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Sarah McVie Biography: Workin’ Moms, the Stratford Festival and Her 2026 Toronto Mayoral Run
When a storm flooded the basement of Sarah McVie’s Toronto home with sewage, she joined her neighbours to push back against what she saw as an unresponsive city bureaucracy.
On May 1, 2026, that local fight turned into something bigger: McVie registered as a candidate in Toronto’s mayoral election, running against incumbent Olivia Chow in a field of more than 50 names on the ballot.
Sarah McVie is a Canadian actress, playwright and, as of 2026, a candidate for Mayor of Toronto. She is best known for playing Val Szalinsky in the CBC and Netflix comedy series Workin’ Moms, a role that earned her three Canadian Screen Award nominations, and for five seasons as a company member of the Stratford Festival.
Profile
| Born | March 21, 1978, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation | Actress, playwright, teacher; 2026 Toronto mayoral candidate |
| Education | Canterbury High School, Ottawa; theatre training, George Brown College, Toronto |
| Known for | Val Szalinsky in Workin’ Moms; 2026 Toronto mayoral candidacy |
| Awards | Three Canadian Screen Award nominations (2021, 2023, 2024); John Hirsch Award, Stratford Festival (2002) |
Early Life and Theatre Training
McVie was born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario. According to her IMDb biography, she attended a theatre production at a federal prison where her father worked when she was 11 years old, an experience she has cited as the start of her interest in acting.
She graduated from Canterbury High School for the Arts in Ottawa and went on to study theatre at George Brown College in Toronto.
The Stratford Festival
McVie joined the Stratford Festival company in 2001 and spent five consecutive seasons there.
Her roles included Cordelia opposite Christopher Plummer in the 2002 production of King Lear, Drina in Peter Hinton’s Swanne, The Bawd in Pericles, Lady Macduff in Macbeth, and Marianna in All’s Well That Ends Well. She won the festival’s John Hirsch Award for emerging young actors in 2002.
Over the following decade she also took leading roles at Ottawa’s Great Canadian Theatre Company, and co-created the play The Public Servant with Jennifer Brewin, Haley McGee and Amy Rutherford, which had sold-out runs in Ottawa and Toronto; she also appeared in Evelyne de la Chenelière’s Strawberries in January in 2011.
Television Career and Workin’ Moms
McVie built a television career through the 2010s with roles in television films including Guilty at 17, The Secret Sex Life of a Single Mom and the miniseries The Best Laid Plans, all in 2014.
Her best-known role came in 2017, when she was cast as Val Szalinsky, a mommy-and-me group leader, in the CBC comedy series Workin’ Moms, which was later distributed internationally on Netflix.
The role earned her Canadian Screen Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 9th Canadian Screen Awards in 2021, and for Best Supporting Performance in a Comedy Series at the 11th and 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023 and 2024.
She also appeared in The Handmaid’s Tale, American Gods, and the children’s series Detention Adventure, and has worked as a voice-over artist and acting teacher, including as a juror for Toronto’s Dora Mavor Moore Awards in the Theatre for Young Audiences category in 2024–25 and 2025–26.
From Neighbourhood Activism to a Mayoral Campaign
McVie moved to her current Toronto neighbourhood, an area she has described as facing significant flooding and infrastructure problems, in 2021.
According to Toronto Life, her decision to run for mayor grew out of organising with neighbours after a storm flooded her basement with sewage, an experience that left her frustrated with what she saw as ineffective local government response.
Discussing her reasons for running with NOW Toronto, she said she was hearing from residents across the city that “there’s a disconnect between leadership and the lived reality on the ground.”
The 2026 Toronto Mayoral Election
McVie registered as a candidate for Mayor of Toronto on May 1, 2026, the first day nominations opened for the October 26, 2026 municipal election.
She is one of more than 50 registered candidates in a field led in polling by incumbent Mayor Olivia Chow, city councillor Brad Bradford, and former diplomat Chris Alexander; a Forum Research poll published September 23, 2026, put Chow at 46% support and Bradford at 35%, with McVie polling among a large group of other candidates.
Toronto Life has described her as a long-shot contender rather than a frontrunner, quoting her on what she sees as her advantage over the leading candidates: “I am of the people. I am for the people.”
Her platform centres on grassroots outreach, with a stated plan to visit all of the city’s wards, and proposals including a series of rapid-response pilot programmes and support for local independent grocery cooperatives.
On September 15, 2026, she took part in a mayoral debate on arts and culture policy hosted by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, alongside Chow and Alexander.
Selected Filmography
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | The Perfect Teacher | Officer Leighton |
| 2014 | Guilty at 17 | Detective |
| 2014 | The Best Laid Plans | Businesswoman |
| 2017–2023 | Workin’ Moms | Val Szalinsky |
| 2017 | You Killed My Mother | Lynn Darcer |
| 2017 | The Handmaid’s Tale | Guest role |
| 2019 | Detention Adventure | Recurring role |
Career Timeline
| Year | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Joins the Stratford Festival company |
| 2002 | Plays Cordelia in King Lear opposite Christopher Plummer; wins the John Hirsch Award |
| 2011 | Stars in Strawberries in January |
| 2017 | Cast as Val Szalinsky in Workin’ Moms |
| 2021 | Receives her first Canadian Screen Award nomination; moves to her current Toronto neighbourhood |
| 2022 | Workin’ Moms concludes its run |
| 2023–2024 | Receives two further Canadian Screen Award nominations |
| May 1, 2026 | Registers as a candidate for Mayor of Toronto |
| September 15, 2026 | Takes part in a performing-arts mayoral debate alongside Olivia Chow and Chris Alexander |
| October 26, 2026 | Scheduled date of the Toronto municipal election |
Sources
- Wikipedia — Sarah McVie
- Wikipedia — 2026 Toronto Mayoral Election
- NOW Toronto — Sarah McVie Made Us Laugh on TV, Now She Wants to Lead Toronto as Mayor
- Toronto Life — Meet the Fringe Candidates Vying to Be the Next Mayor of Toronto
- Toronto Today — ‘I Am in Your Corner’: Olivia Chow Running for Reelection
- The Local — Toronto Mayoral Candidates 2026
- Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts — Sarah McVie
- Toronto Metropolitan University — Inhabiting the Moment With Sarah McVie
- IMDb — Sarah McVie
Zeez is the editor and founder of BioOrbit, where he researches and writes biographies of public figures from Nigeria and around the world. With 5 years of experience writing about news, entertainment, sports and politics, Zeez focuses on verified facts, clear sourcing and regular updates. Found an error? Report a correction.
