Norman Jewison

At the 1999 Academy Awards, Norman Jewison became only the second Canadian to receive the Irving Thalberg Award, honouring his 40-year career in the film industry.

He has been personally nominated for four Oscars and his films have received 45 nominations and 12 Academy Awards. His filmography includes The Cincinatti Kid, The Russians Are Coming!, In the Heat of the Night, Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar, Agnes of God, A Soldier’s Story and Moonstruck, many of which he produced as well as directed. In 1999 he produced and directed The Hurricane, the story of wrongly imprisoned former boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.

Early in his career, Mr. Jewison was a prolific television director, filming hundreds of shows for CBS and CBC. In 1986 Mr. Jewison founded the Canadian Film Centre in Toronto, an institution that has helped nurture the careers of a generation of young Canadian auteurs.

“Whether on film, television, or new media, the moving image has become the literature of our generation,” says Mr. Jewison. He received the centre’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 and has also received honorary degrees from several Canadian universities.