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First person singular On VisionTV's Credo ,
famous Canadians recall the experiences that tested their beliefs
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Guests |
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KIM PHUC - May 29
She is the girl in the picture. In 1972, Kim Phuc’s village in Vietnam was blasted with napalm. The famous Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of a badly burned Kim fleeing the attack, naked and screaming in pain, remains an indelible image of the horror of war. Just nine years old when that picture was snapped, Kim Phuc is now a mother of two living in Canada, and a tireless advocate for peace. She travels the world as a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO and has established the Kim Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping young victims of war. She says it was faith in God that helped to heal her physical and emotional wounds and enabled her to find forgiveness in her heart.
>>Website: www.kimfoundation.com
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ROBERT SAWYER - June 5, 2006
Author Robert J. Sawyer has been called “the dean of Canadian science fiction.” He has published 15 novels, and garnered more than two dozen national and international writing awards. In the tradition of great science fiction, his books offer unique perspectives on contemporary issues – among them racism, abortion and new reproductive technologies. Though now an agnostic, Sawyer was raised a Unitarian and has explored questions of faith and spirituality in novels such as Calculating God (about aliens who try to prove the existence of the divine) and The Terminal Experiment (in which the hero finds scientific proof for the existence of the soul).
Robert J. Sawyer wins HUGO AWARD for Best Novel of the Year
Robert J. Sawyer's book "Hominids" recently won the Hugo Award, the world's top honour in science fiction, for Best Novel of the Year. "Hominids" is Sawyer's thirteenth novel, and is the first volume of his acclaimed Neanderthal Parallax trilogy. Sawyer's trilogy tells of a parallel Earth where Neanderthals survived to the present day and our kind of humanity did not. During the Hugo Award ceremony, Sawyer also won Japan's top science-fiction award, the Seiun, for best foreign novel of the year. That win was for his book "Illegal Alien", that had its first Japanese edition in 2002. This was Sawyer's third Seiun win.
>>Website: www.sfwriter.com
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DIANE DUPUY -June 12, 2006
Diane Dupuy is the founder and president of Toronto’s Famous People Players, a renowned black light theatre company that combines music and puppetry to pay tribute to popular entertainers. Dupuy established the troupe in 1974 to create opportunities for the disabled, and to this day most of the performers are people with developmental challenges. Over the years, the company has appeared on Broadway, toured all over the world, and been the subject of both a TV movie and an Emmy Award-winning documentary. Celebrities such as Liberace, Bill Cosby, Paul Newman and Phil Collins have numbered among its most enthusiastic supporters. Dupuy, who became a member of the Order of Canada in 1983, has been widely acclaimed for her ability to inspire others to realize their dreams.
>>Website: www.fpp.org
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FRED PENNER - September 23, May 18
If you’re the parent of a preschooler, then you’re probably on intimate terms with the work of Fred Penner. This Winnipeg-based children’s entertainer is a true multimedia phenomenon: In addition to recording a dozen albums (including his classic debut The Cat Came Back) and touring all over North America, he has written numerous books, released videos and a CD-ROM, and starred for 12 seasons in the acclaimed television series Fred Penner’s Place. A father of four (and a Member of the Order of Canada), Penner believes that touching children’s souls through music is his ministry.
>>Website: www.fredpenner.com
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JOHN KIM BELL - June 19, 2006
John Kim Bell’s journey has taken him from the Mohawk reserve of Kahnawake, near Montreal, to concert halls throughout North America. A gifted student of music, he began conducting Broadway musicals at the age of 18, and in 1980 joined the Toronto Symphony Orchestra as apprentice conductor – the first Aboriginal Canadian ever to hold such a position. Bell, who was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1997, is perhaps best known for his tireless efforts to help develop the talents of First Nations peoples and celebrate their accomplishments. He is the founder and former
President of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, which awards educational scholarships to young people, and the creator of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards.
>>Website: www.naaf.ca
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PAUL HENDERSON - June 26, 2006
Paul Henderson’s winning goal in the final game of the legendary 1972 Canada-Russia Summit Series was a landmark in hockey history, and a defining moment for Canadians. It brought him the adulation of an entire country. But Henderson was a troubled young man at that time: angry, bitter and prone to heavy drinking. It was only after embracing Christianity that he found peace. Today, he is founder and president of The Leadership Group, a non-profit organization that helps business leaders find ways to live and work according to Biblical principles. |
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October 14 - Credo is pre-empted for feature film Ghandi (8pm - 11pm ET) |
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MICHAEL YORK - October 21
Moviegoers today know him as Basil Exposition in the Austin Powers films. But suave British actor Michael York has been performing on stage and screen for close to 40 years. An Oxford graduate, he joined Laurence Olivier’s National Theatre Company in 1965. From there, he made the leap into motion pictures, landing memorable roles in such films as Romeo and Juliet, Cabaret, The Three Musketeers and Logan’s Run. His television credits include The Forsyte Saga and the mini-series Jesus of Nazareth. The versatile York has enjoyed something of a renaissance in the past decade, performing extensively on Broadway, co-starring in the hit Christian movie thriller The Omega Code and making guest appearances on the acclaimed HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm. He has also written about his experiences in the profession, most recently publishing the behind-the-scenes tale Dispatches From Armageddon: Making the Movie Megiddo … A Devilish Diary.
