Contributed
Leonie Forbes in a scene from 'A Winter Tale'.

Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

After commanding the stage and the big screen for five decades, Jamaican actress Leonie Forbes still hits the right spot with her audiences. Forbes' latest feature film, A Winter Tale, hits cinemas locally on April 9.

A Winter Tale tells the emotional story of a black men's support group which is formed in a Caribbean takeout restaurant in Canada after a young boy is killed by a stray bullet. Forbes plays the sympathetic 'Miss G', the lady who owns the restaurant that the men gather in and offers her support in any way.

"It was an experience, this film. We did workshops before the film was made, we did a play. The cast, we knew each other, shared experiences, examined things. It wasn't the usual film experience, but it worked," Forbes said.

Acting 'just happened'

A veteran broadcaster and actor, Forbes captured attention from her early days in the national pantomime, moving on to centre stage in the theatre, films and a Canadian comedy sitcom Lord Have Mercy. However, despite her lasting legacy in the business, acting was something that 'just happened' to Forbes when she was growing up. Having done small acting parts in school, it was after her life was brushed by a few special people that Forbes really became interested in the arts.

"When I was nine or 10, I saw Miss Lou perform at school and I thought it was wonderful. That was my first real experience with theatre. Then when I used to go to the YMCA, I used to see Charles Hyatt performing at the nearby Ivory Club. Every week, I would watch him and be interested. But I guess it all really began when I used to work with Sir Philip Sherlock, who worked alongside a lot of great writers. I was helping them put on the play It's Unusual, which Charles Hyatt was in. One day, the leading lady couldn't make it and I spent all day rehearsing and went on that night. I found that I liked it and I was hooked," Forbes told The Sunday Gleaner.

After this Forbes auditioned for the LTM National Pantomime, which she performed in for a while before returning to the stage for productions such as Smile Orange, Champagne, Sky Juice and Whiplash. Some of her influences include playwright Errol Hill, Sir Philip Sherlock, Cecily Waite-Smith and Louise Bennett, who she describes as a 'theatre mother'. She said, "I looked up to Miss Lou, who I worked with, which was marvellous. I saw quite a bit of her and she was a lady I had a lot of respect for."

Having enjoyed all the roles she took throughout her career, Leonie Forbes cites getting a scholarship to the London Royal Academy as her big break in acting. Her most memorable roles are in Old Story Time, The Rope and the Cross and The Gods Are Not To Blame, which Forbes said buzzed in London.

Suitably humbled

However, her most challenging role came in the 2006-2007 production Night Mother. Leonie Forbes explained that "it was a two hander about a subject that is quite frightening - about suicide. There was no intermission, no breaks - when the curtain goes up that's it. There is a vast range of emotions and no breaks. It was a good thing to examine and I was suitably humbled".

For someone who has had a lot of challenges in the acting business, Forbes always came out on top, winning accolades after accolades. She is the recipient of numerous awards, such as the Lifetime Achievement Award for Caribbean-American Theatre, the 2000 Doctor Bird Award, the 2004 Prime Minister's Award for Contribution to the Performing Arts and an armful of Actor Boy awards.

In 2003, she was nominated for the highly prestigious Gemini Award in Canada. Added to all this are the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican government, the Silver and Bronze Musgrave and the Institute of Jamaica Centenary Medal.

Having a love for theatre especially, despite her many years acting, Forbes hopes to see many more projects ahead, as she jokes about acting "as long as I remember my lines".

With a number of projects up in the air, Forbes advises up-and-comers in the acting business to "make sure you finish your education, so you have a second string on your bow. You need to live, meet people and learn from their experiences. Go for your dreams".