Sharon M. Lewis is a Canadian television personality and film director from Toronto, Ontario. She studied political science at the University of Toronto.John McKay, "Sharon Lewis finds activism experience a plus for new role as CounterSpin host," Western Star, Corner Brook, Newfoundland: October 6, 2001, pg. 30.
She began her career in theatre, collaborating with Maxine Bailey on the play Sistahs in 1994.Vit Wagner, "Ingredients all there but Sistahs isn't soup yet". Toronto Star, October 23, 1994. The two subsequently launched their own theatre company, Sugar & Spice Productions.Amanda Parris, "31 Black Canadian female playwrights you need to know". CBC Arts, March 6, 2020.
She continued to work as an actress and author before becoming the host of counterSpin on CBC Television in 2001, and then hosted ZeD, also for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Alex Strachan, "Audacious, energetic and offbeat: That's ZeD on CBC," The Vancouver Sun, October 23, 2002, pg. B.6.FRO. She began her career on counterSpin with a special on the September 11 attacks. She called herself an "activist," saying "it's a journalist's job to activate change through information... Who isn't passionate and is in the journalist field, otherwise I don't know what would drive you?" After leaving ZeD, Ziya Tong took over as host."Sharon Lewis calls it quits," Packet and Times, Orillia, Ontario: June 19, 2002, pg. A.9.
Lewis subsequently established the company urbansoul inc., which promotes the art of minority women."Hart House Lecture 2006: Biographies ," University of Toronto, URL accessed 13 March 2007.
During her acting career, she appeared on Degrassi: The Next Generation as the mother of Jimmy Brooks, who was played by rapper Drake. She also appeared in the film Troubled Waters.
In 2017, Lewis directed her Afro-futurist feature film Brown Girl Begins, a feature film prequel to the celebrated novel Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson."Canadian premiere of Brown Girl Begins at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday The Caribbean Camera
In 2024, she directed the mid-season premiere of Power Book II: Ghost,https://www.talkofthetown411.com/2024/09/behind-scenes-power-book-2-ghost-season.html from the Power franchise.
Lewis is a member of Film Fatales.
Filmography Filmmaker Year TitleDirectorWriterProducer2006Ritch (Short)rowspan=16 rowspan=2 2009Chains (Short) 2011In Between Life (Short) 2016See Me Now (Short) 2017 Brown Girl Begins 2019 Disruptor Conductor (Documentary) rowspan=11 rowspan=11 2020 Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding2021 Murdoch Mysteries With Wonder (Documentary) 2022 Hudson & Rex2023 Power Book IV: Force2024 Sight Unseen Chicago Med Power Book II: Ghost Star Trek: Strange New Worlds FBI: Most Wanted
Actress
YearTitleRole1999Lullaby (Short)Creation Woman (as Sharon M. Lewis)2001Maple (Short)Chamele (as Sharon M. Lewis)2002 The Style of My Soul (Short)as Sharon M. Lewis2014Happy 1 Year (Short)Diana2018MouthpieceBarbara2019White LieCollette
References
External links Sharon Lewis' ZeD biography