Martha Burns is one of Canada’s most distinguished stage and television actresses. She has performed leading roles at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, and at theaters across the country. Winner of the 2005 Barbara Hamilton Award for “excellence and professionalism in the performing arts,” she has also received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards for her work in Trafford Tanzi and The Miracle Worker and has been nominated for three more.
Burns is the recipient of two supporting actress Genie Awards for “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” and “Love & Savagery” and a double Gemini winner for Best Actress for her leading role, Ellen Fanshaw, in three seasons of “Slings and Arrows.”
Burns and Susan Coyne wrote and directed the short film “How Are You?” which was an official selection for TIFF 2008.
She co-produced all of and directed one of ten short films that form the anthology “Little Films About Big Moments” for Movie Central and TMN.
A founding member of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theater Company (where she appeared to great acclaim as Winnie in Samuel Beckett’s Happy Days), Burns has created numerous ground-breaking educational programs for youth.
