David Gale has been elected as the new president of ACTRA Toronto, succeeding its outgoing president Theresa Tova.

Tova served two terms as ACTRA Toronto president; she was first elected in 2017, replacing David Sparrow, and was re-elected in 2019. Gale will assume the role effective immediately.

Jocelyne Zucco, meanwhile, has been elected as a union executive to fill Gale’s previous position.

Gale is the first openly gay ACTRA Toronto president. He is a Gemini-award winning performer and helped establish the union’s LGBTQ+ committee outACTRAto in 2018, which released a best practices guide to working with queer performers in 2020. The document shows how industry members in a variety of roles – from screenwriters and producers to casting directors and agents – can help break down barriers and be better allies to queer performers.

“We will work together to make certain that every queer kid who wants to be a performer can come out and believe they can have a viable career, free from discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, right here in Ontario,” said Gale, in a statement. “Together we’re going to fight for Black, Indigenous, Brown, Asian, Latinx, persons with disabilities, queers, women and seniors to have more representation in our union and in our industry.”

Under Tova’s leadership ACTRA Toronto published a guideline for on-set nudity and intimacy, the result of meetings with union members regarding harassment.

Gale, who will serve a two-year term, was elected to the ACTRA Toronto council in 2006, served as vice president of communications for 13 years, and was an exec liaison for the Young Emerging Actors Assembly (YEAA) and ACTRA Toronto’s senior members’ Act Your Age (AYA) committee. He is currently a member of ACTRA’s National Council and co-chair of the Constitution and By-Laws Committee.