Local filmmaker nominated for award
Trenton-born actor Katie Uhlmann has recently been nominated for the 2015 Notable Awards in the celebrity category. Photo courtesy of Facebook.
TRENTON – Katie Uhlmann remembers getting her first big acting job like it was yesterday.
“When I found out, I was at my day job and my agent called me. I was so happy I cried,” she said.
The Trenton-born actress, who now lives in Toronto, had been waiting to hear if she got a role in the 2014 horror film Kingdom Come. She said the role was a much-needed change from selling credit cards at Canadian Tire.
“It was a great experience, honestly,” she said of the movie shoot in Australia. “The cast and crew were really great.”
Two years later, Uhlmann got the call that she has been nominated for the 2015 Notable Awards, which highlight young Canadians making a name for themselves in celebrity, lifestyle, business and culture.
The nomination “is so exciting, because it’s a tough business and you work really hard. To get a little bit of recognition is really nice,” Uhlmann said in a telephone interview.
Uhlmann has been nominated in the celebrity category for Ontario. The category recognizes millennials working in the entertainment industry.
The nomination is icing on the cake, she said, but getting awards and nominations is not why she became an actor.
“It’s always really nice when you receive an award, and it’s a really good feeling, but it’s not why I do what I do. It’s not why I chose acting.”
Uhlmann didn’t always plan to be an actor, but fell in love with it when she started doing theatre in high school, she said.
“I actually went to Queen’s University for life sciences,” she said. “But my heart was always in acting, so after one year of that I switched into drama and psychology.”
She’s never looked back.
“I don’t regret it. It definitely has its ups and downs, but I love it and there’s nothing else I’d rather do.”
Uhlmann also works behind the camera. Most recently, she starred in, wrote, produced and directed the short comedy film Pyramid Scream.
“I think definitely starting my own projects is good. As an actor, your career is at the mercy of other people’s decisions all the time. With the auditioning process and how it works, someone else is always deciding for you.”
Making her own films is a way of taking more control of her career, she said.
“It’s definitely a lot more work, and a more stressful way to approach the business. But it’s also been really rewarding, so I think that I will always be a writer and a producer as well as an actor.”
Pyramid Scream won the 2015 Short Film Festival Director Award at the Toronto Indie Film Festival. Uhlmann also won the 2015 Truly Independent Award given by the Hamilton Film Festival.
Voting for the 2015 Notable Awards is open to the public and ends on Jan. 28. Voting can be done at notableawards.com.
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