(Posted 5:30 a.m., April 21)
Navan youngster pulls off Tinseltown upset at Young Artist Awards
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Nine-year-old Navan actress Tori Barban smiles for the cameras after being presented the Young Artist Award for best lead or supporting actress in a TV movie, miniseries or special. Photo supplied

Tori Barban's budding acting career took another giant leap forward last week when she upset a pair of rising Hollywood stars to win the Young Artist Award for best lead or supporting actress in a TV movie, miniseries of special for her role in the made-for-TV movie "A Christmas Hope".

Barban, 9, was considered a long shot in the category which included veteran teenage actors Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato, who are both 17.

Before the award was announced, Barban was joking with presenter Remi Thorne who was seated at her table.

"We were joking around and he said that if he opened the envelope and it had Selena's name in it, he would say my name anyway. When he finally went up to present the award I was kind of scared that he was actually going to do it," says Barban, who was totally shocked when he actually did announce her name. "It was so surreal. I don't even remember walking up to the stage."

After she was handed the golden Young Artists statuette, a composed Barban thanked her family for letting her act and everyone in the movie for believing in her.

The only people who were more shocked than Tori, were her parents Steve and Krista Barban and her younger brother Ty.

"We went down for the experience," says Krista Barban. "We didn't want to get her hopes up too high and she was pretty realistic about her chances. When her name was announced we all kind of froze for a moment and then it sunk in and Tori was all smiles."

"A Christmas Hope" was Barban's first foray in front of a camera. Before she was cast for the lead role in the movie, her only previous acting experiece was with the Orléans Young Players.

Her meteoric rise to stardom began in the later part of 2008 when her aunt got her an interview with a child agent in Toronto. Shortly afterwards, she was asked to submit an audition tape for a made-for-TV project. That led to a live audition which landed her the part, but only after the producers managed to convince the network to use an unknown actress in the lead role.

The movie was shot in Winnipeg last winter and aired in December on the Lifetime Network in the United States and the Vision channel in Canada.

Since filming "The Christmas Hope", Tori has also starred in "Made, The Movie" which was filmed last year and is still waiting for a release date. She's done a number of auditions, but hasn't received any parts yet.

She'll likely draw even more attention now that she's won a Young Artists Award. But even if she never acts in another movie again, she will always have her gold statue.

"No one can ever take that away from her," says her proud mother.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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