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MARK KINGWELL - October 28 [Encore Presentation: July 3]
Mark Kingwell is that rarest of creatures: a North American intellectual who has found fame outside the cloistered realm of academe. A Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, he has published such best-selling books as The World We Want: Virtue, Vice, and the Good Citizen and Better Living: In Pursuit of Happiness from Plato to Prozac, written extensively for mainstream magazines and newspapers, and appeared frequently on television and radio. Kingwell has brought keen philosophical insight to the intricacies of everyday life in our fast-paced contemporary culture, reflecting on everything from men’s underwear to the meaning of citizenship. His newest book, Catch and Release: Trout Fishing and the Meaning of Life, is slated for publication in October. |
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PATRICIA ROZEMA - November 4
Raised in a devoutly Christian household, Patricia Rozema discovered movies when she went on a date to see The Exorcist. The Sarnia, Ont. native would go on to make one of the most successful Canadian feature films of all time, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing. Known for the passionate feminist perspective she has brought to all of her works, including White Room and When Night is Falling, Rozema gained an international profile with a critically acclaimed 1999 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park for Miramax Films. With a DVD boxed set of her films now on the shelves, and a two-picture deal with Miramax in place, Rozema’s star continues to rise. |
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Photo Credit:
Jim Rankin |
ALAN BOROVOY– November 11 [Encore Presentation: July 10]
Alan Borovoy was a young Toronto boy living in a working-class Jewish neighbourhood when news of the Nazi concentration camps first reached the world’s ears. He came to believe that the best way to protect the Jewish people was to promote justice for all. More than half a century later, Borovoy is one of this country’s most dedicated champions of civil liberties. As General Counsel for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association since 1968, he has spoken out on issues ranging from capital punishment and campus speech codes to the federal government’s anti-terrorism legislation. He is also the author of several books, including When Freedoms Collide: The Case for Our Civil Liberties, and an Officer of the Order of Canada. A hardheaded realist, Borovoy doesn’t believe we can build heaven on earth – but we can try to make things less hellish.
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MICHAEL COREN– November 18 [Encore Presentation: July 31]
British-born writer and broadcaster Michael Coren never hesitates to speak his mind – a habit that has earned him both ardent supporters and outraged detractors. As a radio and television host and a columnist for the Sun chain of newspapers, he fearlessly tackles controversial subjects, from same-sex marriage to the Middle East conflict. Coren became a devout Christian a decade ago, and his faith underlies his passionate views on social and political issues. The most recent of his many books (which include acclaimed biographies of C.S. Lewis, H.G. Wells and J.R.R. Tolkien) is Mere Christian, a collection of essays on faith and Christianity.
>>Website: www.michaelcoren.com
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RITA DEVERELL– November 25, February 10
She is one of Canada’s television pioneers. Born in Houston, Texas, Rita Deverell joined the CBC in 1974, and soon earned a reputation for spotlighting people and issues traditionally ignored by the mainstream news media. She went on to the University of Regina, where she was the first woman of colour ever to head a Canadian journalism school, and in 1988 became one of the founders of VisionTV. Dedicated to exploring the moral and ethical dimensions of current events, Deverell spearheaded the creation of award-winning human affairs programs such as It’s About Time and Skylight, and nurtured the talents of a diverse group of broadcast journalists along the way. Named to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2002, she continues to break new ground as News and Current Affairs Executive Producer for the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
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STEPHEN LEWIS - December 2 [Encore Presentation: Aug 7/06]
(Episode airs in honour of World AIDS Day, Dec. 1)
Few Canadians command greater respect on the international stage than Stephen Lewis, currently the United Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. The former leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party, Lewis was Canadian Ambassador to the UN from 1984 to 1988. Other highlights of his distinguished diplomatic career include serving as Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF from 1995 to 1999, and taking part in an Organization of African Unity panel investigating the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. A Companion of the Order of Canada, he has created the Stephen Lewis Foundation (www.stephenlewisfoundation.org) to help ease the suffering caused by HIV/AIDS in Africa.
