Veteran Canadian casting director, producer and director Ron Leach is being remembered for his generosity in helping talent and his deep passion for the film and television industry.
Leach died suddenly on March 7 at Toronto General Hospital after a brief illness, his close family friend Mark Johnston, founder and president of Eelay Media, tells Playback Daily. He was 68.
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The Toronto-bred multi-hyphenate amassed dozens of credits in his more than 30 years of entertainment industry experience, in roles that also included drama coach. He cast for clients such as Hallmark, Lifetime, MarVista Entertainment, CTV, Anchor Bay, CBS, Fox, Paramount, and Global TV, according to the bio on his website.
Many of his casting credits involved TV movies, but he also cast for features and series such as Global’s Da Kink In My Hair and Murdoch Mysteries (in its early years on Citytv).
His recent casting credits included 2020 Ottawa-shot crime thriller Two Deaths of Henry Baker (Fireside Pictures) and 2022’s The Holiday Sitter for Hallmark Channel.
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Based in Toronto, he ran the agency Ron Leach Casting and also held a variety of leadership roles throughout his career, including VP and president of the Acme Theatre Company, as well as president of its board of directors, for a total of 10 years.
He directed more than 10 short films, including Altarcations and Shaky Grounds, both by Fletch Films. He also produced several projects, including Mina Sewell Mancuso’s short film A Brief History of the Unicorn and Mitchell Gabourie’s feature-length documentary Shurtleff.
Leach served on boards of several arts organizations and was a juror at various festivals, including the Future of Film Showcase. He taught acting for the camera both in Canada and abroad, according to his website.
Johnston says Leach’s laughter, storytelling and generosity were but a few of his great attributes, calling him “a force, a light and a bright soul.”
“Ron gave tirelessly to the not-for-profit community, had been an avid cyclist a passionate art collector,” says Johnston. “His favourite advice to his acting students and his many friends was: ‘What would you do if you knew you could not fail?’”
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Tributes have also poured in on social media for Leach.
Actor-writer-producer Donald Shepherd posted on Facebook that Leach was his “best friend and mentor in Toronto,” and praised his “incredible dinner parties” and storytelling. “Sending all the love to those who have felt the incredible impact from Ron, whether as a friend, teacher or a recipient of his kindness and received a helping hand,” he wrote.
Actor Sean Williams posted on Facebook that he first met Leach in 2018 when he took his on-camera auditions course and they became “fast friends,” with Williams eventually working as his teaching assistant.
“He always championed the artist first, and helped me get a foothold in the industry that he knew so well,” Williams wrote. “He had a spice for life that was intoxicating.”
Photo courtesy of Mark Johnston
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