Simcoe County actress in Oscar-nominated film 'Women Talking'
Simcoe County actress in Oscar-nominated film 'Women Talking'
Shayla Brown was born to be a performer.
"It was the only thing I really loved. I was never a math kid or a science kid."
Before graduating high school, the 19-year-old Midland woman landed a role in the Apple TV series 'See .'She says that's what kick-started her career.
"It was surreal seeing myself on the screen and hearing my voice because I had never really imagined that for myself," says Brown.
It would be the start of Brown's stardom.
The actress, who was born blind, auditioned for a main role in Canadian director Sarah Polley's movie 'Women Talking.'
"For the first time in my life, I was being asked to audition professionally for a character who wasn't written explicitly as blind," she says.
Although she didn't land the main role, Polley loved her so much that she created a new character for her in the film.
"It blew my mind that someone wanted me so much that they went to the effort to write something for me. I'm so used to people looking at me as a blind actor. Sarah was the first person who looked at me and saw an actor who just so happens to be blind," says Brown.
The movie is inspired by real-life events that occurred in a remote and isolated Mennonite community in Bolivia.
The film was shown at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and was officially released in Canada last month.
Shayla Brown, 19, of Midland, Ont., walks the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022. (Supplied)
Now it's been nominated for two Oscars: Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.
"Women Talking was the last best picture nomination to be announced, and so I was sitting there like it's not going to happen. And then they said Women Talking, and I screamed so loud I probably woke everyone up," says Brown.
"We've seen it eight times. Still need Kleenex to watch it. I don't know if it's because she's in it or because it's sad. Just totally thrilled that she is doing what she wants to do," says Shayla's mom Tammy Brown.
Shayla says she hopes she can inspire others to follow their dreams and not let anything get in the way.
"I want to represent my community of being blind authentically, but I also don't want that to be the thing that defines me."
The Oscars take place on March 12 in Los Angeles.
Shayla and her mom plan to have a viewing party here at home and hope to get the movie screened at the theatre in Midland.
As for the future, Shayla says she plans to continue auditioning for films and hopes to get accepted into a theatre school.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
When two skiers collided on a beginner run at an upscale Utah ski resort in 2016, no one could foresee that seven years later, the crash would become the subject of a closely watched celebrity trial.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
A scientist at CAMH says video games have similar addictive features to gambling which cause social isolation of the individual and dependency on the activity.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
The federal Liberals are trending downward on three key measures while Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has surpassed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau when it comes to the question of who Canadians would prefer now as their prime minister, according to Nanos Research.
A Toronto police officer's request to explore a theory that a distraught teen he shot was trying to die by "suicide by cop" has been rejected by a coroner overseeing an inquest into the youth's death.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered a brief initial response to the final report from the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) into Canada's worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 people in Nova Scotia in 2020. Vowing changes will come, here's what Trudeau said in Truro, N.S.
Gun policy comments made by then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki in a contentious call to Nova Scotia RCMP officers after the mass shooting in 2020 did not amount to political interference, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) final report concludes.
Just a week after Airbnb tightened regulations for Quebec listings following a deadly fire, hosts may already be bending the rules. Airbnb now requires its hosts to provide a six-digit policy number with their listing, obtained when a tourist lodging is registered with the provincial government. But a scroll through the Airbnb website suggests users are falsifying their permit numbers to sneak past the authentication process.
A lawyer for the United States government told Quebec's highest court today that the country should be immune from prosecution for the infamous brainwashing experiments at McGill University from the 1940s to the 1960s.
It's been two weeks since a major fire ripped through a heritage building in the heart of Old Montreal, killing seven people and forever altering the lives of families across the globe. For the families of those who died, the grieving process is only starting.
Ottawa Police are investigating an attempted break-in at the residence of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, the second such incident involving one of his top aides in recent months.
A Toronto man, whose neighbours vanished eight years ago and left their home completely abandoned, said he's fed up living next door to a property that is in complete disarray.
Premier Doug Ford is slamming federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault as a “real piece of work” in the wake of public remarks he made suggesting that Ontario has “no plan to fight climate change.”
When the store manager at La Noisette Bakery arrived Thursday morning to open the small shop on Oxford Street, she discovered that one of the two large circular windows at the side of their building was shattered.
There are exciting plans for Knox Presbyterian Church in downtown Sudbury. Built in 1927, the former church was sold after its congregation dwindled and will be transformed into a concert hall.
The Windsor Police Service’s Arson Unit is asking for the public’s help identifying two suspects after police say they intentionally set fire to the former Mission Thrift Store.
A candidate for the United Conservative Party in southern Alberta has resigned after she posted a video claiming children are being exposed to pornography in schools.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Students at the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine are reluctant to speak up when faculty make racist comments, according to a new report from the human rights commission.
A Mass Casualty Commission report that came out on Thursday following a mass shooting in Nova Scotia in 2020 may have a local impact on the RCMP Depot model being phased out.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has yet to answer direct questions about a growing scandal of her alleged interference with the justice system, but her deputy premier has responded the media about the issue.
Police have released video of a suspected arsonist who allegedly caused thousands of dollars in smoke and water damage to a building in Vancouver's Chinatown last weekend.
Shayla Brown, 19, of Midland, Ont., walks the red carpet at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022. (Supplied)
