Mary Walsh

Mary Cynthia Walsh grew up in St. John’s and first worked as a summer replacement radio announcer for the CBC. That led to an invitation to join the Newfoundland Travelling Theatre Company, which in the early 1970s toured Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1972 she became a member of the Mummers Troupe. While studying drama at Toronto’s Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1973 she became involved in the collective writing of Cod on a Stick, the first CODCO play, with Tommy Sexton, Cathy Jones, Dyan Olsen and Paul Sametz. The show’s initial run was in the fall and winter of 1973-74 in Toronto and went on to tour Newfoundland the following spring. Throughout her professional career as an writer, actor and director, Walsh has worked extensively with local artists at the Newfoundland’s Resource Centre for the Arts. She has appeared in many films, television shows and stage productions. In 1992, she won the Best Supporting Actress award at the Atlantic Film Festival for her performance in Mike Jones’ Secret Nation. Among her characters on This Hour Has 22 Minutes are the flagrantly outspoken Marg Delahunty, redneck commentator Dakey Dunn and wacky Prairie correspondent Connie Bloor. Walsh made her feature directorial debut with the 2006 movie, Young Triffie. On May 29, 1998, Walsh received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Trent University and in May of 2012 she was honoured at a ceremony in Ottawa – along with Deepa Mehta and others – as a recipient of The Governor-General’s Performing Arts Award. She is pictured with her special Earle Grey Award at the 2019 Canadian Screen Awards.

Also see: Between the Covers: Books from Canadian actors for Christmas 2023.
Watch Mary Walsh talk about making the film Young Triffie in this 2007 interview.