Why Canada needs a star system
Fostering homegrown fandom isn't just about cultural pride — it’s an economic strategy to keep Canadian screen talent from heading south.
Tonya Williams spent two decades playing Dr. Olivia Barber Winters on the long-running soap opera The Young and the Restless, from the 1990s to the 2010s. But few knew she was Canadian at the time despite the fact she started her acting career as the host of the well-loved Canadian children’s show Polka Dot Door.
“The times that I would be in Canada and people would go, ‘Oh, why are you here?’ like they had no idea I was Canadian,” Williams recalls. “Even though I started my career in Canada, people were completely oblivious that I was Canadian.”
Williams has since founded the Reelworld Screen Institute to advance opportunities for underrepresented communities in screen industries. More recently, Williams has been advocating for the establishment of a star system in Canada — the marketing and promotion of homegrown talent to elevate them to celebrity status, encouraging a sense of fandom and establishing household names who are known and loved in Canada.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) has also recognized the need for a star system here, which is what prompted the CMF’s Diego Briceño, senior manager of data equity, to include a section about our star system in a report released this month titled Shifting the Lens: A Survey for Canadian Screen Performers. “We want to understand how performers can help make Canadian content more exciting and reach a broader audience, with greater impact and longevity,” Briceño explains.
Report shows stark difference between Quebec and rest of Canada
Interestingly, according to the report, there is a stark difference between French- and English-speaking Canada when it comes to the existence of a star system. While 21 percent of Quebec performers feel there is a strong and consistent star system that benefits performers and productions, only three percent of performers in Ontario and two percent of performers in British Columbia feel the same.
“Quebec has this longstanding star system that is fed by magazines, by talk shows, by different things that keep it alive,” Briceño explains. “There is a clear sense that there is a star system that has been useful, but outside Quebec most people say there is no star system and that was a limitation for their careers.”
Briceño says a more distinct cultural identity in French Canada has also contributed to its successful star system and the ability of Quebecois performers to achieve celebrity status in the region. “I think in Quebec there's pride to see yourself and people who sound like you, with the same accent and using the French from Quebec in a particular way,” he explains.
Talent heads south in absence of a star system
ACTRA National President Eleanor Noble says the lack of a star system in English Canada has pushed talented actors to head stateside to further their careers. “We have never created that same opportunity here in Canada,” she explains. “We’ve had success in Canadian film and TV productions, but unless performers leave Canada it is incredibly challenging to carve out a ‘celebrity’ persona for ourselves.”
There’s no doubt that the talent is here. Noble points to wildly successful productions that have seen international success like Heated Rivalry, North of North, Schitt’s Creek and Kim’s Convenience. “Yet many of the stars on those shows aren’t celebrated until they have had the popularity stamp of approval from the U.S.,” she says.
The solution, according to the experts, is a targeted approach that starts with government recognition and funding to support Canadian productions and performers. “The federal government must look at our multibillion-dollar industry as more than just a ‘nice-to-have’ frill,” Noble explains. “Instead, it must be treated with the same robust policies and funding given to traditional manufacturing and industrial sectors. We would contribute far more to the nation’s GDP if we created demand by supporting a star system that fed on our own national pride.”
Williams says the infrastructure around supporting individual performers also needs to change. Interestingly, most Canadian actors have only agents, not managers. “The reason athletes and singers have that fandom is because they are represented by not just agents but managers,” she says. “A manager is not someone who just looks for your next gig. A manager is strategizing and shaping the next 50 years of your career.”
More investment in marketing Canadian production and its stars is also needed, according to Williams. She points to the success of Heated Rivalry, whose leads were previously unknown, as an example of pre-release marketing done right. “They started the promotion of their actors well before the first episode dropped,” says Williams. “By the first episode dropping, there was a frenzy of fans because they had been building up who these actors were, what they did in the makeup, hair, wardrobe, how they exercised. They built this momentum.”
Looking to Korea for inspiration
Research and data can also be used to make strategic decisions about what movies and shows to create. “Understand our audience, what they want and who they want, so that decisions are based on evidence and not instinct,” Williams explains. “In L.A. and Korea, there are huge departments where their only jobs are: ‘What is the audience watching? Why are they watching? How do we create content that is what they want?’”
The extremely successful fan culture in Korea, evidenced by K-pop’s huge following, is a great example of a star system done right, according to Williams. “I have been so impressed with what Korea has done in the last 20 years with their star system, and it didn't just happen haphazardly,” she says. “Massive management companies find talent when they're young and groom them in music and dance. They help build private financing for projects because that’s also what managers do in Hollywood.”
If a star system isn’t built in Canada, Noble says Canadian talent will become even more reliant on the U.S. to have successful careers. “But it’s time to move on from that mentality,” she says. “We must be the ones to elevate Canadian performers to stardom and stop waiting for the U.S. to decide for us who is ‘worthy’ of such status.”
Williams has a more dire outlook if a star system isn’t built in Canada. “We'll just be wiped off the map,” she says.
But she prefers to focus on the positive and what the industry in Canada could look like in five, 10 or 20 years if a proper star system is built and supported. “What it would look like is buyers from around the world in a bidding war for the content we make in Canada,” she says. “They clamour for Canadian stars. Wouldn't that be lovely? We will end up needing to make more movies and series because the demand is there. That will bring national pride.”
