Canadian star Ryan Reynolds awarded 2021 Governor General's Performing Arts Award
Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is the recipient of the 2021 National Arts Centre Award.
The award, part of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, recognizes work of an extraordinary nature and significance in the performing arts by an individual artist and/or company in the past performance year. Recipients are selected by the National Arts Centre.
The Vancouver native and Hollywood star tweeted a video of Canadian musician Steven Page singing a song in his honour.
"Last night, Canada honoured me with a Governor General's Award and this video. I'm not crying. It's just maple syrup," Reynolds tweeted.
"Steven Page is a friend and a legend for wasting this amazing song on me," he added, while thanking Governor General Mary May Simon and the National Arts Centre for the honour. "I'm a wreck."
"Ryan Reynolds is one of Canada’s most beloved and widely recognized actors. In a repertoire ranging from TV sitcoms to animated and feature films, he has established himself as a versatile and engaging performer with a charismatic and quirky persona," reads the statement announcing his receipt of the award. "Most recently, he has earned popular and critical acclaim for his portrayal of the title character in the hugely successful action movies Deadpool and Deadpool 2."
He was congratulated on social media by many public figures, including Ottawa mayor Jim Watson.
Last year, Reynolds and his wife, Blake Lively, donated $1 million to Food Banks Canada and Feeding America. Some of the funds went to the Ottawa Food Bank, with a note from Reynolds saying he spent some of his childhood in Vanier.
Earlier this year, he appeared as "Bruce", Ottawa Public Health's notorious fictional intern who was famously blamed for a widely seen tweet in which he appeared to bungle a post congratulating the winner of the Super Bowl. The health unit reacted to the award by saying "Bruce" is the this is the first member of a public health communications team to win a Governor General’s Award.
"I recommend making a list of people you appreciate, then immediately telling them," Reynolds said in a follow-up tweet, joking that he's glad he didn't "have to be dead to experience something like this."
Other recipients of Governor General's Performing Arts awards in 2021 include actor Catherine O'Hara--best known for her roles in SCTV, Home Alone and Schitt's Creek--composer Alexina Louie, Métis actor Tantoo Cardinal, Compagnie Danse Nyata Nyata founder Zab Maboungou, and Innu singer–songwriter and guitarist Florent Vollant, all of whom received lifetime achievement awards. Lynda Hamilton was awarded the 2021 Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
What's a Barnacle? It's yellow, sticks and screams if you try to pry it off your car
Barnacles, bright yellow devices used to make sure parking scofflaws pay their tickets, could soon be making their way to cities across Canada.
Verdun Airbnb listing taken down amid complaints, fines and frustration from neighbours
An Airbnb in Montreal's Verdun borough was the source of much frustration from neighbours who say there were constant parties at the location. It has been taken down from the app, but housing advocates remain upset about short-term rentals.
Man who set himself on fire outside Trump trial dies of injuries, police say
A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former U.S. President Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said.
They were from different countries and barely spoke each other's languages. More than 20 years later, they're still happily in love
He decided to spend Christmas somewhere that wouldn't involve snowstorm disasters. She was spending the holidays with family, travelling for the first time outside of her native country of Venezuela. 23 years later, they're still in love.
Young people 'tortured' if stolen vehicle operations fail, Montreal police tell MPs
One day after a Montreal police officer fired gunshots at a suspect in a stolen vehicle, senior officers were telling parliamentarians that organized crime groups are recruiting people as young as 15 in the city to steal cars so that they can be shipped overseas.
A Nigerian chess champion plays the royal game for 60 hours - a new global chess record
A Nigerian chess champion and child education advocate played chess nonstop for 60 hours in New York City's Times Square to break the Guinness World Record for the longest chess marathon.
Fire in Labrador town under control, officials tells residents to stay away
RCMP say the fire that prompted a state of emergency in a Labrador town is now under control.
12 students and teacher killed in Columbine school shooting remembered at 25th anniversary vigil
Thirteen victims of the Columbine High School shooting were remembered during a vigil Friday on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the shooting that was the worst the nation had seen at the time.
Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza city of Rafah kills at least 9 Palestinians, including 6 children
An Israeli airstrike on a house in Gaza's southernmost city of Rafah killed at least nine people, six of them children, hospital authorities said Saturday, as Israel pursued its nearly seven-month offensive in the besieged Palestinian territory.