassador.
ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is the national organization of professional performers working in the English-language recorded media in Canada. ACTRA represents the interests of over 28,000 members across Canada – the foundation of Canada’s highly acclaimed professional performing community.
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