Editing Sheila McCarthy (section)

== Career ==

After several years of television work under her belt, McCarthy secured a role in the made-for-television movie ''A Nest of Singing Birds'' (1987), receiving early recognition for her talent with a Gemini Award nomination for Best Performance by a Lead Actress in a Dramatic Program. That year, she made her first notable impression on the Canadian movie scene as Polly, the quirky, "organizationally impaired girl" in [[Patricia Rozema]]'s ''[[I've Heard the Mermaids Singing]]''. For this role, McCarthy won the Genie Award for Best Actress. The film became wildly popular in Canada, earning many international and domestic awards and critical acclaim.<ref name="The Canadian Encyclopedia"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/ive-heard-the-mermaids-singing-1988|title=I've Heard the Mermaids Singing|last=Ebert|first=Roger|date=March 4, 1988|website=RogerEbert.com|access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref><ref name="tiff">{{cite web|url=http://tiff.net/spring2015-cinematheque/canadian-open-vault-spring-2015/ive-heard-the-mermaids-singing|title=I've Heard the Mermaids Singing|author=<!--Not stated-->|date=n.d.|website=tiff.net|publisher=Toronto International Film Festival|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150507204439/http://tiff.net/spring2015-cinematheque/canadian-open-vault-spring-2015/ive-heard-the-mermaids-singing|archive-date=May 7, 2015|access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref>

McCarthy has since become one of Canada's more honoured actors, having won two [[Genie Awards]] (film), two [[Gemini Awards]] (television), and two [[Dora Awards]] (theatre) along with multiple nominations.<ref name="little"/><ref name="Ben Kaplanr"/>

She played Sarah Hamoudi in the Canadian television series ''[[Little Mosque on the Prairie]]'' (2007–2012), a role for which she was nominated for a Gemini award. One of her more recognized big-screen roles is Samantha, the news reporter in the movie ''[[Die Hard 2]]'' with Bruce Willis. Her most recent roles are Connie Hendrix, mother of the clone Alison in series ''[[Orphan Black]]'' and Agnes Rofa in the series ''[[The Umbrella Academy (TV series)|The Umbrella Academy]]''.

She is also an accomplished voice-over actress, having performed characters voices in ''[[Free Willy (TV series)|Free Willy]]'', ''[[Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend]]'', ''[[The Busy World of Richard Scarry]]'', ''[[The Neverending Story (TV series)|The Neverending Story]]'', ''[[Bad Dog (TV series)|Bad Dog]]'' and ''[[Marvin the Tap-Dancing Horse]]''.

On stage, McCarthy has appeared in ''Little Shop of Horrors'', ''Hamlet'', ''Cabaret'', ''Guys and Dolls'', ''Anything Goes'', and ''Love Letters''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://postcity.com/Thornhill-Post/November-2013/Cover-Story-A-profile-of-Sheila-McCarthy/|title=Cover story: A profile of Sheila McCarthy|last= Aksich|first=Caroline|date=October 31, 2013|website=trnto.com|publisher=Post City Toronto|access-date=March 10, 2020}}</ref>