Actor Mia Kirshner has been named the recipient of the 2013 WIFT-T Crystal Award for International Achievement.

The award is presented to a Canadian women for her significant and well-recognized body of work in screen-based media in Canada and abroad.

“Over the years, Mia has demonstrated her versatility as an actor in a variety of genres and formats in numerous award-winning and ground-breaking films and television series,” said WIFT-T executive director Heather Webb in a statement.

Toronto-born Kirshner has amassed a slew of film and TV credits over the past 24 years. Her film debut was a role in Denys Arcand’s Love and Human Remains in 1993. She has also starred in Atom Egoyan’s Exotica (1994), Brian De Palma’s Black Dahlia (2006), and narrated the title character in NFB interactive doc Bear 71 (2012). On the small screen, she is best-known for her role in all six seasons of The L Word (2004 to 2009). She currently stars in Syfy’s Defiance, which airs on Showcase in Canada, and has had recurring guest roles in series including 24 and The Vampire Diaries.

Kirshner is also the co-founder and director of charitable organization I Live Here Projects, which helps people living in extreme poverty through permaculture, art and education initiatives.

The Crystal Awards will be handed out during a gala luncheon on Dec. 3 at the Arcadian Court in Toronto.