Albert Schultz
2014 National Arts Centre Award
Actor, director and artistic director
Albert Schultz is the founding artistic director (1998) of the acclaimed Soulpepper Theatre Company, North America’s only year-round repertory company, and the general director of the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, a performing arts, education and community outreach facility in Toronto’s historic Distillery District. For Soulpepper’s 2013 performance season, he directed Tony Kushner’s monumental two-part epic
Angels in America, and starred as Norman in Alan Ayckbourn’s comic trilogy
The Norman Conquests. Together, the two productions represent some 14 hours of live theatre. An accomplished stage and screen actor, Mr. Schultz also directs the Soulpepper Academy (a two-year paid professional theatre residency) and the company’s youth outreach and access initiatives.
Mr. Schultz was born in 1963 in Port Hope, Ontario and was drawn to acting through his mother’s community theatre work. He trained at York University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before joining the Stratford Festival Young Company under Robin Phillips, where he played several leading roles including a lauded turn as Romeo.
His performance highlights at Soulpepper include
Hamlet,
Uncle Vanya,
Our Town,
The Real Thing, and
The Odd Couple. For television, he appeared for three seasons in CBC’s hit series
Street Legal and two seasons as the lead in
Side Effects, and hosted four Gemini Award galas. His film work includes
Beautiful Dreamers,
I Love a Man in Uniform,
Maximum Risk,
Balls Up,
Under My Skin, and most recently the lead in CTV’s made-for-TV film
Shades of Black (2006), a biography of Conrad Black.
“About 15 years ago, roughly coinciding with the founding of Soulpepper, I stopped thinking about a career that I could take and started thinking about a contribution that I could make,” he observes. “Thinking about the collective and creating opportunities for others as much as for yourself is, I think, much more rewarding in the long run.”
Albert Schultz is a Member of the Order of Canada (2013). His many honours include the M. Joan Chalmers National Award for Artistic Direction, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal, City of Toronto Barbara Hamilton Memorial Award, Toronto Arts Council William Kilbourn Award, DareArts Foundation Cultural Award, and honorary degrees from Queen’s and Bishop’s Universities.