April Amber Telek (born April 29, 1975) is a Canadian actress.
Early life and career
Telek was born and raised on the
North Shore of
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
. In Japan, she pursued her modeling career and won a
Shiseido Cosmetics contract for Asia from 1989 to 1990. In April 1994, she won the title of
Miss Canada
Miss Canada is a beauty pageant for young women in Canada. It was founded in Hamilton in 1946. No title was awarded from 1993 through 2008. The trademark was purchased in 2009 by a Québec organization who produces the pageant under the name to ...
and represented Canada in several international pageants. She is known for portraying Denise in
George Lopez
George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rece ...
's ''
Mr. Troop Mom''.
Telek won the coveted Women In Film and Television Award of Artistic Merit at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2010 for her portrayal of Jana (loosely based on
Lana Clarkson
Lana Jean Clarkson (April 5, 1962 – February 3, 2003) was an American actress and fashion model. During the 1980s, she rose to prominence in several sword-and-sorcery films. In 2003, record producer Phil Spector shot and killed Clarkson insi ...
) in ''Amazon Falls''. In June 2011, she also won the
Leo Award
The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...
, Best Performance by a Female in a Leading Role for a Feature Film, for ''Amazon Falls''. In 2016, she was a voice performer in the video game ''
Dead Rising 4
''Dead Rising 4'' is a 2016 action-adventure game developed by Capcom Vancouver and published by Microsoft Studios. It was released on December 6, 2016, for Windows and Xbox One. It is the fourth installment in the ''Dead Rising'' series. It wa ...
'' as a survivor. In 2017, she received another Leo Award nomination for Best Guest Performance by a Female
in a Dramatic Series for her role as Donna Williams in the TV series ''
Rogue''.
Personal life
April is married to Jamie Campbell and has one daughter from a previous relationship with Gaming Executive Joe LaCascia.
Rape accusation against Peter Nygard
In 2020, Telek claimed she was raped by fashion mogul
Peter Nygård
Peter J. Nygård (born Pekka Juhani Nygård; born July 24, 1941) is a Finnish-Canadian fashion executive. In 1967, he founded Nygård International, a Winnipeg-based company that made women's apparel. In 2020, Nygård was accused of long-term se ...
. She made the claim soon after Nygård was accused of child sex trafficking.
Telek told CBC's
The Fifth Estate that in November 1993, she was contacted to model a new line of Nygard's clothing in Winnipeg. She stated that after arriving at Nygard's executive suite, he exposed himself, asked her for oral sex, and after she declined, he raped several times her over a two day period.
Lawyers for Nygard said he denied any sexual assaults of anyone, and further said sworn statements from two witnesses disputed Talek's allegations.
[
]
Filmography
Film
Television
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Telek, April
1975 births
Actresses from Vancouver
Canadian film actresses
Living people
Canadian television actresses
20th-century Canadian actresses
21st-century Canadian actresses