Mary Walsh
Encyclopedia
Mary Cynthia Walsh, CM
was born on May 13, 1952, in St. John's
, Newfoundland
, and is an actress and comedian
and social activist. A sufferer of macular degeneration
, she has served from time to time as a spokesperson for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
(CNIB). Walsh's son Jesse was born in 1989. She has been married to Memorial University of Newfoundland
English professor Don Nichol since 2002.
in Toronto
at Ryerson University
but dropped out to work with the CODCO
comedy troupe on a series of stage shows, which eventually evolved into a sketch comedy series.
The CODCO series ran from 1987 to 1992 on CBC Television
.
In 1992, she began to work with former co-star Rick Mercer
and former CODCO co-stars Cathy Jones and Greg Thomey
to create a new television series called This Hour Has 22 Minutes
. The show would be a parody of the nightly news and would poke fun at Canadian and international politics. 22 Minutes received strong ratings during its earlier seasons and Mary's character Marg Delahunty became famous for buttonholing politicians and submitting them to satirical interviews. Usually Marg Delahunty would recite a scripted piece intended to humiliate the politician, often by providing criticism and "grandmotherly" advice. Sometimes Marg appeared as "Marg, Princess Warrior", a parody of the title character of Xena: Warrior Princess
portrayed by Lucy Lawless
. Walsh is also noted for her comical segment chronicling the Canadian Auto Workers Union
's tense blockade of the Volvo Halifax Assembly
plant in 1998.
In the mid-1990s she openly admitted to being an alcoholic and that her 22 Minutes co-star and now close friend, Cathy Jones, had helped her seek treatment. She took several months off from 22 Minutes to take part in Alcoholics Anonymous
.
She also appeared in the short-run sitcoms Dooley Gardens
in 1999 and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching
in 2006.
She went on to pursue movie roles and to create the CBC program Mary Walsh: Open Book
, a talk show about books and literature, in 2003. In 2004, Walsh hosted a segment on the CBC documentary series The Greatest Canadian
, in which she championed the case for Sir Frederick Banting
(the Nobel
prize-winning discoverer of insulin
) as the greatest Canadian who ever lived.
Besides TV acting, she has worked on movies such as Mambo Italiano
, Geraldine's Fortune
, Rain, Drizzle and Fog, Buried on Sunday
, The Divine Ryans
, Young Triffie
and Violet.
In 2007, Walsh made her feature directorial debut with the 2007 movie Young Triffie. She is the first Newfoundlander in six years to have a film in general release across Canada. She also revived Marg Delahunty for the Royal Canadian Air Farce
's 300th episode, filmed in Toronto in March. In June, she hosted the Pride Toronto Gala & Awards ceremony.
On December 15, 2007, Walsh made national news with a story about her upcoming Nudity, Sexuality, Violence and Coarse Language in which a large group of people who went naked in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
harbour in -11 Celsius
(12.2 Fahrenheit
) temperature to be filmed as a part of the show's signoff. Walsh herself did not go nude.
Most recently she had a guest starring role as Miranda Cahill on the January 20, 2010, episode of Canadian television series, Republic of Doyle
On October 26, 2011 Mary Walsh was once again in the spotlight as she reprised the role of Marg Delahunty conducting an ambush interview of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford at his home. Mr Ford's reaction and alleged verbal abuse directed at 911 operator made national headlines.
In 1993, Walsh was chosen to deliver the prestigious Graham Spry
lecture which was broadcast nationally on CBC Radio
.
In 1994, Walsh addressed the United Nations
Global Conference on Development in New York. She has also served as a spokesperson for Oxfam
, Canada's human rights campaign.
On November 4, 2006, Mary and Ed MacDonald picked up a Gemini Award
for the best writing in a comedy or variety program for their work in Hatching, Matching and Dispatching
She has won 18 Gemini Awards.
McGill University
honoured Mary Walsh with an honorary doctorate during the November 2008 convocation ceremony. Her speech to the class of 2008 focused on political satire.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
was born on May 13, 1952, in St. John's
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
, Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
, and is an actress and comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
and social activist. A sufferer of macular degeneration
Macular degeneration
Age-related macular degeneration is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field because of damage to the retina. It occurs in “dry” and “wet” forms. It is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment in older adults...
, she has served from time to time as a spokesperson for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind
Canadian National Institute for the Blind
CNIB is a volunteer agency and charitable organization dedicated to assisting Canadians who are blind or living with vision loss, and to provide information about vision health for all Canadians...
(CNIB). Walsh's son Jesse was born in 1989. She has been married to Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland, is a comprehensive university located primarily in St...
English professor Don Nichol since 2002.
