Canadian Gold Rush

The 2006 Golden Globes provided some great entertainment and some special moments for me. One of the biggest moments for Canadians came early in the evening when Nepean's (a suburb of Ottawa) Sandra Oh shook as she accepted the award for best supporting actress on a television series.

"I feel like somebody set me on fire," the Canadian star of Grey's Anatomy said. "This is fantastic. Look at all you people."

Oh began her career as a ballet dancer and eventually studied drama at the National Theatre School in Montreal. She then starred in a London (Ontario) stage production of David Mamet's "Oleanna" and appeared as the title character in the Canadian television production The Diary of Evelyn Lau (1993) (TV), beating out over 1,000 applicants. Her list of awards includes the FIPA d'Or for Best Actress at the 1994 Festival International de Programmes Audiovisuels at Cannes, France, two Genie Awards (the Canadian Oscar), a Cable Ace Award, a Theatre World Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2003, she married writer-director Alexander Payne and their first film together was the Oscar-winning Sideways (2004).

Later on, another actor finally getting some credit, Philip Seymour Hoffman arrived on the podium to accept the Best Actor in Drama award for playing the title role in Capote.

"I just was given the best part of my life basically, and I know that," said the actor, who has returned to his usual stocky self after slimming down to play author Truman Capote.

Walk the Line, a biopic of country icon Johnny Cash, received several accolades as well, including Best Comedy or Musical. As expected, Reese Witherspoon picked up Best Actress for playing June Carter, while Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor for playing the Man in Black himself.

"Who would ever have thought that I'd win in the comedy or musical category?" asked Phoenix, thanking "John and June for sharing their life with all of us."

I can remember in an interview Phoenix told a story about an unnamed "journalist" who had the gaul to ask about his motivation for a scene for Walk the Line, in which an emotional Johnny Cash distraught over a death of a close person begins to slam his head into the head board of his bed. In his infinate stupidity, the man querried, "where you using the death of your brother as a motivation?" Phoenix using more professionalism than this guy will ever have, calmly replied something like I'm not a method actor, if you need to use a personal experience as motivation for a scene, than your not an actor.

Here! Here! it's a big difference between these three great actors who work tirelessly to learn their characters and someone like Russell Crowe who needs to keep five hundred extras waiting three hours while he "becomes a boxer". Cinderella man deserved much more credit for it's directing and co-stars than it got. Courtesy phone, for Mr. Crowe, it's your wake up call from your ego. It want's you check out.

Later,
Kenaz