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Actor Tonya Williams is overjoyed to be appointed to the Order of Canada — the honour comes just one week after her induction into Canada’s Walk of Fame.
The Office of the Governor General revealed on June 30 the names of 83 new appointees; Williams has been appointed to the Officer class. The Order of Canada recognises outstanding achievement, dedication to the community, and service to the nation.
The citation for Williams, who was born in the United Kingdom and went to Canada at the age of 12, and now splits her time between Toronto and Los Angeles, notes that “Tonya Williams is an esteemed actor and passionate advocate for greater access and inclusion of racialised people in film and media. Founder, executive and artistic director of the Reelworld Screen Institute and Reelworld Foundation, she helped build a diverse screen industry and has left an indelible mark on Canadian and international entertainment”.
Speaking with The Gleaner from Los Angeles, she said her late Jamaican father, Lloyd G. Williams, was appointed Queen’s Counsel in his lifetime, and she’s proud to continue her family’s legacy.
“The appointment itself — and Canada’s Walk of Fame — really what it means to me is making an impact in Canada [as] a person of colour myself. Often our representation is not always positive, and it’s nice to see a large Canadian audience recognising that someone who might not look like them has made a contribution to Canada. Because our history has shown, in most countries, that the contribution of black people and people of colour has not always been recognised.”
Williams said generations from now will know, even when she is not around, that black Canadians made major contributions to the country. She claims Jamaican heritage through her parents, but Canada is the place where she has physically lived and been a part of its culture.
She said she has always been in awe of not just her parents, but her grandparents as well and the values they instilled in her. “My grandmother worked hard and made sure my father went to university and went to law school. That was not easy for a woman to do in the 1930s and ‘40s.”
Williams said her mother, who was raised in Sanguinetti, Clarendon, knew from a young age that she wanted a profession at a time when most women, including her sisters, were thinking about getting married and having children.
Her mother left Jamaica for England at age 20 to go to nursing school; Williams’ parents met in England.
“Both my parents really instilled in me that I had to rely on my own power for success, that power wasn’t going to come from other people giving me opportunities. It was about me creating my own opportunity.”
She noted that when she left The Young and the Restless after almost 20 years, people were asking her what was her next acting project.
“I wasn’t thinking of an acting thing; I was thinking of stretching another kind of business, [that’s] the way my mind works. And Reelworld was a part of that, I’m already strategising what is after Reelworld,” said Williams, noting that she tends not to speak openly about her plans because she believes that doing so sometimes stops one from achieving. “When you achieve it, that’s when people will know it. You don’t have to talk about it then, they’ll see the success of it.”
Her career spans over five decades of breaking new ground — from being one of the first black performers on Canadian television to establishing Reelworld in 2000, one of Canada’s leading organisations for racial equity in film and television.
Williams said what’s great about both awards is that they recognise more than just her recent work with Reelworld.
“I’m 67 in a couple of weeks and it’s 50 years of my life working at the same thing. It’s always been about representation. Before I started Reelworld, it was in the characters that I chose and the work that I did on The Young and the Restless; and sort of all of it culminates into this recognition.” Williams played the character Dr Olivia Winters in the soap drama for 19 years.
Williams, who is a very spiritual and religious person, said she loves being alone and is inspired by nature. “That’s where I feel the sense of God and I feel calm again, centred, and more purposeful when I’m in those situations.”
Her advice to the youth is: “Life is hard for everyone; no matter how it appears to be easier for other people, it is not. You are ultimately responsible for all the choices you make,” she said, underscoring the power one has to change things in their lives.
English (US) ·