Veronica Tennant

Prima Ballerina with The National Ballet of Canada for 25 years, Veronica Tennant won hearts and accolades on the national and international stage, dancing with such luminaries as Rudolf Nureyev and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

Since 1989, she has become recognized as a gifted filmmaker, writer, and producer/director with her works garnering several Gemini Awards and the prestigious Emmy Award. Forming Veronica Tennant Productions in 1998, she has produced and directed a large body of arts performances for CBC Television and Bravo!FACT, including her most recent, Shadow Pleasures, inspired by and collaborating with author Michael Ondaatje. Shadow Pleasures set an all-time record at the 2005 Yorkton Film Festival with seven Golden Sheaf Awards, including Best Director for Tennant and Best of the Festival. In June 2005, Veronica received her fifth Honorary Degree from McGill University. She is an inductee into Canada’s Walk of Fame and is Canada’s National Ambassador for UNICEF.

Tennant’s most recent honours also include: The Canada Council’s recipient of the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Achievement, the Banff Centre’s Nominee for Outstanding Alumnus in the Provincial Awards Celebrating Excellence, and Talent Lab—Toronto International Film Festival 2005. She is currently writing and directing a profile of National Ballet Founding Artistic Director, Celia Franca for Bravo! Tennant was the first dancer to be appointed the Order of Canada as an Officer in 1975, elevated in 2004 to the rank of Companion, the country’s highest honour, for the range of her artistic achievements.