Canadian Screen Awards: 5 things you might not know

The Canadian Screen Awards for homegrown film and TV shows airs tonight. Here are five things you might not know about the show.

• Watch the awards ceremony on CBC-TV and online from 8 to 10 p.m ET
• CBC picks up 10 more trophies at Wednesday’s Canadian Screen Awards
• CBC takes home 8 trophies at Canadian Screen Awards

Hollywood heavyweights

Julianne Moore, Kiefer Sutherland and Tatiana Maslany are bringing their star power to Toronto tonight as they present at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Moore’s latest film, Map to the Stars, has been nominated for 11 CSAs. The Oscar-winning actress will also walk the red carpet outside Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts before the show.

Sutherland was announced as a presenter when it was revealed his movie Pompeii would be honoured at the ceremony.

Maslany, star of the hit TV series Orphan Black and a past CSA winner, will also present an award at the gala. Orphan Black has already claimed a host of CSA trophies this week, in categories including casting, writing, direction and original music score.

Pompeii’s Canadian connections

The historical disaster film Pompeii, produced by Paul W. S. Anderson, has more than one Canadian connection.

It stars homegrown stars Kiefer Sutherland and Emily Browning, and much of the film was shot in Toronto in 2013.

Pompeii will take home the CSA’s Golden Screen Award for 2014, which is presented annually to the film with the highest domestic box office of its year.

The race for best anchor

One of the CSA’s most anticipated awards is the trophy for best anchor (national), and this year promises to be no different.

Two CBC News anchors are in the running this year — CBC News Network anchor Heather Hiscox and Peter Mansbridge, anchor of The National and CBC News chief correspondent.

Mansbridge has won two Canadian Screen Award trophies and 12 Geminis, the award that was later replaced by the Canadian Screen Awards. Hiscox has been nominated for three Geminis.

This year, Hiscox and Mansbridge are up against Lisa LaFlamme, host of CTV National News, and Global National News’s Dawna Friesen.

Award-winning host

Tony- and Emmy-award-winning stage and screen star Andrea Martin hosts this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

Her film appearances include Wag the Dog, The Producers, Hedwig and the Angry Inch and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Martin is widely assumed to be Canadian because of her numerous television appearances in this country. But the actress is, in fact, American. She was born in Portland, Maine. But her sons both have dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship.

She takes over from Canadian funnyman Martin Short, who hosted the first two CSA ceremonies.

Awards merger

This year marks the third year the Canadian Screen Awards are being presented. The new awards are the result of a merger of the Gemini Awards (for TV) and the Genie Awards (for film).

Dozens of awards are handed out in recognition of the very best of Canadian film, TV and digital media production over the course of the week-long event.

This year, the Xavier Dolan film Mommy and TV series Orphan Black were nominated for the most awards.