>>More<<
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ENZA "SUPERMODEL" ANDERSON - December 9 [Encore Presentation: July 17]
Political life is a cabaret for Enza “Supermodel” Anderson. The popular Toronto drag queen garnered headlines in 2000 with a left-field bid for the city’s mayoralty (her slogan: “A Super City Deserves A Supermodel”), and surprised many by finishing a respectable third. Since then, she has sought the leadership of the Canadian Alliance party, and ran for city councillor in Toronto’s 2003 municipal election. Raised in a Roman Catholic household, Anderson finds freedom and fulfillment by living publicly as a woman. And despite her campy approach to campaigning, she claims to be quite sincere in her determination to make a difference by entering the political fray.
>>View the Enza slide show>>
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JEAN MARMOREO - December 16 [Encore Presentation: July 24]
Dr. Jean Marmoreo is a Toronto family physician and one of Canada’s leading authorities on the issues facing women at midlife. In her book The New Middle Ages, she argues that women aged 40 to 65 have a greater array of choices and opportunities than ever before. But she also reminds her readers that “You can’t have it all, all the time. And that’s okay.” An avid runner and hiker, she believes that getting fit is a great source of empowerment. And so, in 2001, she founded a group of Canadian women – known as JeansMarines – who train together to run the annual Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. More than 200 competed in this year’s event on Oct. 26.
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DOMINIC KEATING - December 23
Erudite British actor Dominic Keating got his Equity card by performing in a drag act called “Feelings Mutual.” He went on to become a regular on the hit comedy series Desmond’s, and today stars as the very proper Lt. Malcolm Reed on Star Trek: Enterprise. Keating turned away from the Catholic faith of his boyhood, but came to embrace spirituality after settling in California several years ago. He believes in living “in the moment,” and carries in his wallet a card that reads: “Good morning. This is God. I will be handling all your problems today. I will not need your help, so have a nice day.”
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BROOKE ADAMS - December 30
Actress Brooke Adams grew up in a theatrical family and made her Broadway debut at the age of six. Her screen career has included lead roles in the films Days of Heaven, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Dead Zone and Gas, Food, Lodging, as well as guest appearances on the shows Moonlighting, thirtysomething and Monk (with husband Tony Shalhoub). Adams wrestled with alcoholism for many years, and it was in Alcoholics Anonymous that she first began to confront questions of faith. She now goes regularly to an Episcopalian church with her children. Adams is also an accomplished painter, and believes that creative expression brings her closest to spiritual transcendence.
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| Featured
Guests - 2004 |
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TONYA LEE WILLIAMS - January 6
A former Miss Black Ontario, Tonya Lee Williams is well known to lovers of daytime television for her award-winning portrayal of Dr. Olivia Winters on The Young and The Restless. Williams also enjoys a burgeoning career off screen, as a filmmaker and founder of Toronto’s ReelWorld Film Festival. (She is Executive Producer of Novelette’s, one of the winning projects in VisionTV’s first Cultural Diversity Drama Competition.) Influenced by her mother’s passionate faith, Williams is a committed spiritual voyager who believes that God is all around us and speaks to us constantly. “Every single day, we have moments to be enlightened,” she says.
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PETER MEDAK - January 13
Veteran filmmaker Peter Medak has directed critically acclaimed features such as The Ruling Class, Romeo Is Bleeding and Let Him Have It, and worked on some of television’s finest dramas, including The Wire, Homicide: Life on the Street, and China Beach, as well as the Canadian series Mount Royal. Born into a family of Hungarian Jews in 1937, Medak spent much of his childhood hiding from the Gestapo, and later suffered under Hungary’s oppressive Communist regime. He fled the country in 1956 and began his film career in England soon after. Medak, who lost his first wife to suicide, channels the unhappiness he has experienced into the creative process. Making movies is, for him, a source of spiritual fulfillment. “I really feel that my god is that camera,” he says.
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STEPHANIE ZIMBALIST - January 20
Actress Stephanie Zimbalist grew up in a family of performers: Her father is actor Efrem Zimbalist Jr.; her paternal grandparents are violinist Efrem Zimbalist and opera singer Alma Gluck. She rose to fame in the 1980s on the hit detective series Remington Steele, which co-starred a then-unknown Pierce Brosnan. Though she continues to make small-screen appearances in TV movies and drama series such as Judging Amy, Zimbalist has spent much of the past decade working on the stage, earning a 2001 Robby Award for her role in The Rainmaker. She feels a strong “personal connection” with the creator, and believes above all in showing gratitude to the supreme being who has granted all of us life. “Everything that we love in life is on loan,” she explains. “And there’s a time that we’re required to give it back. So give it back freely, joyfully and with great thanks.”
