About

FIA History

Set up in 1952 by Equity in the United Kingdom and the Syndicat Français des Artistes-Inteprètes in France, FIA established itself as a reliable voice for professional performers across national borders. FIA’s founding fathers soon realised that professional issues affecting performers would increasingly transcend national boarders, requiring international solutions arising from the cooperation between national performers’ unions.

At the heart of FIA’s work, from the start, has been the commitment to promoting decent working conditions for performers across the world. A commitment even more relevant in a context of fast technological change and increasingly globalised creative industry. 

After more than 60 years and a membership spread across all continents, FIA has become a truly global trade union federation.

This section of our website intends to highlight the most meaningful moments in the History of our federation. Relevant archive materials are included whenever possible.

How was FIA founded?

The International Federation of Actors (FIA) was founded in the early 50s by a French and a British performers’ unions.

Gerald Croasdell – General Secretary of British Actors’ Equity from 1958 to 1973 and then General Secretary of FIA from 1974 to 1983 – wrote a fascinating account of these early years:

“The first meeting of what later became the International Federation of Actors took place in Paris on the 2nd and 3rd April 1951, when the Syndicat National des Acteurs Français convened a meeting of the European actors’ unions. Through called the First European Congress of Actors it was, in fact, not the first attempt by the French union to bring actors’ unions together: a similar initiative had already been taken in 1928 but had failed.

Apart from regional and linguistic groups – e.g. the Nordisk Skuespillerad formed by the Scandinavian union – actors’ unions seemed elusive of organisation on a broad international base. Much credit is due, therefore, to Jean Darcante, then President of the French actors’ union, for his persistence and his early recognition that the problems of professional performers would increasingly transcend national borders and would require international solutions flowing from the co-operation between the performers’ unions in individual countries.  

Jean Darcante’s devotion to a concept of international co-operation is all the more remarkable that much of Europe was still recovering from the Second World War, soon to be followed by the “cold war”, which hampered international relations. Representatives from the performers’ unions in Czechoslovakia, Poland and what later became the German Democratic Republic – who were all interested in the Federation from its inception – were sometimes unable to attend Congresses, as they could not get the necessary visas to enter the country hosting the event.

In the countries particularly devastated by the war, performers’ union experienced more immediate problems, such as the rebuilding of destroyed theatres, which could only be done ever so slowly as in Greece, where reconstruction under the Marshall Plan made no provision whatsoever for theatres.

Yet at that first meeting there were representatives from the actors’ unions in Belgium, Denmark, France, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and expressions of interest and goodwill from Finland, Italy, Poland, Sweden, West Germany and former Yugoslavia.

Jean Darcante’s efforts to bring the national performers’ unions together has much to do with his concern about performers’ rights or, more accurately, the lack of them. The French union, itself struggling unsuccessfully to obtain national legislation for performers’ rights, believed that the introduction of TV would exacerbate the problem in every country. Performers’ rights become indeed a predominant issue in the following years.

At that first meeting were also discussed worrying issues arising from the exchange of recorded radio and TV programmes. Indeed, considering that in many European countries, apart from the UK and France, TV was either only an experimental phase or had yet to be introduced, these early fears were to prove remarkably accurate. TV was to have enormous repercussions upon all aspects of the profession.  

The participants in that first meeting were, by the afternoon of the second day, sufficiently convinced of both the necessity and value of international cooperation between actors’ unions to pass a Resolution calling for the drafting of a Constitution which would set up a European organisation of actors.

The next meeting of European actors’ unions was held in London on the 16th, 17th and 18th of June 1952 and was attended by delegates from fifteen European nations and an observer from Australia.

In the Constitution, drafted by Jean Darcante together with Gordon Sandison and Gerald Croasdell – respectively General Secretary and Assistant General Secretary of British Actors’ Equity – appeared for the first time the title “International Federation of Actors and Performers”. Jean Darcante foresaw that if actor’s unions were to have access to international meetings, their organisation would need to be “International” rather than “European” in title. He also believed that, sometime in the future, non-European actors’ unions might also wish to join.

The Constitution and the title – shortened to “International Federation of Actors” – were adopted and the second meeting of the European actors’ unions became the Ist Congress of the International Federation of Actors. Jean Darcante was elected President, Gordon Sandison Vice-president and the Executive Committee consisted of Austria, Denmark, Italy and former Yugoslavia. The French union agreed to provide the facilities for the Federation’s Secretariat and the services of Pierre Chesnais as General Secretary.”  

FIA Officials

  • 2021 - Gabrielle Carteris
  • 2012 - 2021 Ferne Downey
  • 2008 - 2012 Agnete Haaland
  • 1992-2008 Tomas Bolme
  • 1982-1992 Peter Heinz Kersten
  • 1973-1982 France Delahalle
  • 1970-1973 Pierre Boucher
  • 1967-1970 Vlastimil Fisar
  • 1964-1967 Rodolfo Landa
  • 1958-1964 Fernand Gravey
  • 1956-1958 Gordon Sandison
  • 1952-1956 Jean Darcante
Gabrielle Carteris 2021 -

Gabrielle Carteris was elected president of FIA in May 2021.

She has served as SAG-AFTRA president since 2016, heading a union of 160,000 actors, recording artists, dancers and broadcasters. Before SAG and AFTRA merged in 2012, Carteris served in leadership positions in both unions, as well as on the merger committee.

