Tonya Williams

Background

About Tonya Williams

Tonya Williams will be inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame on June 14, 2025. Named one of the 2024 100 most influential Black Canadians for three years in a row she is the 2024 Canadian Screen Awards Changemaker Recipient, a 2023 Visionary Award Recipient of the Legacy Awards and Playbacks 2021 Changemaker of the year. Tonya Williams is an award winning actress and producer who has worked in the entertainment industry for the last 48 years in Canada and the US. She is widely known for her nineteen years starring on the daytime drama The Young & The Restless as Dr. Olivia Winters. She is also well-known as the Founder and Executive Director of the Reelworld Screen Institute, Reelworld Film Festival and Reelworld Foundation. Tonya founded Reelworld in to address the lack of opportunities, access, and inclusion in Canada for Black, Indigenous, Asian and People of Colour in the screen industries. Tonya currently sits on a number of boards including the Canadian Artists Network, and is a co-founder and served as a board member of the Black Screen Office. She also sits on the Telefilm Diversity & Inclusion Group, Telefilm Authentic Storytelling sub-committee, the Canadian Media Fund Racialized Advisory Group, the Ontario Creates Advisory Industry Committee, Canadian Creative Industries Coalitions Group and the Canadian Racial Screen Leaders Collective. Tonya has won numerous awards including two NAACP Image Awards, an ACTRA Award of Excellence, a WIFT-T Crystal Award, a Harry Jerome Award and was nominated twice for the Daytime Emmy Awards. A UK, Canadian and US Citizen, Tonya has been an outspoken advocate for racial diversity all of her life.