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Sonja Smits

Sonja Smits

Acting

Biography

Sonja Smits is a Canadian actress recognized for her versatile performances across film, television, and theatre. She gained prominence for her role as Sara Fraser in the acclaimed Canadian television series "Street Legal." Smits' portrayal of the determined and skilled lawyer showcased her acting prowess and earned her critical acclaim. Additionally, she has been the lead in two other TV series, Traders and the Eleventh Hour, as well as many TV movies such as Margret Lawrence's The Diviners. Her feature films, include David Cronenberg's cult classic, "Videodrome" and "Owning Mahoney" with Philip Seymour Hoffman. Sonja has received numerous honours and awards for her work including a Gemini Award-Best Actress, TWFT- Outstanding Achievement Award and ACTRA Award of Excellence. She was the first artist named as President of Harbourfront Centre Board, was a founding member of ACTRA Women's Caucus and served as Chair at Toronto Artscape Foundation. Sonja is the co-owner of Closson Chase Vineyards, a pioneer in the creation of the viticulture region of Prince Edward County.

Known For

Heritage Minutes
7.3

Heritage Minutes, also known officially as Historica Minutes: History by the Minute, are a series of sixty-second short films, each illustrating an important moment in Canadian history. They appear frequently on Canadian television and in cinemas before movies and are now also sold on DVD. The Minutes were first introduced on March 31, 1991 as part of a one-off heavily-promoted history quiz show hosted by Rex Murphy. The thirteen original short films were broken up and run between shows on CBC Television and CTV Network. The continued broadcast of the Minutes and the production of new ones was pioneered by Charles Bronfman's CRB Foundation, Canada Post Power Broadcasting, and the National Film Board. They were devised, developed and largely narrated by noted Canadian broadcaster Patrick Watson, while the producer of the series was Robert Guy Scully. In 2009 Historica merged with The Dominion Institute to become The Historica-Dominion Institute. While the foundations have not paid networks to air Minutes, they have made them freely available, and in the early years paid to have them run in cinemas across the country. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission has ruled that Heritage Minutes are an "on-going dramatic series" thus each minute counts as ninety-seconds of a station's Canadian content requirements.

Heritage Minutes

1991Series
The Eleventh Hour
5.3

The Eleventh Hour is a Canadian television drama series which aired weekly on CTV from 2002 to 2005. The show revolves around the reporters and producers at a fictional television newsmagazine series, The Eleventh Hour. Unhappy with the newsmagazine's shrinking audience, the network has brought in a new executive producer, Kennedy Marsh, to reorient the show in a more ratings-driven tabloid journalism direction. The tension between the ratings imperative and the more traditional journalistic ethics of the show's senior staff is the primary conflict that drives the show, but storylines also include the team's efforts to get the stories that will make it to air each week. The Eleventh Hour was produced by Alliance Atlantis, Canada's largest film and television production house. It aired in the U.S. on Sleuth, under the title Bury the Lead, to distinguish it from a CBS series with a similar name.

The Eleventh Hour

2002Series