AMAN CORR'S CLIMB TO FAME

MARCH 2019

Aman Corr was a young student on stage back in her hometown of Nebha, India where she performed for the first time in high school. The crowd of people from the state of Punjab watched as Corr was acting in a play for the school. When the crowd cheered after her performance, she thought of one thing.

“I just liked being on stage,” Corr said. “Being in front of people and performing for them and myself is what got me to love acting.” 

The crowd of Punjabi didn’t affect her performance, neither did the way she looked. Corr stood in front of that crowd living her dream. When she turned 18, she moved away to the winter winds of Winnipeg. She forgot her dream of becoming an actress for a while and studied to be a business administrator. Books piled in front of her like a crowd but none were cheering. Later she grasped her bachelor’s degree in hand and found herself a safe and secure job for the Government of Manitoba. Corr sat behind a desk in a large office floor with her coworkers but none of them cheered for the work she did there. She couldn’t take it anymore and quit her job. She then moved to Toronto where she made the decision to pursue her dream in acting. 

“I had to follow my dreams,”

- Aman Corr.

At the beginning, she found herself staring at her phone waiting for a callback from agencies. However, she put her chin up and attended more acting meetups and performed in more commercials and extra roles. She eventually landed an agent and found herself getting roles in web series. From there her dream was closer than ever. Corr would walk down the streets of Toronto and see diversity everywhere, and because of that her roles came a lot easier. 

“My ethnicity has certainly helped me book parts because that is what they were looking for here,” Corr said. 

She really does believe that things are changing sooner than expected with Toronto becoming more diverse. Especially when local directors are looking for more people of colour. 

Scott Dion Brown was just in grade one when he first drew scenes of spaceships battling among the stars in his notebook. Now at 32, he’s taking those picture and directing an internet film called Space Age. Brown would stare at over 600 applications for roles. One of the descriptions was open ethnicity. 

“As far as we were concerned, the race or ethnic background was one of the plot points of our story.” 

Brown has acted and directed in both internet films, Space Age and Kessler Syndrome. Both films have diverse cast, and the diversity of Toronto has helped that. 

“The landscape has changed here and that involves almost every industry including film,” Brown said. 

Lisa Michelle, Co-chair of the diversity committee at ACTRA

Lisa Michelle was a teacher at a school yelling at students to break up a fight. Or so her role in Netflix’s Black Mirror might trick you into thinking. Michelle has been acting for over 15 years and is the co-chair of the diversity committee at ACTRA Toronto (The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists). She’s a Jamaican Canadian who’s lived in Toronto her whole life and has noticed the city is becoming multicultural. “If you’re in the GTA long enough you know this city is more diverse,” Michelle said. With that comes the reflection of the entertainment industry and its union of performers at ACTRA. 

“ACTRA has been getting more diverse members in cultural and gender in the last couple of years. More and more people are stepping up to be performers,” Michelle said. 

Corr on her spare time watches movies and TV like any other person. She’s noticed entertainment platforms like Netflix have become more diverse in their star roles. 

“It is changing slowly,” Corr said. “People of colour are starting to get big roles such as Priyanka Chopra playing the role of Alex Parish in Quantico and many others in Crazy Rich Asians.” 

Corr has so far received an award for best actress at the New Jersey Web TV film festival for the web series Marked and is nominated for best actress at the Miami film festival. She continues to achieve her dreams to be a star and push the barriers of diversity. 

“Things will change very soon and as an actress I’ll keep acting and improving my skill set until that big opportunity comes my way and changes everything.”

Aman Corr