No stranger to television audiences, Mary Walsh may be best known for her work on This Hour Has 22 Minutes, CBC's wildly popular take on current affairs. The series, which she also created, has earned her many Gemini awards and showcased her dynamic range of characters, including the flagrantly outspoken "Marg Delahunty" (which she is currently adapting into a feature length film titled Marg: The Movie), the redneck reporter "Dakey Dunn" and the wacky Prairie correspondent "Connie Bloor."
She brought that same creative energy and frank sense of humour to her literary series Mary Walsh: Open Book as host to an eclectic list of high profile guests. Next up, Mary is joining forces with Executive Producer Christina Jennings and Shaftesbury to create and star in a new comedy pilot for Global called Rise Up. Mark McKinney, Nicholas Campbell and Leah Pinsent will also be joining her to round out the cast.
Walsh lent her recognizable voice to COD:The Fish that Changed the World, and was featured in the award-winning documentary feature film about life in Newfoundland, Rain, Drizzle and Fog. She has revealed her hilarious bent on politics and current affairs to comedy fans since the award-winning CODCO troupe hit the stage 30 years ago.
Walsh's many other recent credits include CBC's smash new series Republic of Doyle, Little Mosque on the Prairie, CityTV's Murdoch Mysteries, The Quality of Life for DeVinci's Inquest producer Chris Haddock, The Matters of Life and Dating with Ricky Lake for the Lifetime Network, The Wind in the Willows, a fantasy-themed drama based on the book by Kenneth Grahame; Young Triffie's Been Made Away With, a comedy which she also wrote and directed; and the comedy series Hatching, Matching & Dispatching, which she wrote and produced and in which she stars opposite Mark McKinney.
She starred in the highly rated television mini-series Random Passage; Showtime's Bleacher Bums, along with Wayne Knight and Maury Chaykin; Geraldine's Fortune, with Jane Curtin; and the award-winning mini-series Major Crime, opposite Michael Moriarty.
On the big screen in 2009, Walsh appeared in the award-winning film Crackie, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Grown up Movie Star, screened at the Sundance Film Festival. Other select feature film credits include Mambo Italiano; The Divine Ryans with Pete Postlethwaite; The New Waterford Girl, and the title role in Violet.