Biography
Walsh had a difficult childhood with alcoholic parents. She studied theatreTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
at Ryerson University
Ryerson University
Ryerson University is a public research university located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its urban campus is adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square located at the busiest intersection in Downtown Toronto. The majority of its buildings are in the blocks northeast of the square in Toronto's Garden...
but dropped out to work with the CODCO
CODCO
CODCO was a Canadian comedy troupe from Newfoundland, best known for a sketch comedy series which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1992....
comedy troupe on a series of stage shows, which eventually evolved into a sketch comedy series.
The CODCO series ran from 1987 to 1992 on CBC Television
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
.
In 1992, she began to work with former co-star Rick Mercer
Rick Mercer
Richard Vincent "Rick" Mercer is a Canadian comedian, television personality, political satirist, and blogger.Mercer first came to national attention in 1990, when he premiered his one man show Show Me the Button, I'll Push It, or Charles Lynch Must Die at the Great Canadian Theatre Company in...
and former CODCO co-stars Cathy Jones and Greg Thomey
Greg Thomey
Greg Thomey was born May 8, 1961 in St. John's, Newfoundland.Hailing from Newfoundland, Greg has been a part of the comedy scene there for years as a writer and performer with the comedy troupe CODCO and in his own right as an actor and playwright...
to create a new television series called This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes
This Hour Has 22 Minutes is a weekly Canadian television comedy that airs on CBC Television. Launched in 1993 during Canada's 35th general election, the show focuses on Canadian politics, combining news parody, sketch comedy and satirical editorials...
. The show would be a parody of the nightly news and would poke fun at Canadian and international politics. 22 Minutes received strong ratings during its earlier seasons and Mary's character Marg Delahunty became famous for buttonholing politicians and submitting them to satirical interviews. Usually Marg Delahunty would recite a scripted piece intended to humiliate the politician, often by providing criticism and "grandmotherly" advice. Sometimes Marg appeared as "Marg, Princess Warrior", a parody of the title character of Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess
Xena: Warrior Princess is an American–New Zealand supernatural fantasy adventure series that aired in syndication from September 4, 1995 until June 18, 2001....
portrayed by Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless
Lucy Lawless, MNZM is a New Zealander actress and singer best known for playing the title character of the internationally successful television series Xena: Warrior Princess....
. Walsh is also noted for her comical segment chronicling the Canadian Auto Workers Union
Canadian Auto Workers
The Canadian Auto Workers is one of Canada's largest and highest profile social unions. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St...
's tense blockade of the Volvo Halifax Assembly
Volvo Halifax Assembly
The Volvo Halifax Assembly Plant located in Halifax, Nova Scotia was opened on 11 June 1963 by H.R.H Prince Bertil. It was the only North American assembly plant Volvo ever opened. Volvo decided to open to the plant to bypass hefty North American import tariffs on foreign goods and to capitalize...
plant in 1998.
In the mid-1990s she openly admitted to being an alcoholic and that her 22 Minutes co-star and now close friend, Cathy Jones, had helped her seek treatment. She took several months off from 22 Minutes to take part in Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
.
She also appeared in the short-run sitcoms Dooley Gardens
Dooley Gardens
Dooley Gardens is a Canadian television sitcom, which aired on CBC Television in 1999. The series was set in a hockey rink in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, inherited by Skye Dooley after the death of her father....
in 1999 and Hatching, Matching and Dispatching
Hatching, Matching and Dispatching
Hatching, Matching and Dispatching was a Canadian television sitcom series. The CBC Television show starred Mary Walsh as Mamie Lou Furey, the matriarch of a family in Newfoundland and Labrador who own a combination ambulance, wedding and funeral business. The remaining cast included Shaun...
in 2006.
She went on to pursue movie roles and to create the CBC program Mary Walsh: Open Book
Mary Walsh: Open Book
Mary Walsh: Open Book was a weekly book club series on CBC Television, based on the Oprah book club, where friends and employees of Mary Walsh and other celebrities gathered to discuss books and literature.Michael Donovan was the creator of Open Book....
, a talk show about books and literature, in 2003. In 2004, Walsh hosted a segment on the CBC documentary series The Greatest Canadian
The Greatest Canadian
Officially launched on April 5, 2004, The Greatest Canadian was a television program series by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to determine who is considered to be the greatest Canadian of all time, at least among those who watched and participated in the program...
, in which she championed the case for Sir Frederick Banting
Frederick Banting
Sir Frederick Grant Banting, KBE, MC, FRS, FRSC was a Canadian medical scientist, doctor and Nobel laureate noted as one of the main discoverers of insulin....
(the Nobel
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
prize-winning discoverer of insulin
Insulin
Insulin is a hormone central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. Insulin causes cells in the liver, muscle, and fat tissue to take up glucose from the blood, storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle....
) as the greatest Canadian who ever lived.
Besides TV acting, she has worked on movies such as Mambo Italiano
Mambo Italiano (film)
Mambo Italiano is a 2003 comedy-drama/indie film, set in Montreal, Québec, Canada, and directed by Émile Gaudreault. The screenplay was written by Gaudreault and Steve Galluccio, based on Galluccio's theatrical play by the same name...
