A years-long dispute between Toronto’s talent agency watchdog and the actors’ union erupted last week, leaving a group of performers who are allegedly owed more than $1 million in back payments collectively caught in the middle of what they call “political infighting.”
The volunteer board of the Entertainment Industry Coalition (EIC), which was meant to safeguard against predatory agents, resigned Mar. 3 after fights with ACTRA Toronto, the union representing 15,000 performers in Ontario, over how to handle claims that one of the city’s top agencies stole wages from its clients.
The resignations came as a shock to those inside the industry. Actors say they’re left to decipher the fallout and haven’t received clear answers.
The ACTRA/EIC friction first arose in 2022, when the head of the now-defunct Compass Artist Management faced wage theft accusations. Co-founder Daniel Friedman’s trial resumed Thursday, a couple of years after his initial arrest, and he is facing 160 charges, according to court documents obtained by the Star.
The board claimed in its statement that ACTRA Toronto leadership had ignored their initial concerns about Friedman, saying that the union prioritized protection against “potential defamation” by refusing to give notice to the affected actors and suggesting ACTRA should have been proactive in alerting clients.
ACTRA Toronto president Kate Ziegler told the Star she strongly refuted those claims, adding that the union chose to put its resources “toward long-term and farther-reaching protection” for its members.
“How do you trust the institutional bodies that are supposed to keep us safe, and that we pay money to, to keep us safe?” Emmett McCourt, an actor who says he is owed thousands from Friedman, said. “They tell you, ‘we’re doing the work to keep you safe’ and then they clearly don’t.”
The EIC was born from ACTRA in the 1990s and requires talent agencies to sign a Code of Conduct and pass a review before appearing on an approved agency list on its website.
In a statement, the board said the union pulled its funding, leaving it without enough resources to remain effective.
Ziegler said the union provided support to the EIC, though it chose to throw more of its resources behind the Working for Workers Seven Act, 2025 once the scope of the Compass wage thefts made it clear to her that the voluntary coalition was not enough to fight broader systemic issues.
The act was passed in 2025 and aims to provide skills training to Ontario workers while prioritizing financial safeguards. Ziegler says that ACTRA continues to work closely with the actors fighting for their wages.
McCourt is calling for more transparency and adds he’s trying to determine what support actors lost after the EIC board resigned, but says the union did not provide any clarity at their latest council meeting.
He was also frustrated that the resignations came years after the initial disputes over Friedman.
“I am frustrated at ACTRA Toronto for not moving faster with answers.”
“I recognize that when political infighting is happening, everyone is trying to score points, but we’re real human beings, and we lost real things that mattered hugely to us, and our feelings are real, and I really don’t appreciate, and nor did I consent, to have something so painful for all of us dragged back into the spotlight.”
Golden Madison, another former Compass client, said she was disappointed to see the EIC disband because of one bad agency.
“I want to see the elected officials in the Canadian acting industry get together and resolve issues that affect the actor, not fight amongst one another,” Madison said. “The only fighting should be for us to get better contracts.”
Madison says the controversy comes as the industry is building momentum. In 2022, the province reached a 20-year peak in production revenue and has continued to see steady numbers since, according to data from Ontario Creates.
“I want to see us get bigger, and we are seeing more regulations coming into place. I think that means that we’re going in the right direction, so my hope is people know we’re making it through this.”
