Bio: Anthony is a first-generation Canadian of Trinidadian parentage who grew up in Sherwood Park, Alberta. After a 17-year hiatus from acting, he returned in 2017 with a new found enthusiasm. His selected theatre credits include Anne of Green Gables, the Musical (Gateway Theatre), Death and the King's Horseman (Stratford Festival), Hamlet (Stratford Festival), Heaven (The Citadel Theatre), Betrayal (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre), Company! (Raincity Theatre), Best of Enemies (Pacific Theatre), SWEAT (The Arts Club), Coriolanus (Bard on the Beach), Superior Donuts (Ensemble Theatre Company), Dark Road (Ensemble Theatre Company), and Dear Elizabeth (Wunderdog Theatre). Anthony has also appeared in several commercials and had a recurring role on the TV series Motherland: Fort Salem. His performances have earned him several theatre award nominations, as well as garnering a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award.
Having returned to acting 5 years ago after nearly 20 years away, this award will allow me to attend my first acting class since I finished theatre school in the late 1980s.
Anthony Santiago
What does it mean for you to receive this award?
This award will allow me to dig deeper into my practice with the support of my community behind me: that in itself means the world to me. I am extremely proud that this award exists and am confident that it will be a great boon to current and future Black theatre practitioners. I look forward to engaging with the myriad ways this evolving journey grows, prospers, and shapes not only our community but the world at large.
What piece of art, by a Black artist, inspires you?
Any work by youngest brother and world-renowned visual artist, Curtis Talwst Santiago. His sculptures, paintings, and miniature dioramas masterfully weave pop culture, Moors, the celebration of ancestors, Trinidadian culture, love, and eroticism. with his whimsical yet profoundly moving body of work. His passion and drive inspire me as an actor and fuels my creative imagination.