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Lorena Gale

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Lorena Gale
Gale at Gatecon, July 30, 2005
Born(1958-05-09)May 9, 1958
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
DiedJune 21, 2009(2009-06-21) (aged 51)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Other namesLorena Gayle
Lorineda Gayle
Occupation(s)Actress, playwright, theatre director
Years active1981–2009
SpouseJohn Cooper (1988–2009; her death)

Lorena Gale (May 9, 1958 – June 21, 2009)[1] was a Canadian actress, playwright and theatre director. She was active onstage and in films and television since the 1980s. She also authored two award-winning plays, Angélique and Je me souviens.

Life and career

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Gale was born in Montreal, Quebec.[2] She studied at Concordia University and the National Theatre School and completed a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver in 2005.[2]

Her performances on stage for Lorraine Hansberry's Raisin in the Sun and Joseph A. Walker's River Niger won her the Montreal Gazette Theatre Critics Award for Outstanding Performance in 1981.[2]

In 1985 she became the artistic director of Montréal's Black Theatre Workshop.[3] She then studied playwriting at the Playwrights' Workshop Montréal.[2]

After moving to Vancouver in 1988, Lorena won a 1991 Jessie Richardson Award for best supporting actress as Normal Jean in The Colored Museum (1990) .[2]

Her play, Angélique, the story of executed slave Marie-Joseph Angelique, was the winner of the 1995 duMaurier National Playwriting Competition in Canada.[4][2] Her writing explores the nature of being black and mixed race and belonging in Canada.[5] In 2000, she produced her play Je me souviens, a monologue about her experiences growing up in Montreal, at the Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, BC.[6] The play was published by Talonbooks in 2001.[7]

She appeared in such movies as The Hotel New Hampshire, Another Cinderella Story, Ernest Goes to School, Fantastic Four, Traitor, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Mermaid Chair, and The Exorcism of Emily Rose. She has guest starred on programs such as The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, Smallville and Kingdom Hospital. Until August 2005, she starred as Priestess Elosha on the SciFi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica.

Gale also lent her voice to several animated works such as RoboCop: Alpha Commando, The Bitsy Bears, Camp Candy, The Adventures of Corduroy and Hurricanes.

Gale's final film role was as a librarian in Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins, which was dedicated to her.

Death

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Gale died following a battle with throat cancer on June 21, 2009, at age 51.[2]

Filmography

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Year Title Role Notes
1982 Visiting Hours Nurse 1
1984 The Hotel New Hampshire Dark Inge
1987 Wild Thing Scooter
1989 Cousins Cosmetic Demonstrator
1989 The Fly II Woman
1992 Farther West
1994 Ernest Goes to School History Teacher
1996 Maternal Instincts Anita
1997 Indefensible: The Truth About Edward Brannigan Cheryl Drew TV movie
1998 American Dragons Captain Talman
2000 Snow Day Radio Mother
2000 Holiday Heart Mrs. Owens TV movie
2000 Screwed Angry Momma
2001 Freddy Got Fingered Psychiatrist / Social Worker
2002 Halloween: Resurrection Nurse Wells
2003 Agent Cody Banks Waitress
2003 Battlestar Galactica Elosha Miniseries
2004–2005, 2008 Battlestar Galactica Elosha TV series
2004 The Butterfly Effect Mrs. Boswell
2004 The Perfect Score Proctor
2004 The Chronicles of Riddick Defense Minister
2005 Bob the Butler Dr. Wilma
2005 Fantastic Four Old Lady With Car #1
2005 The Exorcism of Emily Rose Jury Foreman
2005 Neverwas Judy
2006 Slither Janene
2006 The Mermaid Chair Hepzibah TV movie
2006 The Foursome Marjorie
2006 Supernatural Landlady
2007 Love Notes Aveva Marley
2007 Things We Lost in the Fire N.A. Meeting Person
2008 Another Cinderella Story Helga
2008 The X-Files: I Want to Believe On Screen Doctor
2008 Traitor Dierdre Horn
2008 The Day the Earth Stood Still Scientist #2
2009 Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins Librarian TV movie, posthumous release

References

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  1. ^ "Lorena Gale (1958-2009)". Caprica-City.de. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2009-06-25.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hustak, Alan (24 January 2010). "Lorena Gale". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation of Canada. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  3. ^ Bayne, Clarence (2001). "Le Black Theatre Workshop de Montréal: un nouveau bilan". L'Annuaire théâtral: Revue québécoise d'études théâtrales. 29: 141–155 – via Erudit.
  4. ^ Gale, Lorena (1995). "Writing "Angelique" (Includes excerpt)". Canadian Theatre Review. 83: 20–23. ProQuest 211995628.
  5. ^ Clarke, George Elliott (2009). "Strategies for Legitimizing Difference. Mixed-Race Resistance in the Works of Andrea Thompson and Lorena Gale, Two African-Canadian Writers". Canada: Images of a post/national society. New York: P.I.E.—Peter Lang. pp. 263–264. ISBN 978-90-5201-485-2.
  6. ^ BC, Popgun Media-- Vancouver. "Our History". Firehall Arts Centre. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  7. ^ "Je me souviens » Books » Talonbooks". talonbooks.com. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
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