Carteris became a household name playing Andrea Zuckerman on Beverly Hills, 90210 and her resume includes work in television, film and the stage.

Carteris was elected in August 2016 as a vice president on the AFL-CIO’s executive council, re-elected in 2017, and is on the board of Trustees of the Solidarity Center.

She also is a founding ambassador of ReFrame, an initiative of Women In Film and Sundance Institute to further gender parity in the media industry.

In 2017, Carteris was appointed commissioner to the Hollywood Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality. She also serves as a trustee of the American Film Institute and is a board member of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation.

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Ferne Downey 2012 - 2021

For more than 40 years, Ferne has worked as a Canadian actor in television, film and radio. She trained for the theatre at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her formative creative years were spent developing and producing new Canadian plays with her frequent collaborator and life partner, playwright Paul Ledoux.

She began her career fresh out of school working in recorded media for CBC Radio. By her late 20s, she turned her focus to performing in television and film and thrived in those milieus.

Ferne became enamoured with union leadership and strategic planning when she was first elected to ACTRA's Toronto Council in 1991 on a mandate of helping to bring significant structural change to ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) - Canada's national union of professional performers working in the English-language recorded media - to make it a dynamic, responsive member-led union.

In May 2017, Ferne finished an unprecedented eight-year term as ACTRA National President. Previously, she served five years as ACTRA's National Treasurer. It has been an invigorating and challenging 26-year-long journey of renewal, growth, and membership engagement.

As an activist and feminist President, she was elected as General VP on the Executive of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) where she served for seven years. She was proud to be the first person from the cultural sector to be invited to serve in this capacity.

Ferne studied with Dr. Elaine Bernard at the Harvard Trade Union Leadership program before agreeing to stand for the position of FIA President. The pivotal event that secured her willingness to stand was delivering the keynote speech at WIPO's Diplomatic Conference on the Protection of Audio-visual Performers in Beijing on June 20, 2012. It was intimidating, vital work and just the sort of challenge that sparks the imagination.

Ferne was elected FIA President at the 20th FIA Congress in Toronto in 2012. She is the third woman and the second North American to lead the federation. Ferne has been proud to bring her strategic planning skills to good use in this global governance role. She was re-elected by acclamation at the 21st Congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2016.

Ferne also serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of AFBS, a unique insurance and retirement fraternal organization for Canadian performers and screenwriters.

In June 2017, Ferne received an honorary degree for her "exceptional service to the community" granted by Dalhousie University, a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa - L.L.D.

In spring 2018, ACTRA honoured her with a Life membership in recognition of her "outstanding leadership and dedicated activism on behalf of our industry and our members."

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Agnete Haaland 2008-2012

Agnete G. Haaland was the proud president of FIA from 2008 to 2012. She was the president of the Norwegian Actors Equity for 11 years and is a dedicated fighter for the arts, human rights and for freedom of speech.

She is a well-known actress from Norway who has toured the world with several of her own monologues. Her monologue Florence Nightingale - woman at war has toured three continents. She is also a writer and a director. She has played leading parts in Henrik Ibsen's plays including Nora in A Dollhouse at The National Theatre in Beijing. She also played all the parts in Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt. This production toured Norway and was presented in Beijing and Shanghai by The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to mark that Henrik Ibsen died 100 years earlier. She has starred in all kinds of plays from Anne in The Diary of Anne Frank to Pippi in Pippi Longstockings. She has done major parts in film and TV in Norway.

She had to leave FIA when she became the artistic director of The National Stage in Bergen, Norway. The National Stage is Norway's oldest permanent theatre, and it was founded in 1850 by the Norwegian violinist, Ole Bull. Henrik Ibsen was one of the first writer-in-residences and art-directors of the theatre. Today the theatre houses three stages and presents approximately 20 productions each year, both international and national classics, musicals, contemporary drama, and children- and family theatre. The theatre employs around 150 people and 45 actors and presents around 800 performances a year.

She is an active and important voice in the Norwegian public debate, and she has been a member of countless boards and committees. When it comes to gender she believes in counting and the gatekeepers' responsibility to move the world forward. She is also convinced that it is no point in knowing the price of everything, and value of nothing. Agnete firmly believes that art can make the world a better place by changing our perspectives and by creating empathy with other human beings. She misses FIA enormously and hopes to work again with all her FIA friends when she is no longer an employer!

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Tomas Bolme 1992-2008

Tomas Bolme is a Swedish Actor who started as a child at the age of seven with radio, television, and movies. He was accepted to the Swedish governmental Drama School (1966-1969) and since has never been unemployed.

Tomas grows up in a trade union active family, with both father and grandfather taking part in different executive committees. It was no big surprise that he became a member of the actors' board at the Royal dramatic theatre in the early 70. He attended his first FIA congress in Stockholm 1973 as Rolf Rembe's messenger boy. He became Vice-President of the Swedish Union in 1976 and President in 1979. Following up the Swedish tradition, he attended FIA Congresses in Paris, Athens, and Leningrad in 1982, 1985 and 1988. Supported by Rolf Rembe he was a candidate for President at the Congress in Montreal 1992 and was elected.