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ANN MARIE MACDONALD - January 27, March 30 [Encore Presentation: Aug 24]
Anne-Marie MacDonald has the impressive habit of succeeding at just about everything she tries. As an actor, she garnered a Genie Award nomination for her performance in the movie I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, and won a Gemini Award for the TV film Where the Spirit Lives. She later turned her hand to writing for the stage, earning both awards and rave reviews for her play Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet). And her ecstatically received first novel, the 1996 family saga Fall on Your Knees, was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. She drew heavily on her own childhood memories to write the Giller Prize-nominated follow-up The Way the Crow Flies, a vivid portrait of a young girl living in the early 1960s under the shadow of the Cold War. Raised a Roman Catholic, MacDonald turned away from the Church as a teenager, but nevertheless credits a religious upbringing for her wild imagination and love of theatre. [more]
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KEN WIWA– February 3 [Encore Presentation: Aug 14/06]
Ken Wiwa bears the burden of being a martyr’s son. Born in Nigeria (as Kenule Bornale Tsaro-Wiwa) and schooled in England, the younger Wiwa led the battle to save his activist father from the gallows. Today, he is recognized as an author and human rights activist in his own right. Wiwa’s acclaimed memoir, In the Shadow of a Saint, explored his efforts to come to terms with his father’s legacy, and was the basis for a much-praised television documentary. He has also contributed to publications both in the U.K. and Canada, and writes a column for The Globe and Mail in Toronto, the city he currently calls home. In addition, Wiwa continues to speak around the world on behalf of the Ogoni.
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DONOVAN BAILEY– May 1
Olympian Donovan Bailey is one of the greatest athletes this country has ever produced. Born in Jamaica, Bailey emigrated to Canada at the age of 13, and began his track and field career in 1994. Two years later, he made Canadian sporting history, setting a world record in the 100-metre sprint at the Olympic Games. Brash, outspoken and fiercely devoted to his family, Bailey believes that “someone up there” is looking out for him.
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BOB
HUNTER
1941-2005 |
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Special
Encore Presentation:
Tues May 31
10:30 pm ET |
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BOB
HUNTER– February 24, April 20
Canadian broadcaster, author and
environmentalist Bob Hunter died May 2 at
the age of 63, following a long battle with
prostate cancer. The St. Boniface, Man.
native was renowned as the co-founder of
Greenpeace, and his death was reported around
the world. In his
honour, the VisionTV signature series Credo
broadcasts a special encore presentation
of its revealing 2004 interview with Canada's
pioneering eco-warrior.
In his lifetime, Hunter battled the commercial
whaling industry, vied for political office,
bashed out scripts for The Beachcombers
and authored almost a dozen books, as well
as countless newspaper and magazine articles.
In 1988 he become the ecology specialist
for Toronto's CityTV.
In his 2002 book 2030: Confronting Thermageddon
in Our Lifetime, Hunter warned that the
world faces environmental catastrophe within
the next three decades. Still, he told Credo
that hope remains - if we commit ourselves
today to protecting this fragile island
earth.
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ALBERT
SCHULTZ - March 2 [Encore
Presentation: Aug 3]
Actor Albert Schultz
got his big break at the age of 12, landing
the coveted role of Sherlock Holmes in
an elementary school play. Since then,
the Port Hope, Ont. native has emerged
as one of Canada's most versatile stage
and screen performers. He studied drama
at York University and joined the Stratford
Festival's Young Company, which led in
turn to starring roles on such television
programs as The Red Green Show, Street
Legal and Side Effects. He is also a founding
member and artistic director of Toronto's
Soulpepper Theatre Company, a troupe widely
hailed as one of the finest in the country. |
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CLAIRE
L'HEUREUX-DUBE - March 9 [Encore
Presentation: Aug 21/06]
Claire L'Heureux-Dubé
is a pioneer in the legal world. She was
one of the first female lawyers in Quebec
to handle divorce cases, one of the first
appointed to that province's Superior Court,
and the first woman from Quebec ever to
serve on the Supreme Court of Canada. Throughout
her career she has defended the rights of
women, minorities and victims of violence,
while enduring considerable tragedy in her
own personal life. L'Heureux-Dub's feminist
views and commitment to social justice have
brought the censure of some who oppose judicial
activism,but have also earned her the lasting
admiration of human rights advocates. This
determination to stand up for equality,
she says, is the product of a very, very
deep conviction in myself that …
everybody has the right to the same respect
and consideration including women.
