Valerie Buhagiar (born May 12, 1964) is a Maltese-Canadian actress, film director and television host. She studied acting at

George Brown College George Brown College is a public, fully accredited college of applied arts and technology with three campuses in downtown Toronto (Ontario, Canada). Like many other colleges in Ontario, GBC was chartered in 1966 by the government of Ontario and ...

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 ...

, graduating in 1986. Her debut as a filmmaker was ''The Passion of Rita Camilleri'', which won the Silver Plaque at the

Chicago Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the compo ...

in 1993. Buhagiar has won two

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

s, for ''The Lorca Play'' and ''White Trash, Blue Eyes''. She has also hosted film programming on the Canadian television networks

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

and

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

Filmography

''The Passion of Rita Camilleri'' was Buhagiar's writing, directing and producing debut. The film has won several international prizes. The Karlovy Vary film Festival held a retrospective of Valerie's work as an actor and a filmmaker. Other filmmaking credits include: ''One Day I Stood Still'', ''L’amour L’amour Shut the Door Por Favor'' and ''BoomBoom Baby Wants to Go''. She has directed a Public Service Announcement for Centre of Opportunity, Respect and Empowerment (C.O.R.E), a biography on Colin Linden for the Toronto Arts Awards and two Bravo!FACT shorts entitled Pictures from Home and Omneya – Wish. Valerie also directed the Festival of Lights, a parade full of vignettes set on rooftops of Toronto's Kensington Market, as well as video images for Theatre Gargantua's production of Nod. Tell Us the Truth Josephine – a bitter immigrant story and Small, Stupid and Insignificant both won the best experimental film at the

Female Eye Film Festival The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) is a competitive international film festival established in 2001. It is Toronto’s only international film festival geared specifically for women directors. History In 2001, Female Eye Film Festival was est ...

. Buhagiar continues to work on both stage and screen. She has returned from the UK where she is developing a theatre piece with the support of the National Theatre Studio in London, England. In Vancouver, she performed the one-woman show ''9 Parts of Desire''. She has starred in the award-winning theatre production of Scorched at The Tarragon Theatre, National Arts Centre and the national touring company. She played in One Light /Neptune theatre's The Veil and won a Merritt Award nomination for best leading actress. Valerie has played the leading roles in the Feature Films A Winter Tale (Toronto) Sheltered Life (Vancouver), and Adriatico My Love (Croatia). Buhagiar can be seen on the small screen as well with recent roles including a guest star spot on the CBC hit series The Border and in a recurring role on the international hit series Degrassi and most recently NBC's Beauty and the Beast. Valerie has developed a theatre piece titled Peter and Valerie with UK artist Peter Reder through the National Theatre Studios in London England. The piece was seen at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in June 2013. She was also in Frankfurt to perform the one-woman show titled We are not Afraid of the Dark by

Tine Van Aerschot Tine Van Aerschot (born 1961, Mechelen) is a Belgian graphic designer, dramatic adviser, writer and theatre director. Education Tine Van Aerschot studied visual arts and computer graphics. Collaboration with Meg Stuart / Damaged Goods Tine Van ...

. This piece was performed at the Theatre Center in Toronto in May 2014. Buhagiar just finished her first feature film ''The Anniversary'', which won best narrative feature comedy at Cinequest. She is presently developing four feature films and theatre piece.

Actress

* ''

Mrs. Soffel ''Mrs. Soffel'' is a 1984 American drama film directed by Gillian Armstrong, starring Diane Keaton and Mel Gibson and based on the story of condemned brothers Jack and Ed Biddle, who escaped prison with the aid of the warden's wife, Kate Soffel. ...

'' (1984) * ''

Roadkill Roadkill is an animal or animals that have been struck and killed by drivers of motor vehicles on highways. Wildlife-vehicle collisions (WVC) have increasingly been the topic of academic research to understand the causes, and how it can be mi ...

'' (1989) * ''New Shoes'' (1990) * '' Highway 61'' (1991) * ''

Ultimate Betrayal ''Ultimate Betrayal'' is a 1994 American made-for-television drama film directed by Donald Wrye and starring Marlo Thomas, Mel Harris, Ally Sheedy, Kathryn Dowling, Henry Czerny, Nigel Bennett, Kyle Simon Parker, and Valerie Buhagiar. It originall ...

'' (1994) * ''Romantic Undertaking'' (1996) * ''Johnny Shortwave'' (1996) * ''My Script Doctor'' (1997) * ''

The Silver Surfer The Silver Surfer is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character also appears in a number of movies, television, and video game adaptations. The character was created by Jack Kirby and first ...

'' (1998) * ''

Elimination Dance ''Elimination Dance'' is a 1998 Canadian short drama film. Directed by Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar and Michael Ondaatje based on Ondaatje's poem of the same name, the film stars McKellar and Tracy Wright as a couple in a jazz dance competition, ...

'' (1998) * ''Expecting'' (2002) * ''

Cypher Cypher is an alternative spelling for cipher. Cypher may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * Cypher (French Group), a Goa trance music group * Cypher (band), an Australian instrumental band * Cypher (film), ''Cypher'' (film), a 2002 film * C ...

'' (2002) * ''The Last Hit'' (2004) * '' A Winter Tale'' (2007) * '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (2010-2011, 6 episodes) * ''

The Expanse Expanse or The Expanse may refer to: Media and entertainment ''The Expanse'' franchise * ''The Expanse'' (novel series), a series of science fiction novels by James S. A. Corey * ''The Expanse'' (TV series), a television adaptation of the ...

'' (2017, as Mellisa Suputayaporn) * '' Bad Blood'' (2017, 3 episodes as Loredana) * ''

Mysticons ''Mysticons'' is an animated television series that aired from August 28, 2017 to September 15, 2018. The show is a collaboration between companies Nelvana, Playmates Toys, and The Topps Company. The show was created by Sean Jara, who is also the ...

'' (2017-2018, as Queen Necrafa)

Director

* '' The Passion of Rita Camilleri'' (1993) * ''One Day I Stood Still'' (1996) * ''L'Amour L'Amour Shut the Door Por Favor'' (1998) * ''Tell Us the Truth Josephine'' (2006) * ''Small, Stupid and Insignificant'' (2010) * ''

The Anniversary The Anniversary is an American band formed in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997 by Josh Berwanger, James David, Christian Jankowski, Adrianne Verhoeven and Justin Roelofs. The Anniversary was the solidification of a line-up that had been in flux for a ...

'' (2014) * ''The Fall of Grace'' (2017) * ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' (2021)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buhagiar, Valerie 1964 births Living people Actresses from Toronto Canadian film actresses Canadian women film directors Canadian people of Maltese descent Canadian television actresses Canadian television hosts Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Film directors from Toronto Maltese emigrants to Canada George Brown College alumni People from Mosta Canadian women television hosts Maltese women film directors