He first worked with Michael Crosby as General Secretary and took part in all that Crosby suggested. When Katherine Sand was elected General Secretary in Copenhagen in 1996, she wanted him to take a much more active part in FIA's work. The two travelled a lot during the years and when Tomas successfully got support from the two-umbrella organizations LO-TCO international aid for trade union development, they started with the African countries, Foreign Eastern European countries, Hong Kong and Latin America. A good result was the establishment of Afro-FIA in Ghana, which was presented at the Congress in Montevideo 2000. Unfortunately for FIA, Katherine left for husband and USA in 2001.

Dominick Luquer became the new General Secretary and found a perfect way of working together with Tomas. Together they managed the Congresses in Budapest in 2004 and finally in Marrakech in 2008 when Tomas finally stepped down.

Tomas has said that the work with especially the brilliant Katherine Sand created an atmosphere that always led to consensus. Followed by a specifically good cooperation with Dominick Luquer and with a Presidium of the best trade union delegates he ever met, made the work for FIA easy and exceptional joyful.

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Peter Heinz Kersten 1982-1992

Peter Heinz Kersten was an Austrian magician, singer and Wienerlied (traditional Viennese songs) interpreter. He was President of FIA from 1982 to 1992.

In 1938, Peter Heinz Kersten became a member of the Catholic boarding school Wiener Sängerknaben - Vienna Boys Choir - foundation for his singing career. In 1944, he started to study dentistry, which he finished with a state examination in 1954. One year later he opened a dental practice. Parallel of his university degree, he studied music at the academy of Vienna. His last appearance at a song recital in Vienna was in November 2002.

In 1962, he was elected as the President of the Magische Klub Wien, which he held until 1989. In 1973, he became President of International Federation of Magic Societies (FISM) and in July of 1976 he organised the 13th FISM International Congress in Vienna. Two years later he became chairman of the Section Entertainment and Arts in the Union for Arts and Media (GdG-KMfB) and President of the Soziawerks Österreichischer Artisten.

Peter was elected President of FIA in 1982, a post to which he was re-elected in 1985 and 1988. The same year, he participated in the establishment of the MRA (Magischer Ring Austria). He was elected as the first MRA President, function he held until 1988.

Peter Heinz Kersten died in 2004.

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France Delahalle 1973-1982

France Delahalle joined the National Actors' Union (Syndicat National des Acteurs - SNA) from her first acting contracts. It was the events of 1968 in France which awoke in her the commitment to trade union activism. Without ever setting aside her sharp critical thinking, she was able to move, together with others, in a constructive direction. After this difficult period, she began working in the union in the "theatre branch" but quickly became interested in international issues which led her to participate in the FIA Congress in Amsterdam in 1970.

She committed herself wholly to this work and was elected president of FIA at the next Congress in 1973 in Stockholm. This involvement and the responsibilities arising from it, took place in the difficult context of the withdrawal of the previous President Vlastimil Fisar - who had been elected in at the FIA Congress in Prague in 1967 - as a result of the events in the Czechoslovakia in 1968.

Following the interim mandate of the Canadian Pierre Boucher, a " neutral " presidency was needed, due to two opposing factions. It was General Secretary Gerald Croasdell who persuaded the French delegation to propose France Delahalle due to her authority and strong character. In September this year 1973, Pinochet's putsch took place in Chile. From the outset of her mandate, France was able to convince all of FIA to unanimously condemn this event. Throughout her three mandates lasting until 1982, she played a key role, together with Gerald Croasdell, in maintaining a balance in FIA that, at that time, was still delicate.

At national level, France could always be trusted when the union came under different forms of attack or ran up against internal difficulties. This was the case in 1968, but also in 1976-77 during the long 3-month strike by television performers, and again in 1980 when the general secretary very suddenly and unexpectedly left the union and during the events in Poland that same year, which impacted on the Trade Union Confederation.

In 1984 she became co-director of the St Georges theatre. She acted in more than 20 films (cinema and television) and in more than 25 theatre plays. Her husband Georges Herbert was the head of a major touring management company and was also a theatre director from the end of the war up to his death in 2000.

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Pierre Boucher 1970-1973

Pierre Boucher is one of the many actors who served as President of Union des Artistes (UDA), in Canada.

Yet, he never thought that one day he would be an actor. He discovered his passion for theatre during his law studies. Star of many plays presented on stage; TV lovers would remember him for his roles in "Radisson", "Rue de l'Anse" and "Rue des pignons".

When he became president of UDA in 1962, there was a disagreement with the Place des Arts which refused to recognise the jurisdiction of the UDA on artists who perform there. It was also at this time that UDA began to feel the need to define a "Status of the Artist" that will come only many years later.

After sitting on the board of the CRTC (Council of Canadian Broadcasting and Telecommunications), Pierre Boucher die prematurely in 1973.

Vlastimil Fisar 1967-1970

Vlastimil Fisar was a leading actor in one of the main theatres in Prague in the 1960s, a popular radio and television artist and president of his national union. At the FIA Congress in Mexico City 1964 he boldly invited the Federation to meet next time in his country - which would mean the first FIA meeting behind what was then referred to as "the iron curtain". The initiative was successful. Observers from both Screen Actors ' Guild of America (SAG) and the Cultural Workers' Union of the USSR came to the Congress in Prague 1967 and within a year both organisations announced that they would apply for membership .

