Andrea Martin’s journey to stage and display stardom on Broadway and in Hollywood got here full circle Thursday when she acquired a tribute at The Hollywood Reporter’s Ladies in Leisure Canada gala in Toronto inside eyeshot of the Royal Alexander Theatre, the place a unusual 1972 Toronto staging of Godspell she carried out in turned a life-changing expertise.
“Basically this newly minted Canadian icon is a person who just got lucky,” Martin mentioned from a stage on the Ritz-Carlton Lodge in Toronto, throughout a downtown sq. from the Royal Alex. Martin was honored with the Icon Award on the WIE Canada occasion, which acknowledges Canadian cultural achievements that superior larger illustration of girls within the media and leisure business and inventive visions that attain world audiences.
“I was cast in the Canadian company of Godspell, and found myself surrounded with a great company of actors who became my friends for life, who have always spoken the truth to me, whether I wanted to hear it or not, and have been there for me, as I have for them, for over 50 years,” Martin recalled.
American-born Martin performed Robin within the Toronto run for the enduring hippie musical alongside fellow forged members Victor Garber, Martin Quick, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas and Jayne Eastwood, who helped current her award. Over a half-century later, that humble staging of the Godspell musical paved the best way for Martin, a Tony Award-winning stage actress for My Favourite 12 months and Pippin. In 1976, Martin joined the fledgling Second Metropolis comedy troupe, and after which carried out iconic sketch comedy roles on SCTV, which earned her two Emmy awards for writing.
“I landed in this country in 1970 and all my dreams came true. This country has given me endless opportunity to keep laughing, to grow, to entertain you,” Martin recalled after crossing over to Hollywood and happening to star within the My Large Fats Greek Wedding ceremony movie collection as Aunt Voula; stage her one-woman present Andrea Martin: Ultimate Days, The whole lot Should Go!; and likewise seem in Wag the Canine, Hedwig and the Indignant Inch, Sesame Road, Star Trek: Deep House 9 and SpongeBob SquarePants. Her most up-to-date credit embody Evil, Solely Murders within the Constructing, The Gilded Age and Overcompensating.
Additionally on the WIE Canada awards gala, Heated Rivalry writer Rachel Reid acquired a standing ovation when approaching stage on the Ritz Carlton Lodge to just accept the Changemaker Award for penning the e-book collection tailored into the favored Crave and HBO Max romance drama about homosexual hockey gamers performed on TV by Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie.
She talked about why girls specifically are drawn to her romance novels, and the TV adaptation that has grow to be an unbelievable breakout TV hit. “To me, it’s very obvious why women would want to watch a show where the sex scenes are full of consent and caretaking and checking in and mutual pleasure,” Reid defined. “I write books about men, I wouldn’t say I write them for women specifically, but I write them knowing that women will appreciate these characters, and I write them as a way to explore the ways patriarchy toxic masculinity harm us all,” she added.
Additionally honored in Toronto was Malin Akerman, who acquired the Icon Award as she stars as manipulative socialite Margo Banks within the Netflix collection adaptation of The Searching Wives from Lionsgate and three Arts Leisure, and the place she was welcomed on stage by co-star Brittany Snow.
As a Toronto-raised artist with world attain, Akerman talked about being a girls in Hollywood the place a fixation on youth and ageism have lengthy been a actuality. “I really do believe that this industry has changed. The expiration on women has been long extended and, if anything, we’re seeing more and more incredible roles for women of a certain age,” she mentioned. “When women believe in ourselves and empower one another, then that impacts all of us.”
One other emotional second got here when Lily Singh, a YouTube star turned late-night TV host with NBC’s A Little Late and now a part-owner of the WNBA’s enlargement workforce, the Toronto Tempo, acquired the Fairness in Leisure Award. “Let’s be real. Every time people say words like equity and entertainment, someone out there a guy with a podcast mic is rolling his eyes,” Singh mentioned as soon as on stage.
“I want every gatekeeper and every person who dismisses this conversation to understand, this is not about billboards, it’s not about red carpets. It’s not about celebrities wanting applause for being diverse,” she continued. “I do believe everyone deserves those defining moments when they watch something and they feel an indescribable shift within them, where they feel seen, touched, healed, or empowered,” Singh added.
Halfway by means of the awards present, Jeanie Pyun, deputy editorial director at The Hollywood Reporter, welcomed onto the stage on the 2026 Women in Entertainment Canada Energy Checklist spotlighting the executives and creatives shaping the Canadian media and leisure business.
“The Hollywood Reporter‘s Women in Entertainment Canada event gets bigger and better every year. It’s so gratifying to feel the community and see the growth in the industry and not the incredible honorees, with Andrea Martin doing a Hamilton routine,” Pyun mentioned after Martin rapped a music and dance routine on stage to sum up her stellar profession.
Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril, Canadian Inuk producers of the indigenous comedy North of North now headed to season two on the CBC and Netflix, acquired the Breakthrough Award on the WIE Canada gala.
“There weren’t a lot of paths for Inuk filmmakers to get into this industry, we had to carve them for ourselves,” Arnaquq-Baril recalled as they needed to prepare and impressed Indigenous actors, storytellers, clothes designers, musicians, comedians and different Canadian creatives. “Those years of hauling gear through snowstorms and trying to convince people Inuit stories weren’t too niche has finally paid off,” Aglok MacDonald added.
Additionally applauded was the second WIE CAN Mentorship class for 2026, with 5 younger girls – Jessica Landry, Anisha Kumar, Sarah-Nicole Bolduc, Kianah Lecuyer and Janet-Rose Nguyen – introduced on stage, whereas within the viewers their business instructors and mentors serving to them be taught new abilities and advance their careers had been additionally acknowledged.
