Andrew Phung, best known for his roles on the CBC sitcoms Kim’s Convenience and Run the Burbs, is hosting the Canadian Screen Awards on Sunday.GEORGE PIMENTEL/Supplied
Andrew Phung, host of this Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards, already knows what many audiences will be looking for when it comes to the televised gala. And he guarantees that fans of a certain hockey-centric romantic drama will not walk away from their screens disappointed.
“Heated Rivalry is a show with a rocket strapped to it, and the level of fame achieved from that show is unreal. At the same time, the creators want to share that love with the entire industry, because it’s a reflection of the risk that was taken on a network level, on a casting level, on every level,” says Phung, best known for his roles on the CBC sitcoms Kim’s Convenience and Run the Burbs. “So we’ll have a balance for giving the team credit for what’s happened this year, while spreading the love for the rest of the industry.”
And it is a pretty good moment to be a part of that industry, whether or not you’re a member of the Heated Rivalry team. In addition to that breakout hit from Bell Media’s Crave, which is up for 18 Canadian Screen Awards, there is a strong sense going into this weekend’s gauntlet of CSA galas, both the untelevised ones and Sunday’s big show, that Canadian film and television are enjoying a generational reception at home and abroad.
Hudson Williams, left, and Connor Storrie in a scene from Heated Rivalry, which is up for 18 Canadian Screen Awards.Crave/Bell Media/Supplied
The Iqaluit-filmed sitcom North of North, which is up for 20 CSAs, is a global hit on Netflix, thanks to a unique co-production strategy between the streaming giant and CBC and APTN. Meanwhile, a trio of homegrown films vying for CSAs this weekend – Matt Johnson’s comedy Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie, Chandler Levack’s romcom Mile End Kicks and Sophy Romvari’s drama Blue Heron – have earned some of the best reviews of the year both here and south of the border, while making their financial mark, too. Nirvanna, which is up for eight CSAs including best motion picture, recently broke the $1-million threshold at the Canadian box office, no easy feat for a domestically produced feature.
And in a happy bit of coincidence, this year’s CSAs are giving nominees their biggest audience yet, with Sunday night’s awards ceremony being simulcast, for the first time, on CBC, CTV and Global, as well as live-streamed on those broadcasters’ respective streaming services, CBC Gem, Crave and STACKTV.
“The most fulfilling part of this year has been watching competitors come together to support Canadian content. It’s not an easy thing to do in this complex media landscape, but watching everyone unite to celebrate our talent proves that doing it together makes more sense than going it alone,” says Tammy Frick, chief executive of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, which oversees the CSAs. “The CBC is still the lead media partner on this, but their note to us at the Academy was that we’re all on equal footing. It was a very collaborative experience.”
Anna Lambe stars as Siaja in North of North, which is up for 20 CSAs.Supplied
For his part, Phung – who has won eight CSAs over his career but never hosted – signed on for the duties before it was announced that the country’s major broadcasters were coming together. (Rogers Media, which operates the Citytv network and streaming service Citytv+, was approached about the initiative but declined to participate this year.)
“I’ve wanted this for a while now, and Tammy came to me a couple years ago and said, ‘Andrew, you’re going to host one of these years.’ We were just waiting for the right time to do it,” Phung says. “But I had no idea it was going to be all the networks, so it puts a little more pressure on you, but it’s also just super cool to say you’re going to be everywhere.”
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Helping matters is that Phung, unlike such previous hosts as Lisa Gilroy in 2025 and Mae Martin in 2024, is based in Toronto, and not working on developing the show remotely from Los Angeles.
“I’m here in Canada doing the work, these are my peers, and so I have that little bit of an inside track in being on the ground in writing, and seeing who we can get to collaborate with us, and that spontaneous kind of energy,” says Phung, who has enlisted such pros as Jan Caruana, a veteran of Second City, and Chris Lavis, who recently won an Academy Award for his animated short film The Girl Who Cried Pearls, to help shape the show’s material.
“Any time I do an event, I just want you to make you laugh and to leave with a smile on your face. I love having the opportunity to be on that stage, and hopefully that feeling resonates.”
Jay McCarrol, left, and Matt Johnson shooting Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. The film is nominated for eight CSAs including best motion picture.Jared Raab/Supplied
Last year’s CSA gala saw its viewership rise 45 per cent from the year before on CBC’s linear television network, and 91 per cent via CBC Gem. Metrics of success for this year’s simulcast edition, though, will be more challenging, or at least unusual, to assess.
“Going into these conversations, people were worried about splitting market share and all those things, but the great thing is that the broadcasters have come together in a completely unprecedented way,” says the Canadian Academy’s Frick. “The hope is that it’s created more buzz around the show and will amplify everyone’s viewership. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the numbers across all six platforms, but what matters most is engagement across all screens, including social media. We’ll have a look at all the data.”
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Don’t expect the Canadian Academy, though, to go the way of the Oscars and leave any traditional broadcasting partnership in favour of YouTube, which the Academy Awards ceremony is set to do in 2029.
“Things take time to percolate, and the industry and Canadian Academy are reflecting on where we are today, so there are a lot of strong conversations around discoverability and what that means culturally,” says Frick.
“What that future looks like, we’re not sure yet. But we’re having a lot of conversations because we want to play a bigger role in what happens across the sector in Canada and abroad. What resonates here is what helps promote ourselves globally as well. Right now, we’ve got audiences talking confidently about Canadian content, we have policymakers doing the same and broadcasters coming together. We’re all headed in the right direction.”
The Canadian Screen Awards air live May 31 at 8 p.m. ET on CBC, CTV, and Global, and live-stream on CBC Gem, Crave, and STACKTV.