The Congress had ended with the election of Vlastimil Fisar as president of FIA. The following months probably were the best and happiest in Vlastmil's time as a trade unionist. They coincided with "the Prague Spring" in 1968 which was a dynamic movement aiming at a liberalisation and humanization of the existing political structure in Eastern Europe. Vlastimil was a member of the Communist Party but also an enthusiastic spokesman for the "Prague spring" - which was bound to create tension with the political establishment.

During the summer, Vlastimil travelled to Stockholm to where the FIA Secretariat had been moved from Paris, in the company of his dearest property: his family and his newly acquired SIMCA. When he drove back the idyll took an abrupt end; at the frontier between the German Democratic Republic and Czechoslovakia waited German troops, prepared to enter his country. The neighbouring socialist countries had decided to put an end to "the Prague Spring".

For Vlastimil Fisar the future had turned dark. The authorities prevented him not only from taking part in any national trade union activity but also from appearing in front of any audience, camera, or microphone. He was allowed to live on with his family in the flat opposite "his" theatre but without ever performing there. For FIA this was an unbearable situation; it could not operate with a President who was unable to carry out his profession. At the next congress in Amsterdam 1970 Vlastimil was elected Honorary President but his active function was taken over by the French-Canadian actor Pierre Boucher.

Not until twenty years later, with the fall of "the Berlin Wall" in 1989 and the general political relaxation that followed in Eastern Europe, did Fisar's personal situation improve. The professional ban on him was removed, and his colleagues could call him back into the work of their union. But sadly, it was too late. He had been struck by a throat cancer that within short ended his life.

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Rodolfo Landa 1964-1967

Rodolfo Landa, stage name of the very famous in Mexico, Rodolfo Echeverría Alvarez, was a multifaceted man with a particularly appealing personality. His acting career that started in theatre in 1934 is characterised by his tremendous sympathy that along with his interest for social problems brought him to lead the Asociación Nacional de Actores de Mexico, also known as ANDA, from 1953 to 1966, activity that as often slightly drive him away from his original profession. It is fair to say that he led the union with a specific knowledge of labour law, since he also was a lawyer. From 1966, he started to exercise public positions of great importance, usually in connection with the entertainment industry. His younger brother, Luis Echeverría Alvarez, also entered in politics and became President of Mexico. In 1970, Rodolfo was nominated Director of the National Bank for Films setting a fundamental period for the development of the Mexican audiovisual industry, with a great incentive for the young directors and creating among other things: the Cineteca Nacional, the Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, and supporting the Festival Internacional Cervantino, founded by the theatre master: Enrique Ruelas. Over the years, this theatre festival gained an international recognition as an event to present the theatrical work of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, by companies from all around the world, especially of Hispanic language.

During his years as trade union leader in ANDA, he was also president of the Centro Mexicano de Teatro, affiliated to the Instituto Internacional de Teatro of UNESCO, between 1955 and 1962, and promoted the integration and participation of ANDA in the beginning of the International Federation of Actors. In 1964, was organised in Mexico the first Congress of FIA in an Latin American country. It resulted with the election of Rodolfo Landa as President of the International Federation of Actors, so far the only President from Latin America. He served as President until 1967, shortly after he stepped down as President of ANDA, to engage actively in politics in his country. He was elected national Member of Parliament in two occasions and once senator.

When he was a law student, Rodolfo Landa worked with Julio Bracho, founder of the Teatro Universitario and shared a warm friendship with the Mexican poet, Nobel Price, Octavio Paz, as well as with the professor López Portillo. From lawyer and academician, and because of his friendship with the brothers Rodolfo and Luis Echeverría Alvarez, José Lopez Portillo became interested in politics, being later one of the most prestigious and recognised presidents of the Republic of Mexico.

As well as working regularly as a theatre actor, and before focusing his efforts on syndicalism and politics, Rodolfo Landa also worked in nearly 80 movies, maintaining en intense life until the last decade of the past century. He died in Cuernavaca in 2004.

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Fernand Gravey 1958-1964

Fernand Gravey was a famous actor and one of international renown, thanks to his cinema career. He was born in Belgium to actor parents. Under his true name, Fernand Mertens, he was granted French nationality after the war.

As a child he appeared in several films. During the First World War, his family moved to London, where he learned English, something that served him well later in his career. He gravitated towards theatre and moved to Paris at the end of the 20s, where he adopted the stage name Gravey. In the period up to the Second World War, he was in some 40 films and a dozen or so shows. He was the young leading man who embodied French seduction.

His perfect mastery of English meant that he could consider an international career and try his luck in Hollywood. He crossed the ocean in the company of his wife. He was engaged by Mervyn Le Roy for " The King and the clown girls " (1937) with Joan Blondell and acted in " Fools for scandal " (1938) with Carole Lombard. Later he said, "Working in Hollywood is magnificent and you learn a great many things - first and foremost, that you can't stay there forever."

In '44-'45, as he still had Belgian nationality, he was engaged on a voluntary basis in the French Foreign Legion and joined campaigns in France and Germany with the rank of Reserve Lieutenant. When the war ended, he acquired French nationality.

