Ali Liebert

Survival on the Vancouver playground

Ali Liebert was not born on a film set, but moved to Vancouver with the fixed idea of working on one every day. She studied at the Canadian College of Performing Arts, where she understood that the Canadian industry has its own survival rules. She started with small roles in fantasy series because back then the city was the logistical hub of television science fiction.

And it worked.

In 2009, she landed a role in the cast of Harper’s Island. That horror series was her first real experience with a large-scale production under the banner of an American network. But the real shift in pace came when she put on Betty McRae's uniform.

The Munitions Factory Uniform

In 2012, she premiered Bomb Girls, and her performance as a factory worker in a munitions plant during World War II earned her a Canadian Screen Award. It was one of the first times mainstream audiences connected with an openly lesbian character on Canadian national television. That role gave her a distinct voice within the LGBTQ+ community and defined her commitment to on-screen representation.

That visibility was no accident.

Liebert has always gravitated toward projects where identity isn't the only conflict in the script. In 2015, she starred in The Devout, exploring religious drama with a restraint that moved her decisively away from supporting comedy roles. She won Best Actress at the Leo Awards for that work, confirming that her dramatic range was far deeper than the procedural series had let on.

Creative Control and the Directing Track Record

Many actors wait for the phone to ring, but she decided to buy her own phone. In 2011, she co-founded an independent production company and began to understand the financial mechanics of filmmaking. That interest in total control led her to direct her first feature film in 2019, the suspense thriller Amish Abduction.

Directing is an exercise in quiet authority.

Since then, she has taken on projects for networks like Hallmark, where she has tried to modernize traditional romantic storytelling. In 2022, she directed The Holiday Sitter and helped get the network to feature LGBTQ leads in its holiday movies for the first time in its history. It wasn't an easy road, since these networks' formulas for success tend to be very rigid.

In 2023, she worked on the production of Friends & Family Christmas and continued her recurring role in the series Family Law. Her transition into directing has been steady and methodical. By 2024, her schedule already included several cable television projects where she serves as both executive producer and script consultant to ensure diversity in the cast.

The actress lives in Vancouver and keeps her private life out of the spotlight, away from promotional events. In 2025, she is scheduled to shoot two TV movies under an exclusive contract with a Toronto production company.