We are delighted to announce that Eugene Levy will be our Guest of Honour and will receive our 2007 Arts and Letters Award at the Maple Leaf Ball.

EUGENE LEVY

Winner of 2 Emmys, 1 Grammy, and 15 other noteworthy awards!
Eugene Levy has been a favorite of film and television audiences for over thirty years. As an acclaimed writer, director and highly respected comedic actor, Levy has developed a following that has confirmed his status as not only a cult comedy icon, but also a character actor capable of delivering performances in a variety of genres.

Mr. Levy is a descendant of the celebrated Second City Theater where he studied in the early 1970’s alongside fellow members John Candy, Dan Ackroyd, and Gilda Radner. He was part of the creative team that came up with the idea for a television series about a low-budget television station called SCTV in 1976. Levy was a member of that brilliant ensemble cast of actor/writers that kept the show on the air for eight seasons while receiving two Emmy Awards for their writing efforts.

Mr. Levy displayed his comedic flare on the big screen in 1983, when he appeared as the Used Car Salesman in “National Lampoon’s Vacation” with Chevy Chase. The next year, Levy co-starred opposite Tom Hanks in the film “Splash,” as Dr. Walter Kornbluth, an earnest yet somewhat eccentric scientist intent on proving that mermaids exist. With a penchant for making audiences laugh, Levy continued to appear in side-splitting supporting roles in films such as “Club Paradise” with Robin Williams, “Armed and Dangerous” with John Candy, “Multiplicity” with Michael Keaton, “Father Of The Bride 2” with Steve Martin, and “Serendipity” with John Cusack.

In 1996, Mr. Levy teamed up with writer and director Christopher Guest and together they began writing a screenplay for a mockumentary about a small town theater troupe. The final result of their efforts was the critically acclaimed satirical comedy “Waiting For Guffman,” which was an instant hit among moviegoers and the film industry as a whole. In 2000 Levy and Guest teamed up again to write and co-star in the hit comedy “Best In Show,” for which the pair received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay as well as a nomination from the Writers Guild of America. They went on to write and co-star in the 2003 mockumentary “A Mighty Wind,” a parody about ‘60’s folk musicians who reunite for a tribute concert several years after their heyday. It garnered Levy a New York Film Critic Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, and a Grammy Award for Best Song Written For A Motion Picture. Their fourth collaboration, “For Your Consideration”, told the story of four actors working on a small, independent film called “Home For Purim” and how it implausibly generates Oscar buzz. This film earned a Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards nomination for Best Comedy Movie.

Eugene may best be remembered for his high profile success with the film “American Pie,” directed by Paul and Chris Weitz, in which he starred as the understanding but terminally unhip father of a hormonally-charged teenager, a role he reprised in the 2001 sequel “American Pie 2,” and again in 2003’s “American Wedding.”

Mr. Levy has also starred in the Disney hit comedy “Bringing Down The House” alongside Steve Martin and Queen Latifah, New Line Cinema’s “The Man” with Samuel L. Jackson, and 20th Century Fox’s “Cheaper By The Dozen 2.” He has lent his voice to the animated features “Curious George” for Universal and “Over The Hedge” for Dreamworks SKG, the latter being the sixth film for Levy that has broken the one hundred million dollar mark.

Eugene Levy resides in Toronto and Los Angeles with his wife and two children.

10/07

Previous honourees at the annual Maple Leaf Ball include:

THE ARTS AND LETTERS AWARD

Many of the above honourees were also awarded the Arts and Letters Award. The Canadian Association of New York has awarded its Arts and Letters Award to prominent Canadians who have contributed greatly to the development of one of the areas of Arts and Letters in both Canada and the United States. Past recipients have made contributions through the stage, screen, television, music, photography and writing.