In the SNA (the National Union of Actors), the successor to the Union of Artists, he had the idea in 1946 of creating the "Bureau V" (the "Stars' Bureau" - with V standing for "vedettes", the French word for Star). This was inspired by the example of the US and intended to bring well known Stars into a more active role in the union. Thus in 1947, the "Bureau V" played an active role in the campaign to revise the Blum-Byrnes agreements, signed in 1946, which would lead to the French government placing a limitation on the number of copies of American films shown in France.

He was proposed by the SNA for the Presidency of FIA and was elected in 1958, remaining President until 1964. He was also the first representative of FIA in the management committee of the Association for the Cannes Film Festival.

In the period from the end of the war until his death, he acted in a further 30 or so films, including " La ronde " directed by Max Ophul and, " Si Versailles m'était conté " directed by Sacha Guitry, as well as a TV series directed by Maurice Pialat. During the same period, he was in some 30 theatre plays, many of them in the "Boulevard" theatre.

He died suddenly of a heart attack. He had been married to actress Jane Renouardt since 1936.

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Gordon Sandison 1956-1958

Gordon Sandison was General Secretary of Equity from 1946 until his early death at the aged of 47 in 1958. He held office during a period in which the rapid development of new media and methods of recording affected actors more than in any other decade and in which foresight and consistent leadership were essential.

Soon after his appointment the closing of theatres in the fuel crisis gave Sandison the opportunity of demonstrating effectively his energy and determination in every aspect of Equity's work. He saw the importance of full organisation in the film studios and secured representation of the profession in the Councils of the industry. During this time Equity, the Musicians' Union and the Variety Artistes' Federation joined to secure the separation of sound radio and television so far as artists' engagements are concerned. In television he pressed for, and secured, proper fees for mechanical repeats and an all-important limitation on their use. He saw the critical importance for the future of the pattern of employment in television films and commercials and recommended and carried through effective action to secure the establishment of exploitation and use fees.

On his death the Council of Equity set up a fund for the maintenance and education of his children. That more than £7,000 was raised was a testimony of the respect and affection in which Gordon was held in the profession.

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Jean Darcante 1952-1956

Jean Darcante was a French actor and stage director. Following his studies in the National Conservatoire for Dramatic Art, he began his career as a theatre actor in the early '30s with Gaston Baty, who would later entrust Darcante with his theatre, to stage La Célestine by Fernando de Rojas. During his cinema career, he filmed, among others, with Sacha Guitry, Jean-Pierre Melville and Christan Jaque.

During the Occupation of France, he was active, with others, in the Youth Theatre Committee, whose main activity was in fact to resist and go against the Vichy-authorised "Organising Committee of Stage Producers" (Comité d'organisation des entreprises de spectacle - COES). Together with the author and activist Claude Vermorel, Jean Darcante created a clandestine actors' union, linked to the Trade Union Federation CGT, also operating underground at that time. He was (already) elected Secretary General of the Union under the Presidency of André Luguet. Quickly he was bitten by the trade union bug.

After the war, it became necessary to restructure the Trade Union of Artists. It changed its name and adopted the new title of the National Union of Actors (Syndicat national des acteurs - SNA). Ever a man of action, Jean Darcante was very opposed to the union management of the time, which was accused of inertia. Thanks to his proposals for affirmative action by the union, he was elected to the position of Secretary General of the SNA in 1945 and was re-elected several times. He was an authoritative figure, whose great skills in oratory allowed him to stay ahead of his political opponents. Such were his qualities of leadership and organisation that the Statutes of the union were changed in order to allow him to continue to stand for election, despite the fact that he was named theatre director of the Renaissance Theatre in 1946.

As of 1951, the issue of the intellectual property rights of artists over the fixation and copying of their recorded works arose. Meetings were held in Paris between unions from different European countries, under the chairmanship of Jean Darcante. The first of these was in April 1951. In 1952, FIA was created in London and Jean Darcante became its President until 1956.

Ever since the Liberation, the conflict with the old union management of the Union des artistes had been ongoing. This conflict between the "old guard" and the "modernisers" continued to deepen until it resulted in a split and a breakaway union, of which Jean Darcante would be the backbone.

Together with Gérard Philipe, who would be the figurehead and leader, Darcante participated actively in this split, led by the "modernisers". It was finalised in August 1957 and lasted until the reunification in June 1958, which was carried out under the new name of the French Union of Actors (Syndicat Français des acteurs - SFA). Gerard Philipe was elected President of the renewed union.

In 1958 Jean Darcante became Secretary General of the International Theatre Institute (UNESCO), a position he held until 1980.

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  • 2001 Dominick Luquer
  • 1996-2001 Katherine Sand
  • 1991-1995 Michael Crosby
  • 1983-1991 Rolf Rembe
  • 1974-1983 Gerald Croasdell
  • 1968-1974 Rolf Rembe
  • 1952-1968 Pierre Chesnais
Dominick Luquer 2001

Dominick Luquer joined FIA at the end of 1999, when he was recruited to build a solid FIA representation in Brussels, at the heart of Europe. As more countries joined the European Union, it became clear that FIA should establish a solid relationship with institutions and EU decision-makers, closely monitoring developments and speaking up for performers on all subjects of relevance to them. Pooling resources to expand the FIA Secretariat then became a necessity.

