Mary Walsh is best known for creating and starring on This Hour Has 22 Minutes — CBC’s wildly popular take on current affairs. This series earned her multiple Gemini awards and showcased her dynamic range of characters, including the flagrantly outspoken Marg Delahunty. Walsh is also a respected and outspoken advocate for mental health and addiction awareness as a spokesperson for Bell Let’s Talk.
Walsh’s recent television credits include CBC’s Hudson & Rex; Global’s Rookie Blue; HBO Canada’s Sensitive Skin; CBC’s Little Dog, for which she was nominated for a 2020 Canadian Screen Award; and numerous guest appearances on This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Walsh also wrote, produced, and starred in the Gemini award-winning show Hatching, Matching, and Dispatching. In 2017, it returned to CBC as a feature length presentation called A Christmas Fury, with Walsh and the original cast reprising their roles.
Select feature film credits include The Grand Seduction and Closet Monster (official selections at TIFF 2014 and 2015, respectively), and Mambo Italiano. In 2020, she appeared in a leading role in Helen Shaver’s first feature film Happy Place, for which she won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2021. Walsh has also been nominated for two Genies for her performances in feature films Crackie (an official selection at TIFF) and New Waterford Girl.
Among her many awards and honorary doctorates, Walsh is the recipient of the Order of Canada, the Governor General’s Lifetime Achievement Award in the Performing Arts, and the Canadian Screen Award’s Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement in television acting.
In 2017, Walsh released her Canadian bestselling novel, Crying for the Moon. She is also a staunch supporter of the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health in Ottawa, CNIB, St. Joseph’s Hospital, and CAMH.