Tara Armstrong

Writer/Producer

Armstrong cut her teeth working on numerous TV movies, films and series as a PA in her hometown of Vancouver. During that time she also developed her voice as a writer, completing several unproduced scripts. While attending the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program she created and wrote “Mary Kills People,” her original pilot/series about a doctor running an illegal assisted-suicide business. It was optioned by eOne and ordered as a six-part event series by Corus/Global, with Lifetime Television coming on board in the U.S. Armstrong joined as writer and co-executive producer.

Most recently, Armstrong’s original pilot/series “High Touch,” about a woman trying to smash the glass ceiling in New York real estate, sold to ABC Signature Studios. “Female characters have come a long way, but aren’t there yet. I want to join the ranks of successful creators writing female characters who challenge convention,” says Armstrong. “When audiences expecting the status quo start to feel uncomfortable, I feel like I’ve done my job.”

– Iain Blair

Mackenzie Davis

Actor

Acting was always the dream of Vancouver-born Davis, but she didn’t start working in the profession until she was 24. But Davis was ready and things progressed quickly from there. In 2012 she was cast in Michael Dowse’s “What If,” with few credits to her name, but “from the very first take of the very first scene, she grabbed the camera like it owed her money,” says screenwriter Elan Mastai.

That might be an understatement. Over the past few years, Davis has managed to snag roles in “That Awkward Moment” opposite Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan and Miles Teller, as well as a memorable performance as NASA satellite communications engineer in “The Martian,” an episode of “Black Mirror” and three seasons of AMC cult hit series “Halt and Catch Fire,” in which her portrayal of a renegade programmer has earned her fans and raves. The show has been renewed for a fourth and final season. This year, she’ll star alongside Charlize Theron in Jason Reitman’s “Tully,” from a screenplay by Diablo Cody, and in the hotly anticipated sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic, “Blade Runner 2049,” helmed by fellow Canadian Denis Villeneuve. Her secret? “Mackenzie brings fierce intelligence, emotional acuity and dazzling energy to every performance,” says Mastai. “When she acts, you can’t look away.”

– Katherine Brodsky

Simon Lavoie and Mathieu Denis

Director/Writer

Editor/Director/Writer

When “Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September, some gave it a standing ovation, while others fled the theater, unable to endure the French-language film’s grungy quartet of oft-naked, revolutionary-rhetoric-spouting protagonists, or its three-hour running time. “We were hoping it would be thought-provoking, and I think we achieved that,” says Denis, who co-directed with Lavoie, and edited the film. “If everyone had been, ‘Well, it’s OK,’ that would’ve been a failure.”

When it comes to their collaboration, however, they insist that every decision be unanimous. The duo met as film students at the University of Québec in Montréal. In 2010, they co-wrote and co-directed their first full-length film “Laurentie.” After helming a pair of films solo they reteamed for “Revolution,” inspired by the Maple Spring student demonstrations in Quebec in 2012. It won the prize for Canadian feature at Toronto. Now, they’re solo again, with Denis working on the script “The Son of the Dictator,” while Lavoie directs “The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches.”

– Todd Longwell

Michael Goldbach

Writer

Goldbach grew up just outside London, Ontario, with dreams of celluloid. His first big break came when Don McKellar took the writer under his wing, hiring Goldbach right out of film school to co-write “Childstar.” Next, Goldbach set off to execute his own creative vision, writing and directing the dark comedy “Daydream Nation,” starring Kat Denning. These days, Goldbach has a different Zip Code, spending his days in L.A., in the writers’ room of Matthew Weiner’s new Amazon series “The Romanoffs,” doing what he describes as “learning how television works from the closest thing it has to a Mozart.” He’s also just finished adapting Steve Martin’s art world-set novel, “An Object of Beauty,” and considers making Martin laugh a professional career highlight. His adaptation of Lois Duncan’s “Down a Dark Hall,” starring AnnaSophia Robb and Uma Thurman, is slated for release later this year, and he hopes to direct his second feature, “The Bluest Year” in the fall.

“To me, the medium is just that: the container I get to pour myself into,” Goldbach says. “I’m one of those weirdos who love nothing more than writing.” But his style is in constant flux. “Every time I think I know what my voice is, the next thing I write makes me question my conclusions. I’ve worked in so many genres that it’s elastic.”

– Katherine Brodsky

Charlie Kerr

Actor/Musician/Playwright

There’s a bit of life imitating art with Kerr’s role as a pop star returning to his hometown in the 2016 psychological thriller “Cadence.” When the 25-year-old Vancouver native isn’t acting, he’s recording and touring the world with his band JPNSGRLS, which released its second full-length album, “Divorce,” last year. Inspired by the original “Star Wars” (1977) and obsessions with the performances of Steve Buscemi in “Reservoir Dogs” and Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Departed,” Kerr enrolled in drama class, which earned him his only A’s in high school. He went on to study acting at Capilano University in Vancouver and the Lee Strasberg Film and Theatre Institute in New York.

In addition to “Cadence,” Kerr can be seen in the upcoming films “An American Dream: The Education of William Bowman” and “Lost Solace.” He’s also releasing a solo album under the name Matt and Sam’s Brother and working on material for JPNSGRLS’ next album, while continuing to collaborate with actor Bryce Hodgson (the CW’s “iZombie”), with whom he’s written three plays, including “Kill Your Parents,” which was staged last fall in Toronto. “I really love it all,” says Kerr. “If I can find a way to be acting, making music and writing plays and films, that would be ideal.”