Dominick worked closely with Katherine Sand, then General Secretary of FIA, for about a year and a half and was appointed to succeed her in 2001. Prior to that, he worked as a lawyer in various areas of expertise, from consumer affairs to environmental and child protection. Despite not having a specific trade union background, Dominick had a natural affinity with the world of performers and was determined to help improve their livelihood - a passion he now shares with three more members of staff. In 2010, he relocated the FIA office from London to Brussels and expanded FIA's resources to drive more muscle into the Secretariat. FIA needed to grow to continue serving its membership at a critical time, when technology was about to bring new opportunities but also unprecedented challenges.

The spectacular growth of the Internet and digital media changed the way we think, live, and interact with one another. It transformed consumer behaviour, made the world a much smaller place, brought down geographical and political barriers. It also had profound implications with respect to how performances are made, financed, delivered and enjoyed by global audiences. Digital theft misled entire generations into thinking that culture must be for everyone, as long as others pay for it. Global streaming services brought about the feeling that content must be available everywhere and anytime. As FIA members developed new tools to protect and monetize the work of their members in the digital environment, the Federation continued to promote new international standards at WIPO, ultimately leading to the 2012 adoption of the WIPO Beijing Treaty on Audiovisual Performances. This was a landmark achievement for FIA and a tribute to the determination of many of our affiliates, who never let go and never lost faith, despite a long stalemate in negotiations. Since that day, FIA has been campaigning for the ratification of this instrument and its meaningful implementation in national legal systems.

Prior to this, FIA strongly upheld the adoption by UNESCO of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of cultural Expressions, preventing the trade-off of cultural goods and services and acknowledging a country's prerogative to produce and distribute its own content, sustain job opportunities, and nurture a proficient cultural industry.

Under Dominick's leadership, FIA and its member unions have entered an unprecedented time of political, social, and economic turmoil, engendering severe cuts to the arts and culture, drastic labour market reforms and, more generally, a trend towards more flexible forms of employment challenging access to fundamental labour rights. Powerful new players have emerged in the industry, exploiting every trick of the game to maximise profits at minimal cost and at a global scale. In these demanding years, the value of international solidarity and cooperation has never been greater. From the collective action to secure decent terms and conditions for performers in New Zealand, or the right of performers to bargain collectively in Ireland despite their independent contractor status, to the resolve among FIA affiliates to tackle the double standards with respect to international productions in India, enhance the clout of performer unions in South Africa or protect the employment status of performers in Argentina, FIA's remit as a global union federation has never been so diversified. Whilst the world is witnessing more isolationism and protectionism, FIA continues to stand for diversity and equality, fair terms and conditions for all professional performers and their right to organize collectively.

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Katherine Sand 1996-2001

Katherine Sand succeeded Michael Crosby as General Secretary of FIA in 1995, the first woman appointed to the position. Immediately prior to that, she had worked as Research and Campaigns Officer for British Actors' Equity under General Secretary, Ian McGarry, a wonderfully varied period of work, which in addition to writing, campaigning and research included attending meetings of EuroFIA, and administering the Union's International Committee for Artists' Freedom. Her involvement in providing support to displaced actors from war-torn former Yugoslavia was a particularly vivid and influential experience. She joined FIA with a strong grounding in the specialized world of actors' unions and their issues, including those in other countries.

Before that, Katherine spent several years working for the British Labour Party, in opposition, firstly as a Parliamentary Researcher and latterly as the Parliamentary Labour Party's Campaigns Officer, in the run-up to, and during the 1992 General Election. Despite the fact that Katherine was not, unlike her predecessors in FIA, a former Union General Secretary, she came to the organization with a deep commitment to the labour movement and much experience in campaigns and research.

Katherine's tenure at FIA in the second half of the 1990s was dominated in considerable part by developments at WIPO. The key elements were the processes leading to the adoption of the WPPT in 1996, and subsequently - at least at that time - the failed attempt to obtain an international instrument to protect the rights of performers in their audiovisual performances. FIA's affiliates, under Katherine's stewardship and the warm and exceptionally committed leadership of President Tomas Bolme, worked tirelessly to create and maintain consensus and despite considerable strains at times, the Federation remained strong, harmonious, and united.

During this period FIA expanded its programs of union development, continuing to work in the former Soviet republics, and holding regular union-building workshops in a number of African countries, including South Africa and Zimbabwe, involving a large number of FIA affiliates as trainers and participants, bringing huge benefits to all those involved, trainers and trainees alike.

Live Performance was also an important element during this period and the first FIA Live Performance Conference was held in Lisbon in 1999, at which time American Actors' Equity, an important former affiliate re-joined FIA after a nine-year hiatus. Other initiatives relevant to the world of live performance included the EuroFIA Dance Passport, a program of exchange and practical solidarity to a particular group of performers when they worked abroad. FIA developed close relationships within the ILO at this time, maintained a profile within the increasingly influential network of collective management organisations and, despite the small size of the Secretariat, tried to be present anywhere that the interests of performers were discussed or potentially influenced, a campaigning approach that has since grown and flourished.

At this time, the FIA Secretariat was situated in London, but the appointment of Dominick Luquer as Assistant General Secretary in Brussels was the beginning of an important new base in Europe for FIA, and a recognition by all affiliates of the considerable significance of EU policy-making in relation to the interests of performers. The 1990's were a busy and energetic time in FIA, with an enthusiastic and active Presidium and motivated and energetic affiliates throughout the world working together to set the stage for even greater growth and influence in the 2000s.

