I love Sarah Gadon. So I’m gushing here: If Hollywood were a stock exchange, you want to buy shares in Sarah Gadon… and fast.
Much like Tatiana Maslany, Sarah won big at the Canadian Screen Awards too — but she didn’t take home a trophy. In fact, she wasn’t nominated this year, even though five of her Maps to the Stars co-stars were, including Robert Pattinson and Julianne Moore.
But none of that affected her effervescent charm, because she had plenty of reasons to celebrate at the show. In the past year, Sarah has evolved beyond being David Cronenberg’s muse. She won a CSA of her own for standing up to Jake Gyllenhaal in Enemy, anchored her first studio film (Dracula Untold – which over-performed at the box office), did voiceover work in The Nut Job and had a cameo in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Oh, and she nearly upstaged Julianne in Maps to the Stars, as the ghost of her deceased mother. Plus, she just wrapped The 9th Life of Louis Drax in Vancouver with Jamie Dornan and Aaron Paul, and she signed a major Armani beauty contract in February.
No big deal.
Here she is in a strapless, black Armani gown with layers of mesh netting and sequins. Inside, she had the best seat in the house — front row, next to Julianne Moore, her boyfriend Matt Hannam (an award-winning film and TV editor), Tatiana Maslany and her boyfriend Tom Cullen.
By seating Sarah front row, the CSAs are saying her budding prowess and career-on-the-rise is on par with that of a fresh Oscar winner and TV titan. In other words, they’re validating that she deserves her spot next to most of the night’s top talent. And she does.
From the looks of it, Sarah couldn’t be happier. In the CSA backstage lounges, Sarah declined to do any press because, as a presenter, she just wanted to enjoy herself. Besides, she did a week of pre-CSA press at the non-televised galas, and took several selfies with fans outside. Yet she still posed for photos for HELLO! Canada, walked the photo wall, and ran around congratulating everybody with big hugs as the winners made their way in.
Who was she was most happy to see?
Her seatmate Tatiana. The two starred together in the 2012 miniseries World Without End, which also happens to be where Tatiana met her now-bonafide Tom Cullen. Sarah rushed up to cheer on her friends as they did their interviews, and kept asking, “Where’s Tom?” Yes, she joined in and playfully threw candy at Tatiana too.
Sarah knew the night wasn’t about her, but still had a blast while remaining humble about her many achievements.
Oh, and she’ll also play a young Queen Elizabeth gone wild in this summer’s A Royal Night Out. Trailer is below.
