Sharon M. Lewis is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

and film director from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She studied

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

.John McKay, "Sharon Lewis finds activism experience a plus for new role as CounterSpin host," ''Western Star'', Corner Brook, Newfoundland: October 6, 2001, pg. 30. She was an actress and author before being the host of ''

counterSpin Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting (FAIR) is a progressive left-leaning media critique organization based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1986 by Jeff Cohen and Martin A. Lee. FAIR monitors American news media for bias, inaccura ...

'' on

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

in 2001, and then hosted ''

ZeD Zed is the pronunciation of the letter ''Z'' in Commonwealth English ("zee" in American English). Zed or ZED may also refer to: Entertainment Characters *Zed (comics), a character from the ''Hellblazer'' comic series *Zed (Kiba), the main chara ...

'', also for the

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

. She began her career on ''counterSpin'' with a special on the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. She called herself an "activist," saying "it's a journalist's job to activate change through information... Who isn't passionate and is in the journalist field, otherwise I don't know what would drive you?" After leaving ''ZeD'',

Ziya Tong Ziya () is a Turkish given name for males and females, it is of Arabic origin, in Turkish ''Ziya'' means ''light''. Given name * Ziya Doğan, Turkish football manager * Ziya Gökalp, Turkish sociologist * Nazmi Ziya Güran, Turkish impressionist p ...

took over as host. Lewis subsequently established the company urbansoul inc., which promotes the art of minority women. During her acting career, she appeared on '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' as the mother of Jimmy Brooks, who was played by rapper

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

. She also appeared in the film '' Troubled Waters''. In 2017, Lewis directed her Afro-futurist feature film ''

Brown Girl Begins ''Brown Girl Begins'' is a 2017 Canadian science fiction film, directed by Sharon Lewis. The film was inspired by Nalo Hopkinson's 1998 novel '' Brown Girl in the Ring'', although for budgetary reasons Lewis opted to write and film a prequel stor ...

'', a feature film prequel to the celebrated novel '' Brown Girl in the Ring'' by

Nalo Hopkinson Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels ('' Brown Girl in the Ring'', ''Midnight Robber'', '' The Salt Roads'', ''The New Moon's Arms'') and short stories such as thos ...

.Canadian premiere of Brown Girl Begins at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday The Caribbean Camera
/ref> Lewis is a member of

Film Fatales Film Fatales is a non-profit which advocates for parity in the entertainment industry and supports a community of women feature film directors who meet regularly to mentor each other, collaborate on projects and share resources. History The group w ...

Filmography

Filmmaker

Actress

References

External links

*Sharon Lewis
''ZeD'' biography
* Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian actresses Actresses from Toronto Black Canadian actresses Black Canadian broadcasters Black Canadian filmmakers Canadian film actresses Canadian stage actresses Canadian television actresses Canadian television hosts Canadian women television hosts CBC Television people Film directors from Toronto Writers from Toronto University of Toronto alumni Canadian television directors Canadian women television directors Canadian women film directors Canadian women screenwriters {{Canada-tv-bio-stub