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FRANK
O'DEA - March 16 [Encore
Presentation: Aug
28/06]
He was just another homeless drunk, begging
for spare change on the streets of Toronto.
Many who fall into this life never escape
it – but Frank O'Dea did. He pulled himself
together, worked at a series of jobs,
and in 1975 teamed up with a partner to
open a little coffee shop at a suburban
shopping mall. From this modest beginning,
Canada's successful Second Cup chain of
cafés was born. O'Dea, who sold
his share of the business in 1984, remains
a high-profile entrepreneur, as well as
one of the country's most committed philanthropists.
He has helped to found such non-profit
organizations as Street Kids International
and the Canadian Landmine Foundation,
and devoted his time and energies to many
others. Raised in a Catholic family, he
believes that each of us has a calling
in life. “It doesn't have to be big,”
he says. “But we need to find out what
it is and do it. And why? Not for God.
He doesn't need that. But it's for our
own peace.”
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THE
HON. JAMES K. BARTLEMAN - March 23
Born in Orillia,
Ont. to a Scottish father and an Aboriginal
mother, James Bartleman grew up in poverty.
He might have stayed there, too, if not
for the generosity of a wealthy benefactor
who offered to finance his education.
Bartleman went on to spend more than 35
years in the Canadian Foreign Service:
he has been Canada's Ambassador to Cuba,
Israel and NATO, as well as High Commissioner
to South Africa and Australia, and was
a foreign policy advisor for four years
to Prime Minister Jean Chretien. In 2002
he was appointed Lieutenant Governor of
Ontario, becoming the first Aboriginal
person ever to hold a vice-regal office
in Canada. Though his career has taken
him around the world, Bartleman still
has a strong sense of his own First Nation
roots, and believes in using his current
position to help fight discrimination
and lend encouragement to Aboriginal youngsters.
The
Hon. James K. Bartleman, Ont - 27th Lieutenant
Governor of Ontario- Bios:
http://www.lt.gov.on.ca/sections_english/welcome/hishonour_main.html
http://www.utoronto.ca/sharedcitizenship/people2004_LG.htm
Official Web Site of The Hon. James K.
Bartleman: http://www.lt.gov.on.ca/
Lieutenant
Governor's Book Program: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/February2004/02/c5869.html
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ED
BROADBENT - April 6 [Encore
Presentation: Aug 31]
He has been called “the closest thing
the NDP has to a living saint.” As leader
of the federal New Democratic Party from
1975 to 1989, Ed Broadbent ranked as one
of the country's most universally respected
political figures. He was also the most
successful leader in his party's history,
helming it to a record 43 seats in 1988.
A Ph.D. in political science, Broadbent
taught at York University before leaping
into the political fray in 1968. Since
stepping down as NDP leader, he has headed
the International Centre for Human Rights
and Democratic Development, lectured at
universities all over the world and written
extensively on politics. Though the fortunes
of the political left have fallen in recent
years, Broadbent remains devoutly committed
to social democracy and the goal of equal
citizenship.
website:
www.edbroadbent.ca
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LEAH
PINSENT - April 13
A daughter of Canadian acting royalty,
Leah Pinsent landed her first feature
film role opposite Kiefer Sutherland in
The Bay Boy when she was still
just a teenager. But following in the
footsteps of her famous parents, Gordon
Pinsent and Charmion King, proved no small
challenge. She struggled for years as
a young actress in Los Angeles before
packing up the car and driving home to
Canada. Her future in the business was
a question mark until she landed a breakthrough
part in Ken Finkleman's mini-series More
Tears . Other major roles would follow,
among them a five-year stint as the sardonic
Veronica Miller on the award-winning CBC
comedy series Made in Canada .
Through all the ups and downs of her acting
career, Pinsent's Buddhist beliefs have
been a constant source of stability and
strength.
Leah
Pinsent Web Sites
1.
http://www.leahpinsent.ca/Menu.html
2.
http://www.cbc.ca/onair/personalities/madeincda/pinsent.html
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Videotapes of Credo are now available for sale at $39.95 Canadian (shipping and handling plus applicable taxes included) per episode.
To obtain a VHS copy of one of the episodes please send an email to audience@visiontv.ca stating the air date of the episode, to find out if the video is available. Our audience relations will let you know the details of ordering once availability is confirmed.
All cheques should be mailed to:
VisionTV Audience Relations, 80 Bond Street Toronto, ON M5B 1X2
Together with each videotape, we will forward the related invoice for the above-mentioned amount. All requests will be processed on a first-come-first-served basis.
Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery |
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