{blackbabes} Soap star honoured in Montreal

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Tonya Lee Williams has played a doctor on the top-rated CBS daytime drama The Young & the Restless for 22 years.

Recently, she's been noticing the health of daytime dramas in general weakening and her diagnosis of the malaise is grave.

After six decades of ruling the daytime airwaves, Williams believes the popularity of the daytime drama is dying.

"Now I look at daytime drama as a piece of history," Williams said during a recent telephone interview from her home in Los Angeles. "Popularity is cyclical and budgets (for network television) are shrinking. If you're not a CSI or Criminal Minds with gory autopsies and psycho killers, you're at the bottom of the ladder.

"Things are changing, shifting. Reality television rules. I'm not dissing reality television. It's just the way things are now."

The Oshawa, Ont., native will receive the Martin Luther King Jr. Award at the Black Theatre Workshop Vision Gala, Jan. 28.

As well, Montreal choreographer Christopher Jordan will be presented with the Dr. Clarence Bayne Community Service Award for his dedication to the promotion and survival of the performing arts in the black community.

Williams plans to arrive in Montreal a day early and leave a day late so that she can explore what's happening in Montreal's black community. She is an outspoken advocate for people of colour getting fair representation in film and television.

"I know that actors want to make a living, but the young ones have to be careful not to perpetuate negative stereotypes about who we are," Williams said. "It's especially hard for black men. After you've played a criminal or thug a few times it's easy to get trapped. It becomes hard for people to see beyond that."

Williams has received a truck load of honours over her 35-year career, including two NAACP Image Awards, the Legacy of Leadership Award from Howard University, the ACTRA Award of Excellence and the Planet Africa Award for Media and Entertainment. But that doesn't make receiving the Martin Luther King Jr. Award any less special.

"It has such a weighty title to begin with," Williams said.

"It reminds us of the value of the work we are doing (in the black community) and how it is important to move the process forward, to move opportunities forward."

Williams was twice nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on The Young & the Restless – called Y&R by those in the know – and is thankful for the years of steady work and the financial perks.

"Back when I was studying acting at Ryerson University, our biggest dream was to work enough to pay the bills," Williams said. "The work on Y&R allowed me to buy a home in the hills and to have a comfortable retirement plan. I feel blessed."

Williams was born in London, England and lived for a time in Jamaica before moving to Oshawa when she was 12 years old with her mother, a registered nurse. Her late father was a Supreme Court Justice.

Her parents divorced when she was five years old. She landed her first television gig on the TVOntario children's show Polka-dot Door in 1979, was a model for the Eaton's catalogue and was crowned Miss Black Ontario in 1977.

Williams moved to Los Angeles in 1987 and appeared in television shows such as Hill Street Blues and Matlock before joining Y&R in 1990.

She established the Toronto-based ReelWorld Film Festival (www.reelworld.ca) in 2001 to give people of colour working in the industry another platform to showcase their work.

Williams, 53, describes herself as a keen observer of life. Those observations have been distilled into solid advice.

"It's no longer good enough to just take acting classes," Williams said. "You have to research what the writers are writing about and what the distributors are interested in distributing. You have to watch the awards show to see who is winning what."

Williams describes awards shows as "brilliant marketing".

"Some television show or film wins a bunch of awards and the next thing you know, people are rushing out to buy the DVDs," she said. "Talk about a major marketing coup."

Williams doesn't get many days of work on Y&R anymore, so she's fixing up the house and learning about organic gardening – her first avocado plant is thriving – while mulling over her next career step.

"I'm very interested in getting involved in faith-based productions," Williams said. "I grew up loving The Brady Bunch and Disney movies. Television without violence and bad language. Today is all about niche markets and I know there are parents out there crying out for films and television the whole family can watch."

The Black Theatre Workshop Vision Gala is at the Holiday Inn Montreal-Midtown, 420 Sherbrooke St. W. on Jan. 28. The evening begins with cocktails at

5:30 p.m. Tickets cost $125. For reservations, call 514-932-1104, Local 226. For information, go to blacktheatreworkshop.ca.