ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) is the union of more than 22,000 professional performers working in English-language recorded media in Canada including TV, film, radio and digital media.
We are actors, recording artists, comedians, announcers, stunt co-ordinators & performers, dancers, narrators, voice performers, hosts, choreographers, models, singers, background performers, puppeteers and more.
ACTRA’s principal role is to negotiate, administer and enforce collective agreements to provide performers with equitable compensation as well as safe and reasonable working conditions. Performers who work ACTRA have access to a full range of health benefits provided by ACTRA Fraternal Benefit Society (AFBS). Created in 1975 by ACTRA members, AFBS was formed to provide insurance and retirement services at a time when benefits available through other insurance companies could not meet the distinctive needs of performers.
ACTRA is proud to be the leading voice for Canadian culture and the development of Canada’s audiovisual industries. We lobby tirelessly for regulation and government policies that protect our culture and encourage audio-visual production in all genres, thereby expanding work opportunities for Canadian performers.
The ACTRA Performers’ Rights Society is the division of ACTRA that secures and disburses use fees, royalties, residuals and all other forms of performers’ compensation. In 1997, ACTRA created the Recording Artists’ Collecting Society (RACS), which is a member of the Re:Sound Music Licensing Company. ACTRA RACS administers the royalty and private copying levy due to sounds recording performers.
Performers are proud of our role in the trade union movement. We continue to strengthen our ties with our sisters and brothers in the labour movement in Canada and around the world. We play an active and leading role as members of the International Federation of Actors and the Canadian Labour Congress, and continue to build on our Strategic Alliance with the United Steelworkers.
Ultimately, ACTRA is the sum of 22,000 artists who have come together to build the strongest cultural union in Canada. We are passionate and determined. And while we have scored many victories over our history, we cannot sit content. We are determined to protect what we have won and constantly move our union forward.