– Todd Longwell

Johnny Ma

Writer/Director

Born in Shanghai, Ma immigrated to Toronto at 10 and later graduated from the film program at Columbia with his thesis film “A Grand Canal,” shot in China. He was a fellow at the Sundance Institute Screenwriting and Directing Lab in 2014, and also worked as a financial consultant and in fashion before making “Old Stone,” his directorial debut, which world-premiered at the 2016 Berlin Film Festival. The indie drama, also shot in China, won the Canadian First Feature Award at the Toronto Film Festival and at the Canadian Screen Awards.

“Everything good came from when we took bold risks, and everything that was compromised because of budget or other difficulties eventually ended up on the cutting room floor,” says Ma. “So next time, just be bold.” He is working on his second feature, “Ten Thousand Happiness,” about “how grandparents divorcing at age 80 shakes up a powerful traditional family in Beijing.” He hopes he won’t be labeled “as a Canadian filmmaker, or a Chinese one, or for making any specific type or genre of films — and to instead be creative “with complete honesty … with the goal of eliciting the pure and visceral reaction of the audience.”

– Iain Blair

Stella Meghie

Writer/Director/Producer

In an era in which the lack of diversity behind the camera is a hot topic, Meghie is as cool as a cucumber. How tough is it being a female director of color? “Unquantifiable,” she notes drily. Meghie, who grew up in Toronto, cites such filmmakers as Pedro Almodovar, Spike Lee, Tamara Jenkins, Woody Allen, Paolo Sorrentino and Gina Prince as inspirations. She got her start as a director when she studied screenwriting in school, where she wrote the intergenerational family comedy “Jean of the Joneses.”

“The story was loosely based on my family so it was really close to me,” says Meghie. “I coerced people to let me direct it.” It was her directorial debut and premiered at both SXSW and the Toronto Film Festival, scoring Meghie a 2017 Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for first screenplay.

For a followup, Meghie signed on to direct the MGM/Warner Bros. adaptation of Nicola Yoon’s best-selling love story “Everything, Everything,” starring Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson, which is set to release in May. Then it’s back to writing on another feature and developing television projects. “I want to continue making films, develop projects in television and produce,” she says.

– Iain Blair

Shiva Negar

Actress

The product of a diverse background (born in Iran and raised in Turkey and Canada), Negar began her career as a child performer, went to film school in Los Angeles, graduated from Canada’s York University and finished her grad program in events management and PR. Small roles in ABC’s “Combat Hospital,” USA’s “Covert Affairs” and Syfy’s “Alphas” jump-started her acting career. Her TV credits include Canada’s “Murdoch Mysteries,” Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove” and CBC series “Four in the Morning.” Negar’s also branched out into movies, appearing in the indie film “Lost Journey” and shorts “Day Players” and “Loraine.” She next stars as a lead in CBS Films/Lionsgate’s “American Assassin,” out in September, and will also be seen as the lead of Telefilm’s upcoming feature “Becoming Burlesque” for director Jackie English. “I’ve been on a very distinct journey with a myriad of crazy life experiences. I want to play strong female characters and tell stories of courageous women.”

– Iain Blair

Kim Nguyen

Writer/Director/Producer

While a staunch Canadian, the Montreal-based Nguyen has always appreciated the international nature of filmmaking – perhaps inspired by his own heritage of a French-Canadian mother and a Vietnamese father. His first film, 2002’s 19th century fable “Le Marais,” took place in Eastern Europe. It received six Jutra nominations, including for feature and director and was included at Poland’s Camerimage festival as an official selection. His third, “La Cite,” was a humanist fable shot in the Sahara. Nguyen then shot his 2012 war drama “War Witch” in the Congo with actors who spoke French and Lingala. His latest feature, the $8 million romance-drama “Two Lovers and a Bear,” an official selection at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, was shot largely in Iqaluit in Canada’s far north in surreal Arctic landscapes. It was “War Witch” that brought Nguyen a lot of attention in Hollywood after it won 10 Canadian Screen Awards, including two for Nguyen’s script and direction, and an Oscar nomination for foreign-language film. That prompted CAA to sign Nguyen. “I want to work on stories in which the mechanics of intrigue are at the service of revealing character and idiosyncrasies of life,” he says. “I want to use those idiosyncrasies as a force that bends, or breaks the expected intrigues.”

– Iain Blair

Jacob Tierney

Actor/Writer/Director

Tierney made the tricky transition from child actor to actor, writer and director. His film directorial debut in 2002 was the short “Dad,” which he also wrote. He won a Genie Award for 2009’s “The Trotsky” and was nommed for a Directors Guild of Canada Award for the 2015 comedy “Preggoland.” In theater, Tierney made his directorial debut with the 2015 production of Tom Stoppard’s “Travesties” and recently directed “Noises Off.” He received a Canadian Screen Award for directing/writing in a comedy series for “Letterkenny,” and is in development on a TV series with Ryan Murphy and Xavier Dolan. “If I get to keep earning a living telling stories that matter to me and other people I’ll be happy,” he says.

– Iain Blair