The Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress was awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 1980 to 1983, for the best performance by non-Canadian actress in a Canadian film.Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. .
The award and its Foreign Actor companion were frequently criticized both by actors and film critics — Canadian actor Christopher Plummer criticized the distinction in his Best Actor acceptance speech at the first Genies ceremony, and Jay Scott called them "loathsome", dubbing them "the Colonial Category", in a 1982 article in The Globe and Mail.Jay Scott, "Canadian films do Jekyll and Hyde act". The Globe and Mail, February 27, 1982.
The awards were discontinued after the end of the 4th Genie Awards."Genie rules changed to include Americans". Toronto Star, October 9, 1985. Initially, non-Canadian actresses were simply barred from being nominated in acting categories at all, but beginning with the 7th Genie Awards non-Canadian actresses instead became eligible for the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role and/or the Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.
Winners and nominees Year Nominee Film 1980 1st Genie Awards Trish Van Devere The Changeling Susan Anspach Running Samantha Eggar The Brood Sally Kellerman It Rained All Night the Day I Left Cloris Leachman Yesterday 1981 2nd Genie Awards Susan Sarandon Atlantic City, U.S.A. Ann-Margret Middle Age Crazy Jamie Lee Curtis Prom Night Louise Fletcher The Lucky Star Lee Remick Tribute 1982 3rd Genie Awards Annie Potts Heartaches Ellen Burstyn Silence of the North Meg Foster Ticket to Heaven Mariette Hartley Improper Channels Marthe Keller The Amateur 1983 4th Genie Awards Glynnis O'Connor Melanie Patty Duke Astin By Design Lee Grant Visiting Hours Marie-France Pisier The Hot Touch Mare Winningham Threshold Charlayne Woodard Hard Feelings
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