Newfoundland-based ACTRA member Noreen Golfman has been named the 2019 ACTRA National Woman of the Year. ACTRA bestows the honour annually on a member who excels in both artistic and advocacy achievements, and who uses her passion to support ACTRA members and women within the audiovisual industry as a whole.

Golfman is vice-chair of the Newfoundland and Labrador Film Development Corporation, co-chair of Business and Arts Newfoundland Labrador and chair of the board of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. She is also the founding director and chair of the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival (SJIWFF).

“Noreen Golfman has helped lay the groundwork to advance gender equity in our recorded media industries,” said ACTRA National President David Sparrow. “From her passionate and powerful work on behalf of female actors, writers, producers and directors, to her support of culture in Canada, this year Canadian performers are happy to be celebrating Noreen.”

An ACTRA member since 1992, Golfman has also served as a commentator, performer and writer for CBC Radio and Television. She played ‘Ariel Flint’ on long-running CBC Radio comedy The Great Eastern for which she won the Broadcasting Corporation Newfoundland Award. Over the years, she’s been honoured with Women in Film and Television Atlantic’s (WIFT-AT) WAVE Award (2014) and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Arts NL Hall of Honour Award (2013). The ACTRA Newfoundland/Labrador Branch named her its Woman of the Year in 2017.

“I am honoured to be recognized by my national union ACTRA,” said Noreen Golfman upon being named Woman of the Year. “In receiving this honour, I must also acknowledge the vibrant Newfoundland and Labrador entertainment industry and, especially, the women who co-created the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival. This year we’re celebrating 30 years of labour and love.”

Golfman joins past recipients Shirley Douglas, Tantoo Cardinal, Sandi Ross, Mary Walsh, Jean Freeman, Amanda Tapping, Catherine Joell MacKinnon, Tina Keeper and Rita Shelton Deverell.