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Michael Crosby 1991-1995

Michael Crosby (on the right in the photograph) joined Actors Equity at the age of 7.

He became their Theatre Organiser in 1976 and then rose to be Federal Secretary from 1981 to 1991. That decade saw the growth of Equity into the powerful force it is today. The union's members successfully campaigned for a higher level of Australian Content regulations on television, the reform of film industry assistance, the protection of jobs for Australian actors in leading roles, tax averaging, increased subsidy for the performing arts, repeat and residual fees, SAG rates on foreign financed productions shot in Australia and higher minimum rates for actors across the industry. The decade ended with the negotiation of the merger of Equity with the Technicians Union and the Journalists' Association.

He was FIA General Secretary from 1991 to 1995 - a time of fundamental change for unions in Eastern Europe and the start of negotiations for an audio-visual Convention covering performers' rights.

When he came back from London, he helped construct a union building program for the ACTU, our peak Union Council, and ran that program for nearly ten years. Towards the end of that period, he wrote the book, "Power at Work, rebuilding the Australian Union movement" - since translated into Dutch and German. Then followed a stint with the Service Employees International Union - a large North American union. During his time with SEIU, he ran a large campaign to organise cleaners in Australia and then moved to Amsterdam to set up and run the Change to Win European Organising Centre.

He returned to Australia again to become the National President of United Voice a very large general Union and ran campaigns to organise cleaners and early childhood education workers.

He is now back with SEIU, working in Europe and Asia, helping workers build powerful unions.

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Rolf Rembe 1983-1991

Born in 1926, Rolf Rembe has been General Secretary of FIA from 1968 to 1973 and from 1983 to 1991.

His father being a ground schoolteacher in a rural part of south Sweden, Rolf studied literature and history at the University of Lund, planning to be a secondary school teacher. His BA was considerably delayed by a number of time-consuming but instructive tasks such as editor of the student paper and president of the student union. Instead of teaching he started in 1953 as an all-round journalist at a small, left-wing daily newspaper in Stockholm. He also served for one year with the Swedish Branch of the international commission that supervises the armistice after the Korean War. Then from January 1956 he became the first permanent trade union secretary of the Swedish theatre workers (Svenska Teaterförbundet).

Rolf had not studied law. He had never been an actor. But during his years at Lund, he had fallen in love with a young actress at the theatre in the nearby city of Malmö. The years with her had given him an insight in the professional, not least the economic, conditions of actors.

The union was old but weak. The members had yet to come to terms with the contradictions of their profession: to be artistically successful they must perform; to obtain decent living conditions they must be prepared to refuse performing. In the 1950s, the state television had a strong monopoly position. When the union went on strike in December 1963 the TV management still expected the performers to "come creeping back on their knees". They were wrong. After a strike lasting 111 days with perfect discipline from the artists an acceptable agreement was reached. At the FIA congress in Mexico City 1964 Rolf had been elected a Vice President of FIA. When in 1968 the secretary of the French member union Pierre Chesnais left his position as 'part time' General Secretary of FIA Rolf was asked to take over from Stockholm. The arrangement lasted for five years till Gerald Croasdell was elected the first full time FIA Secretary with an office in London.

FIA was important particularly in the field of radio, television, and cinema. Inspired by Gerald Croasdell and British Equity Rolf advocated, although with limited success, that FIA policy should be that 'a performance is a performance' and that each communication to an audience, whether live or recorded, should give right to a separate remuneration. Such aspirations had at an early stage brought FIA, jointly with the musicians' international body FIM, into the demanding and mostly uphill area of 'intellectual rights' and international conventions such as 'the Rome Convention' and 'the Eurovision Agreement'.

Another task was to make the FIA truly international: neither the performers of the USA nor the Soviet Union were yet members. It was a delicate task at a time marked by the 'cold war' and the 'iron curtain' through Europe. Through much effort and diplomacy, the then FIA President Vlastimil Fisar of Czechoslovakia and Rolf were successful in bringing both the Americans and the Soviets to join the federation at the Congress in Amsterdam 1970. Ironically, and sadly, Vlastimil Fisar in the same period became politically and professionally ostracised by the rulers in his home country for being 'counter-revolutionary'.

In 1977, after 21 years with Teaterförbundet, Rolf was asked to be the director of the municipal theatre in Malmö (the one where he first learned of actors' conditions). After three years he moved over to Copenhagen to be head of the cultural department of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

In 1983 Rolf returned to FIA as General Secretary in London and thus became the successor of his own successor Gerald Croasdell. His stay in London lasted till 1992, years mainly devoted to the expansion of FIA and consolidation of its activities including cooperation with UNESCO and response to the ongoing economic and political development of the European Union. When he left the fall of the 'Berlin Wall' and of the Soviet Union had opened a new situation for the performers in Eastern Europe and their unions and had made their relation to FIA similar to the one in the rest of the world.

Rolf Rembe died in 2022.

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Gerald Croasdell 1974-1983

The son of a London borough town clerk, Gerald Croasdell had an improbable background for a trade union official - even for one in so rarefied a calling as the theatre. Moreover, there was no trace of actor's blood in his own veins. A lawyer by training, he first joined Equity as its legal officer in 1950 but it was almost certainly his politics rather than his legal training that recommended him to the then Equity general secretary, Gordon Sandison.

