Hiro Kanagawa
Co-Emcee

Hiro Kanagawa is a Vancouver-based actor and writer. He is perhaps best-known for his guest appearances and recurring roles on popular television and streaming series such as The Good Doctor, Altered Carbon, The X-Files, iZombie, The Man in the High Castle and many more.  He is also a sought-after script doctor and consultant and was story editor on several critically-acclaimed Canadian television series: Da Vinci’s Inquest, Da Vinci’s City Hall, Intelligence and Blackstone.His full-length plays The Tiger of Malaya and The Patron Saint of Stanley Park have been performed across Canada as have many of his shorter works. He received the 2017 Governor-General’s Literary Award for Drama for his play,  Indian Arm. Upcoming acting roles include shows for CBS, Paramount Plus, Netflix and Disney FX. His next play, an adaptation of Mark Sakamoto’s best-selling memoir, Forgiveness, will premiere in January, 2023 in an Arts Club Theatre / Theatre Calgary co-production directed by acclaimed Japanese Canadian director Stafford Arima.

Jennifer Spence
Co-Emcee

Jennifer Spence is a multiple award-winning actor known for her regular roles on BBC Studio’s Traces, Netflix’s Travelers and Audience Network’s You Me Her. Born in Toronto to a Japanese Canadian mother and British Canadian father, she studied at the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal before landing in Vancouver where she began her career in film and television. Other memorable appearances include lead, recurring and guest starring roles on Family Law, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, Life Sentence, Beyond, Van Helsing, Frequency, The Killing, Motive, Supernatural, Stargate Universe and Exes & Ohs. 

She got her first taste of producing when she became an associate producer (and co-starred) in the feature film Down River (written, directed and produced by her husband Ben Immanuel), which went on to win many awards including the Audience Award for Most Popular Film at the 2013 Vancouver International Film Festival. Jennifer and Ben also have 2 different half hour comedy series in development, one of which has been funded by the Bell Slate Development Fund. Invested in building and creating opportunities, she frequently mentors younger female actors of Asian descent. Jennifer has always been a passionate storyteller and is excited to be further diversifying into the additional roles of writer and producer.

Robert Banno
2022 Thomas Shoyama Lifetime Achievement Award
Posthumous Award Recipient

Paul Kariya 
2022 Outstanding Community Service Award