Canada's Walk of Fame

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Canada's Walk of Fame acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of successful Canadians. It consists of a series of stars in 13 designated blocks worth of sidewalks in front of Roy Thomson Hall, The Princess of Wales Theatre, and The Royal Alexandra Theatre on King Street and Simcoe Street in Toronto, Ontario. Created in 1998, it includes athletes, coaches and other sports figures; actors, directors, writer and producers of movies, television and stage; singers, songwriters and musicians; playwrights; authors; comedians; even cartoonists and supermodels.

1 History
2 Comparison between the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame
3 2007 Inductees
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

The first class of inductees was inducted in 1998, but the Walk of Fame was first conceived back in 1996 when founder and current president Peter Soumalias suggested the idea of a Walk of Fame for famous Torontonians to the board of the Toronto Entertainment District Association. They rejected his idea. He then went on to establish a Walk of Fame for Canadians on his own.

He would partner with Bill Ballard, Dusty Cohl (co-founder of the Toronto International Film Festival), and Gary Slaight. Despite not having a lot of money, research and no media plan, they managed to pull it off and the Walk of Fame has since become a popular tourist attraction in Toronto and has been named the Number one Canadian recognition event.

The Walk of Fame has since partnered with several different organizations, such as the Mary Pickford Institute to produce a young filmmakers competition. There is also a music competition to be launched in 2007, and a book is planned, which at the moment is titled "108 Great Canadians". There are also plans to manage a festival of Canadian films. [1]

[edit] Comparison between the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Canada's Walk of Fame

William Shatner's Star.

Although it initially seems much like its closest American counterpart, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Canada's Walk of Fame differs in many ways.

The Hollywood Walk allows only celebrities of the silver screen, television, radio and singers/musicians, Canada's Walk allows people of more diverse occupations, as listed above. While most celebrities on the Hollywood Walk of Fame are American or have achieved their fame in the USA, Canada's Walk of Fame is exclusive to Canadians. Very few Americans come to Canada and achieve fame, and so an international allowance is redundant. This is not to say immigrants are not allowed, only the celebrity must have held Canadian citizenship or had a primary residence in the country at one point. As Canada's entertainment industry grows, more actors, singers and other creative personalities might start to appear on the Walk.

Both Walks have stars signifying each celebrity's spot, but the American path requires an upkeep fee, unlike the Canadian counterpart which actually is a true hall of fame. Whereas any celebrity that meets criteria can finance their way into the American walk, Canadian are selected via a supervising committee, and thus must earn their honour. Finally, Canadians stars are inducted in an annual group ceremony; Hollywood rarely inducts more than two major stars at a time. As well, celebrities can have more than one star in the Hollywood Walk. The same celebrity can be honoured as many as five times under the various categories. This does not happen in Canada's Walk, although some may have an individual star but also be inducted as part of a larger group, such as John Candy, Martin Short and Eugene Levy who have their own star but also were in Second City Television.

Those that are eligible for Canada's Walk Of Fame must be born in, or have spent much of their early life in Canada, have had national or international impact on Canada's Heritage and must have at least 10 years of experience in their own field of service.

There have really been no true controversies about who has or hasn't been inducted. Some feel that there should be fewer producers and lesser-known artists and writers on the walk of fame, because although they are very successful, they are not as famous as many of those who are not inducted and thus make the Walk of Fame seem more like a "Walk of Success".

[edit] 2007 Inductees

The 2007 inductees were announced March 6, 2007. Johnny Bower, Rick Hansen, Jill Hennessey, Catherine O'Hara, Nickelback, Gordon Pinsent, and Lloyd Robertson will be officially inducted June 9 at the 10th anniversary gala which will be hosted by Eugene Levy. Catherine O'Hara, who was also honoured as part of SCTV becomes one of the few Canadians to be honoured more than once. Ivan Reitman, who received a star in 2001 but was unable to attend the ceremony, will be honoured at the June 9 ceremony. [2]