, Geraldine's Fortune
Geraldine's Fortune
Geraldine's Fortune is a 2004 Canadian comedy/drama film. It was directed by John N. Smith, written by Tim Burns and based on the play Les Belles-sœurs by Michel Tremblay.- Plot :...
, Rain, Drizzle and Fog, Buried on Sunday
Buried on Sunday
Buried on Sunday is a Canadian comedy film, released in 1992. It was directed by Paul Donovan, and written by Donovan and Bill Fleming.The film stars Paul Gross as Augustus Knickel, the mayor of Solomon Gundy, a fictional island off the coast of Nova Scotia...
, The Divine Ryans
The Divine Ryans
The Divine Ryans is a 1999 film directed by Stephen Reynolds, written by Wayne Johnston, starring Robert Joy and Pete Postlethwaite. The film is based around the Ryan family who run a funeral parlour in St John's, Newfoundland. The movie was filmed in St...
, Young Triffie
Young Triffie
Young Triffie the movie, directed by Mary Walsh, is a dark comedy written by Ray Guy, a Newfoundland essayist, based on his own play entitled Young Triffie's Been Made Away With ....
and Violet.
In 2007, Walsh made her feature directorial debut with the 2007 movie Young Triffie. She is the first Newfoundlander in six years to have a film in general release across Canada. She also revived Marg Delahunty for the Royal Canadian Air Farce
Royal Canadian Air Farce
Air Farce Live, also credited as Air Farce, previously Royal Canadian Air Farce, and Air Farce—Final Flight! for the final season, was a Canadian comedy series starring the comedy troupe The Royal Canadian Air Farce that previously starred in an eponymous radio show on CBC radio from 1973 to 1997...
's 300th episode, filmed in Toronto in March. In June, she hosted the Pride Toronto Gala & Awards ceremony.
On December 15, 2007, Walsh made national news with a story about her upcoming Nudity, Sexuality, Violence and Coarse Language in which a large group of people who went naked in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city in Newfoundland and Labrador, and is the oldest English-founded city in North America. It is located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland. With a population of 192,326 as of July 1, 2010, the St...
harbour in -11 Celsius
Celsius
Celsius is a scale and unit of measurement for temperature. It is named after the Swedish astronomer Anders Celsius , who developed a similar temperature scale two years before his death...
(12.2 Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit
Fahrenheit is the temperature scale proposed in 1724 by, and named after, the German physicist Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit . Within this scale, the freezing of water into ice is defined at 32 degrees, while the boiling point of water is defined to be 212 degrees...
) temperature to be filmed as a part of the show's signoff. Walsh herself did not go nude.
Most recently she had a guest starring role as Miranda Cahill on the January 20, 2010, episode of Canadian television series, Republic of Doyle
Republic of Doyle
Republic of Doyle is a Canadian comedy-drama television series, which debuted 6 January 2010 on CBC Television.The show stars Seán McGinley and Allan Hawco as Malachy and Jake Doyle, a father and son who partner as private investigators in St...
On October 26, 2011 Mary Walsh was once again in the spotlight as she reprised the role of Marg Delahunty conducting an ambush interview of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford at his home. Mr Ford's reaction and alleged verbal abuse directed at 911 operator made national headlines.
Honours
She won Best Supporting Actress at the Atlantic Film Festival in 1992 for her performance in Mike Jones' Secret Nation.In 1993, Walsh was chosen to deliver the prestigious Graham Spry
Graham Spry
- Further reading :*Babe, Robert. "Graham Spry" in Canadian Communications Thought: Ten Foundational Writers. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-7949-0.*McChesney, Robert W. , Canadian Journal of Communication 24....
lecture which was broadcast nationally on CBC Radio
CBC Radio
CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...
.
In 1994, Walsh addressed the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Global Conference on Development in New York. She has also served as a spokesperson for Oxfam
Oxfam
Oxfam is an international confederation of 15 organizations working in 98 countries worldwide to find lasting solutions to poverty and related injustice around the world. In all Oxfam’s actions, the ultimate goal is to enable people to exercise their rights and manage their own lives...
, Canada's human rights campaign.
On November 4, 2006, Mary and Ed MacDonald picked up a Gemini Award
Gemini Award
The Gemini Awards are annual television broadcasting industry awards in Canada.First awarded in 1986, the Geminis celebrate the achievements of TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. Essentially, it presents awards for the best television productions in Canada. Awards are...
for the best writing in a comedy or variety program for their work in Hatching, Matching and Dispatching
She has won 18 Gemini Awards.
McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
honoured Mary Walsh with an honorary doctorate during the November 2008 convocation ceremony. Her speech to the class of 2008 focused on political satire.