Marilyn Lightstone

Marilyn Lightstone is a Canadian actress, writer, and painter born on June 28, 1940, in Montreal, Quebec. After completing her secondary education at Baron Byng High School in 1957, she pursued a bachelor's degree at McGill University, where she first encountered Moses Znaimer through the McGill Player's Club in the early 1960s. She subsequently trained at the National Theatre School, from which she graduated.

Lightstone appeared on Broadway in 1968 in both A Cry of Players and King Lear. Her role in King Lear, in which she played Goneril, was performed at Lincoln Center in New York. Her stage work extended to the Stratford Festival, where she took on the role of Mash in Chekhov's The Seagull, and she also appeared as Leah in The Dybbuk. In 1976 she starred in Miss Margarida, a production by Moses Znaimer, and later performed the lead role in Tamara for audiences in both New York and Los Angeles, another Znaimer production.

Her screen career earned significant recognition in Canada. She received a Genie Award for Best Actress for her work in Lies My Father Told Me and a Genie for Best Supporting Actress for In Praise of Older Women. At the Moscow International Film Festival, she won the Best Actress award for The Tin Flute. On Canadian television, Lightstone was known for portraying Miss Stacey in Anne of Green Gables and Road to Avonlea, and she made numerous guest appearances across various television series.

Beyond acting, Lightstone has worked extensively in audio, contributing to radio drama, voice-overs, commercials, and animated productions. She served as brand announcer for the Canadian arts television network Bravo!, and has hosted programs including Playwrights and Screenwriters. She hosts the evening program Nocturne on Classical 96, a classical music radio station in Toronto operated by Moses Znaimer. Her roles as Associate Producer and Co-director of Spoken Art further reflect her involvement behind the scenes in the arts.

As a writer, Lightstone authored the novel Rogues and Vagabonds and wrote scripts for television series. She compiled a collection of songs titled Miss Lightstone Sings, and her interfaith song The Light Shines All Over the World was released as a music video. She is also a painter, and as of 2008 expressed a primary focus on painting and photography. Lightstone has been in a long-term relationship with Moses Znaimer, who heads ZoomerMedia.