Ann-Marie MacDonald

Ann-Marie MacDonald was born in Germany and spent the first few years of her life on a Canadian air force station near Baden Baden. She attended the National Theatre School of Canada, where she trained as an actor, graduating in 1980. She soon moved to Toronto where she became involved in creating original Canadian work in a number of contexts: collective creation, collaboration and solo writing. The work always combined theatrical innovation, politics and entertainment. Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) was MacDonald’s first solo-authored work and has been produced throughout Canada. Ann-Marie MacDonald has worked as an actor in theatres across the country and in many independent films and television series. She is host of the CBC series Life and Times and the author of two highly acclaimed novels, Fall on Your Knees and The Way the Crow Flies. Her more recent work for theatre includes the play The Arab’s Mouth, the libretto for the chamber opera Nigredo Hotel, the collectively created The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls in which she also performed, the book and lyrics for the musical comedy Anything That Moves, and Belle Moral: A Natural History. MacDonald’s work as an actor and writer has been honoured with a number of awards, including the Governor General’s Award, the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, the Canadian Authors’ Association Award, the Dartmouth Award, the Gemini Award, the Chalmers Award and the Dora Mavor Moore Award. MacDonald‘s influences may be apparent, but the charm is her own. - Variety