Toronto International Film Festival announces 2019 Canadian rising stars
Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Co-Heads Cameron Bailey and Joana Vicente announced today the next generation of Canadian TIFF Rising Stars. The programme returns for its ninth year with a diverse group of talented young men and women. This year’s Canadian lineup consists of Kacey Rohl, Mikhaïl Ahooja, Nahéma Ricci, and Shamier Anderson. The programme will showcase and help nurture the talent of four of Canada’s most exciting up-and-coming actors.
“With such a wealth of homegrown talent, selecting the Canadian Rising Stars is never an easy task,” said Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head of TIFF. “We were blown away by this group and deeply impressed by these young, up-and-coming voices. I have no doubt they’ll go on to do big things, just like the Rising Stars who came before them.”
The TIFF Rising Stars programme will provide the actors with an exclusive opportunity to experience and engage with the Festival. They will have access to professional development sessions, Industry events, red carpets, mentorship, and valuable networking opportunities.
All Rising Stars are featured in films in TIFF 2019’s Official Selection. Kacey Rohl stars in White Lie, a World Premiere in our Contemporary World Cinema programme, directed by Canadian filmmakers Calvin Thomas and Yonah Lewis. Mikhaïl Ahooja is featured in the Midnight Madness film The Twentieth Century, directed by Matthew Rankin and following a young William Lyon Mackenzie King in his quest to be the Prime Minister of Canada. Nahéma Ricci will appear in Sophie Deraspe’s Antigone, a coming-of-age drama in the Contemporary World Cinema selection, and Shamier Anderson will be featured alongside Shailene Woodley, Sebastian Stan, and Jamie Dornan in Drake Doremus’s Endings, Beginnings, which will have its World Premiere in the Special Presentations programme.
TIFF will announce its four international Rising Stars on August 15.
About the Canadian rising stars
Kacey Rohl
Kacey Rohl is from Vancouver. Her first onscreen appearance was the TV series V (09–11). She is best known for her roles in Red Riding Hood (11), The Killing (11–14), Arrow (12– ), Hannibal (13–15), Wayward Pines (15–16), and The Magicians (15–19). She stars in the feature film White Lie, making its World Premiere at TIFF 2019. She is currently shooting the TV series Fortunate Son.
Mikhaïl Ahooja
Mikhaïl Ahooja is a Montreal-based actor who is very active in Quebec. He has appeared in numerous plays, TV shows, and movies. Recent television credits include Au secours de Béatrice (14– ), Prémonitions (16– ), and Juste nous deux (19–). He has also starred in the feature films La Maison du pêcheur (13), Fabuleuses (19), and The Twentieth Century, which is making its World Premiere at TIFF 2019.
Nahéma Ricci
Nahéma Ricci was born in Montreal. As an interpreter, she has participated in multiple film projects and the stage production cet intervalle (17). As a performer, Ricci’s onscreen credits include Ailleurs (17) and Antigone, which is making its World Premiere at TIFF 2019. She is also the author, director, and interpreter of the play Identikit (19), which was presented at Montreal’s Fringe Festival. She recently completed the 2018–19Dance as a Profession program at Danceworks in Berlin. In the near future, she will appear in the independent drama Before El Finâ.
Shamier Anderson
Select television credits include Wynonna Earp (16– ) and Amazon’s Goliath (18), on which Anderson is a regular. Notable features include Across the Line (15); roles opposite Nicole Kidman in Destroyer, which premiered at TIFF 2018, and opposite Johnny Depp in City of Lies (18); and Endings, Beginnings, which is premiering at TIFF 2019. Anderson recently wrapped on Spike Lee’s Son of the South and Stowaway, opposite Anna Kendrick. Anderson and his brother Stephan James co-founded the B.L.A.C.K. Ball, an event hosted in Toronto during TIFF and in Los Angeles during Oscars season.
Previous years’ Rising Stars alumni are Emmy Award–winning actor Tatiana Maslany (Stronger, Orphan Black, Being Erica), Stephan James (If Beale Street Could Talk, Homecoming, Selma), Théodore Pellerin (On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Boy Erased), Devery Jacobs (American Gods, Blood Quantum), Connor Jessup (White Lie, Falling Skies, American Crime), Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace, Maps to the Stars, 11.22.63), and Ellen Wong (Glow, The Carrie Diaries, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World), among others.
The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019.
