The Van Helsing Cast – 2022 Leo Awards Nominations
Marci T House as Victoria Mann in season two of TRIBAL
Marci T House (Major Stoker in “Seen You“) was nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a Dramatic Series (Female) for the TRIBAL episode “It’s All in Your Headdress“, in which Chief of Tribal Police Sam Woodburn (Jessica Matten) and her partner Chuck Bukansky (Brian Markinson) investigate the death of a well-known model whose body is found wearing a traditional headdress. All episodes of TRIBAL can be streamed (in Canada) on APTN LUMI.
Rukiya Bernard
Rukiya Bernard (Doc in 28 Episodes) wrote and directed THE BLACTOR, a short film about a young black actor (Kadidja Watson played by Keeya King) who is mistaken for a gangster by a local cop (Mark Hildreth) as sheโs leaving an audition. Bernard told Sabrina Furminger of YVR Screen Scene: “I wanted to make a dark comedy…so in the script I had a stereotypical gangsta bitch dialogue that the protagonist would have with the cop. And I thought how awful and oddly funny it would be if she had to do her lines to prove she’s actually an actor and not the character that she’s auditioning for.” THE BLACTOR, which had its premier at the 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival, received eight Leo Awards nominations: Best Short Drama, Best Director, Best Screenwriter, Best Picture Editing, Best Musical Score, Best Costume Design, Best Performance Male (Mark Hildreth), and Best Performance Female (Keeya King). (King was Violet in 19 Van Helsing episodes).
Aleks Paunovic and Ali Liebert in “Carpe Noctis” (Van Helsing ep 5.6)
Aleks Paunovic (Julius in 35 episodes) was nominated for Best Lead Performance Dramatic Series (Male) for “Graveyard Smash” (Episode 5.7).
Beverly Huynh, Nikola Stojisavljevic, Karley Schroyen, Evan Couillaud, and Stephanie Shanklin are nominated for Best Costume Design – Dramatic Series for their work on “Lumina Intunecata” (Episode 5.3).
Nina (Ali Liebert) awaits the arrival of her friend Julius in 1980s Chicago.
Ali Liebert was nominated for Best Guest Performance (Female) Dramatic Series for the role of Nina in Carpe Noctis.
Liebert also directed the Hallmark movie NORTH TO HOME which received three Leo nominations (Production Design, Casting, and Lead Performance – Male). The film, (based on the 2018 Sarah Morgan novel “The Christmas Sisters“) follows three sisters as they navigate a rare attempt at a family reunion in Alaska to celebrate their mother’s 60th birthday. NORTH TO HOME can be streamed on Amazon Prime Video.
Abby (Rihannon Fish) and Meaghan (Bethany Brown) in Hallmarkโs JOURNEY OF MY HEART
Bethany Brown (Doc’s sister Grace in “Seen You“) was nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a TV Movie (Female) for the role of Meaghan Walker (Abby’s best friend) in the Hallmark movie JOURNEY OF MY HEART. The film tells the story of ornithologist Abby Morgan (Rhiannon Fish), who travels to a remote Alaskan nesting area to do a second census of the bald eagle population and, while there, receives inspiration and guidance from a Native American family and becomes more than a little attached to local guide Eric Hughes (Darien Martin). JOURNEY OF MY HEART was directed by Lucie Guest, and filmed in British Columbia. (The scenes at Lakeside Lodge were shot at Loon Lake Lodge in Maple Ridge, B.C., and Hidden Canyon is really the Mamquam River Gorge in Squamish.) The film is available on DVD, and from most VOD outlets and can be streamed on Hallmark+.
The US President (Stephen Lobo) has an intense moment with his son (Jeff C Ballard) in “E Pluribus Unum“
Stephen Lobo and Jeff C. Ballard are both nominated for Best Guest Performance Dramatic Series (Male) for their roles in “E Pluribus Unum” (Episode 5.10). (Lobo was President Davis Park, and Ballard was his son Aaron.)
Gorman Lee was nominated for Best Screenwriting – Dramatic Series for “Carpe Noctis” (Van Helsing episode 5.6).
Jennifer Kaminski, April Beer, Sarah Buffitt, and Brenna Cox are nominated for Best Makeup – Dramatic Series for their work on “Lumina Intunecata” (Episode 5.3).
Donny Lucas and Tammy Gillis in “Love Less” (Van Helsing ep 4.3).
Tammy Gillis (Monica in “Love Less” and “Dark Ties“) was nominated for Best Lead Performance in a TV Movie (Female) for her role in the film RIVERFRONT ROMANCE. After her first novel has been accepted by a publisher (with the caveat that she must add an ‘element of romance’ for the novel’s lead character), Cara Durant (Gillis) uses the advance to buy her dream house, and then discovers that a hydro company plans to build a dam nearby. She meets with head construction engineer Riley Evans (Morgan David Jones) in hopes of convincing him to find an alternate location for the project. Once she begins to work with Evans, the romantic scenes she is writing begin to flow more readily. RIVERFRONT ROMANCE was directed by Sean Cisterna, written by Kate Pragnell, and filmed in Brantford, Ontario. It can be streamed on TUBI.
Jennifer Copping in “Help Out” (Van Helsing episode 1.9)
Jennifer Copping (Quaid in “Coming Back“, “Nothing Matters”, and “Help Out“) is also nominated for Best Supporting Performance in a Dramatic Series (Female) for the DEBRIS episode “Do You Know Icarus?“. In that episode, CIA operative Bryan Beneventi (Jonathan Tucker) and MI6 agent Finola Jones (Riann Steele) ponder the future of their investigation after a diver finds more debris off the coast and, in the process, accidentally erases his sister from reality. The episode can be streamed on the NBC website.