bowled over

Brendan Fraser, King of the North, Wins His First Award Since Peewee Bowling

Yes! Photo: Unique Nicole/Getty Images

In light of recent events, the Commonwealth nation of Canada has crowned a new king: Brendan Fraser. The national treasure’s coronation ceremony took the form of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Tribute Awards on September 11, where he won Best Actor for his leading role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale. The charming actor appeared excited at the podium, holding his shiny rectangular prism. “This is new for me, as these things go, because normally I’m the guy at the podium who hands these things out,” he said as he accepted the prize. “I got pretty good at it. The trick is left hand hold, right hand shake.” Then he pointed out a shocking fact, which is that besides ensemble awards for Crash in 2006, this is the Mummy star’s first acting award. “Apart from being a part of some pretty impressive and talented ensemble casts, I think that the last time that I waited to hear my name called aloud to receive an award was in grade four and it was from the peewee bowling league,” Fraser added humbly. And even that might have been some kind of category fraud, he thinks, because “engraved on the plaque was the name ‘Brian Fusher.’” He also called his younger movie-star self “a wide-eyed hair guy” and thanked Aronofsky for taking a “chance” on him. Now give us the charming Canadian indie about Fraser coaching a grade-four bowling team.

Brendan Fraser Wins His First Award Since Peewee Bowling