ACTORS Glen Campbell, Nadean Rawlins, Christopher McFarlane and Sakina Deer have been predicted by their peers to go home with a trophy following the Actor Boy Awards set for the Jamaica Pegasus hotel in St Andrew, tonight.

The Actor Boy Award recognises excellence in the local theatre industry.

The four actors came out on top following a poll conducted by the Jamaica Observer which their fellow nominees in the respective categories predicted who will walk away with the coveted award.

Veteran actor Glen Campbell, who is a three-time winner and has been nominated 19 times, topped the category Best Actor in a Lead Role for his work in If There’s A Will There’s A Wife, which is currently running at the Centerstage Theatre in New Kingston.

He is up against Melward Morris for Departure in The Dark; Donald Anderson in My God Don’t Wear Pajamas; Winston ‘Bello’ Bell in The Trouble with the Johnsons; and Keith ‘Shebada’ Ramsay for Clash.

The versatile Nadean Rawlins in Departure in the Dark was the favourite with her peers in the category Best Actress in a Lead Role. Up against Julene Robinson’s two nominations — Departure in the Dark and To The Finish — Camille Davis in Ladies of the Night and Dahlia Harris in Thicker Than Water — Rawlins’ peers noted that her work in the production showed her depth as an actress.

“It was a very physically demanding role as she had to make her ageing character believable,” one nominee noted.

Christopher MacFarlane is no stranger to the Actor Boy Awards. A two-time winner, he is the choice of his peers for his work in To The Finish. “Awesome performance”, “a strong character”, and “extremely talented actor” are some of the terms used by McFarlane’s peers to describe his work. His fellow nominees are Jean Paul Menou in My God Don’t Wear Pajamas; Tesfa Edwards in Anancy Chaptaz Winners’ Circle; Mark Martin in The Trouble with the Johnsons; and Fabian Thomas in Jonkanoo Jamboree.

Six-time Actor Boy Award nominee Sakina Deer is the choice of her peers in the category Best Actress in a Supporting Role.

With two nominations in this category it was Deer’s work as a prostitute in Ladies of the Night which got the nod from her other nominated actresses. She is also nominated for her work in If There’s A Will There’s a Wife.

Her peers noted that Deer deserves to win as she demonstrated “great work” and is “a truly talented actress”

Other nominees in this supporting actress category are Nadean Rawlins in To The Finish, Suzette Barrett in Thicker Than Water and Sabrena McDonald in Anancy Chaptaz Winners’ Circle.

The actor nominees were further asked to predict who will win the award for Best Production and Jambiz International’s Ladies of the Night came out on top.

— Richard Johnson