Tonya Williams is an awardwinning actress and advocate with British, Canadian, and American citizenship. Tonya's passion for the arts was first developed with her training in classical piano and violin which she studied from the ages of five to seventeen. She was the only student chosen to represent her school at the Ontario Music Leadership Camp during high school. After high school she auditioned and landed a place in the drama program at Ryerson University. Her first job after Ryerson was to star as 'Billy' in Mavor Moore's stage musical 'Love and Politics'. That led to numerous acting roles in film and television including the most coveted role of Olivia Barber Hastings Winters on The Young and The Restless from 1990 2011.
In 2001 Tonya founded and is executive director of Reelworld Film Festival, based in Toronto. The festival aims to create opportunities and professional development for racially diverse and indigenous Canadian filmmakers and media artists. In 2018 she was invited to speak in Ottawa at the Canadian Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs on the importance of diversity regarding Culture Diplomacy. Tonya continues acting and developing projects through her Wilbo Entertainment Inc. production company. Still, her passion for launching diverse emerging Canadian talent through her film festival has been her priority in recent years. She has won numerous awards for her acting and advocacy work for artists of color in the Canadian entertainment industry.
Tonya is being interviewed by Dr. Shan Chandrasekar President & CEO Of ATN Canada, for ATN's popular Television Series “The Achievers”.

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