Vera Cudjoe

Vera Cudjoe (born 1928) is a Trinidadian-Canadian actress, producer, and educator. She founded Black Theatre Canada (BTC; 1973–1988), a youth and community-oriented institution which helped train and launch the career of numerous Black performers and artists in North America. Among the Theatre's legacies are Delroy Lindo, Arlene Duncan, Leon Bibb, Jackie Richardson, Joe Sealy, Tom Butler, Philip Akin, and Ahdri Zhina Mandiela.

Cudjoe grew up in Trinidad, trained as a nurse in England, and moved to Toronto in 1960. She began to pursue theatre and performance in 1962, making contact with Studio Lab and Toronto Workshop Productions. The lack of opportunities for Black youth motivated her to pursue the establishment of BTC. Under her leadership, BTC produced well-received and well-attended works, including the first Canadian production of A Raisin in the Sun (1978) and the Dora Mavor Moore Award-winning A Caribbean Midsummer Night's Dream (1983). One More Stop on the Freedom Train (1984), a musical about the Underground Railroad in Ontario, toured Ontario in 1985 and played at Expo 86 in Vancouver as part of the Arts Against Apartheid Festival.

Cudjoe has acted in a number of works, including E.N.G. (1989), Rookie Blue (2010), and Jumping the Broom (2011).

For her contributions, Cudjoe received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal and the African-Canadian Achievement Award in Arts and Entertainment.