Canadian actor brothers of Jamaican heritage honoured

TORONTO:

Two Canadian brothers, actors and producers of Jamaican heritage, were honoured on the opening night of the 14th annual Toronto Black Film Festival with a career achievement award.

Describing Shamier Anderson and Stephan James as award-winning artists, cultural leaders and proud Scarborough Walk of Fame inductees, Fabienne Colas, the festival’s co-founder, said their impact extends far beyond the screen.

“Internationally celebrated for their compelling performances, Shamier Anderson has starred in ‘John Wick: Chapter 4’, ‘Invasion’, ‘Bruised, among others, while Stephan James is known for his role in ‘Selma’, ‘If Beale Street Could Talk’, and the highly anticipated Netflix film, ‘War Machine’. Together, they have distinguished themselves as powerful forces in film and television,” she told the audience at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto on February 11.

As co-founders of The Black Academy and creators of The Legacy Awards, Canada’s first nationally broadcast award show celebrating black excellence, they have helped redefine national recognition and representation, she said.

“Through The Legacy Lounge on CBC, they continue to honour Canadian trailblazers of colour honouring the legacy of influential black Canadian figures shaping contemporary culture,” continued Colas in her tribute.

James jokingly said that accepting a career achievement award at 32 years old felt like he was being forced into retirement.

“Honestly, with The Legacy Awards, Shamier and I have spent the past few years getting much more used to giving out awards rather than accepting them,” he said, noting that it was special to be doing so alongside his brother.

“An award like this means a lot to me because it isn’t about a single triumph or a hot moment. It’s about endurance, it’s about showing up again and again, win or lose. It’s about accepting success without losing yourself and accepting failure without losing curiosity. And in the same breath, leaving behind a trail of inspiration that will outlive applause,” said James.

LOVING FOUNDATION

His curiosity was sparked at 13 or 14 years old when he watched his older brother, Shamier, perform in stage productions at his school, Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts. James attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute and started working professionally as an actor at the age of 16.

“It was the first time that I realised that the arts could give us an escape from the world as it was presented to us as young black boys being raised by a single mother in Scarborough metro housing. Despite a loving foundation and the many sacrifices our mother made for us, eventually my brother and I are going to have to step into the world and figure it out on our own.”

James said he was deeply grateful for the early lessons his mother, Carmelita Anderson, who is originally from Spanish Town and was in the audience with co-workers, gave them because he did not know where they would be without them.

He said he was honoured to have been birthed from a community that continues to tell bold, necessary, and uncompromising stories.

The actor ended his speech saying: “Without commitment, you’ll never start and without consistency you’ll never finish.”

Shamier introduced himself as Carmelita’s son.

“She’s really the executive producer of everything that you’ve seen. She’s the reason why I’m standing here today, an immigrant woman from Jamaica (who) raised three kings by herself. My mother taught me everything I know about grace, resilience and good oxtail,” said Anderson who thanked his mother and his aunt, Paulette, who also raised him and was at the awards event.REAL GIFT

Anderson was born and raised in Scarborough and attended Ontario Tech University in Durham to study criminology after graduating high school.

He said that while tributes and trophies are very beautiful, there was a more important gift, life. “That is the real gift, and more importantly, the people who love you while you’re living it.”

Anderson said “it’s the person that makes the trophy, not the trophy that makes the person” so this acknowledgement is “a piece of everyone who has been on this journey with me”.

“We’re literally Toronto kids from Scarborough living our dream daily and there’s ups and downs, and the glam, the glitz, the trailers, all that good stuff, but just know tomorrow morning the work doesn’t stop.”

The night also featured a tribute to Stanley Nelson, an African-American award-winning director and documentary filmmaker, who was presented with the lifetime achievement award.

“In addition to honours for his individual films, Nelson and his body of work have garnered every major award in the industry. He is a MacArthur “Genius” Fellow, and was awarded an individual Peabody Award, the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts Sciences, and received the National Medal in the Humanities from President Barack Obama,” notes his biography.

Some of his films include ‘The Murder of Emmett Till’, (2003), ‘Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple’ (2006), ‘Freedom Riders’ (2010), ‘The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution’ (2015), and ‘Attica’ (2021).