The actors' trade union was at the time bitterly riven by faction, and the hard Left was temporary in the ascendant. From that point of view, Gerald Bright Croadwell, who had gone to school at Highgate, had everything going for him: a pre-war president of the Cambridge Union and a member of the Apostles, he had gone one to run the youth section of the League of Nations Union, being particularly active on behalf of the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil war.

Croasdell's own military service during the Second World War was spent first as a tank commander and then in the rather more unconventional role of Army field officer on board an aircraft carrier in the Far East. At the end of the war, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

Finding that private practice either as a barrister or as a solicitor did not fulfil all his aspirations, he accepted with some relief the job as legal officer of Equity - to which was later added the assistant general secretary ship - joining the union in the year that the Korean War began. By then there was a good deal less tolerance towards communists and fellow-travellers even within the trade union movement than there had been when the Soviet Union was Britain's valued wartime ally; but Croasdell's own reaction to the vicious political infighting that threatened to destroy Equity was perhaps surprising. Well before he took over as general secretary in 1958, following the illness and death of his predecessor, he had resolved that the union could survive only if it concentrated on fighting for those industrial and professional rights behind the assertion of which all members, whatever their political hue, could unite.

This attitude made no difference to his own political views, which remained unapologetically Marxist and left wing, but in his official capacity he eschewed all partisan stands and ran the risk of appearing just as respectable and sober as the conventional suits he invariably wore. The bureaucratic impression he created, however, made him into a particularly effective negotiator and he enjoyed some substantial successes on behalf of his members - notably with the TV contractors over fees for recorded performances, on television in the early 1960s. The BBC later had to fall in line with the new deal for actors which - in the age of videotape - he had successfully put in place.

On his retirement from Equity, well before he was 60, Croasdell become general secretary of the International Federation of Actors, a body with which he had been closely associated ever since the mid-1950s. The history of FIA shows that the course of the Federation was profoundly influenced by Gerald's contribution. First as delegate from British Equity, later as Vice President and then as General Secretary and General Secretary emeritus. He helped steer FIA to a delicate balance between East and West at the time of cold war rhetoric that might have wrecked what looked as a tenuous alliance at best.

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Rolf Rembe 1968-1974

Born in 1926, Rolf Rembe has been General Secretary of FIA from 1968 to 1973 and from 1983 to 1991.

His father being a ground schoolteacher in a rural part of south Sweden, Rolf studied literature and history at the University of Lund, planning to be a secondary school teacher. His BA was considerably delayed by a number of time-consuming but instructive tasks such as editor of the student paper and president of the student union. Instead of teaching he started in 1953 as an all-round journalist at a small, left-wing daily newspaper in Stockholm. He also served for one year with the Swedish Branch of the international commission that supervises the armistice after the Korean War. Then from January 1956 he became the first permanent trade union secretary of the Swedish theatre workers (Svenska Teaterförbundet).

Rolf had not studied law. He had never been an actor. But during his years at Lund, he had fallen in love with a young actress at the theatre in the nearby city of Malmö. The years with her had given him an insight in the professional, not least the economic, conditions of actors.

The union was old but weak. The members had yet to come to terms with the contradictions of their profession: to be artistically successful they must perform; to obtain decent living conditions they must be prepared to refuse performing. In the 1950s, the state television had a strong monopoly position. When the union went on strike in December 1963 the TV management still expected the performers to "come creeping back on their knees". They were wrong. After a strike lasting 111 days with perfect discipline from the artists an acceptable agreement was reached. At the FIA congress in Mexico City 1964 Rolf had been elected a Vice President of FIA. When in 1968 the secretary of the French member union Pierre Chesnais left his position as 'part time' General Secretary of FIA Rolf was asked to take over from Stockholm. The arrangement lasted for five years till Gerald Croasdell was elected the first full time FIA Secretary with an office in London.

FIA was important particularly in the field of radio, television, and cinema. Inspired by Gerald Croasdell and British Equity Rolf advocated, although with limited success, that FIA policy should be that 'a performance is a performance' and that each communication to an audience, whether live or recorded, should give right to a separate remuneration. Such aspirations had at an early stage brought FIA, jointly with the musicians' international body FIM, into the demanding and mostly uphill area of 'intellectual rights' and international conventions such as 'the Rome Convention' and 'the Eurovision Agreement'.

Another task was to make the FIA truly international: neither the performers of the USA nor the Soviet Union were yet members. It was a delicate task at a time marked by the 'cold war' and the 'iron curtain' through Europe. Through much effort and diplomacy, the then FIA President Vlastimil Fisar of Czechoslovakia and Rolf were successful in bringing both the Americans and the Soviets to join the federation at the Congress in Amsterdam 1970. Ironically, and sadly, Vlastimil Fisar in the same period became politically and professionally ostracised by the rulers in his home country for being 'counter-revolutionary'.

In 1977, after 21 years with Teaterförbundet, Rolf was asked to be the director of the municipal theatre in Malmö (the one where he first learned of actors' conditions). After three years he moved over to Copenhagen to be head of the cultural department of the Nordic Council of Ministers.

In 1983 Rolf returned to FIA as General Secretary in London and thus became the successor of his own successor Gerald Croasdell. His stay in London lasted till 1992, years mainly devoted to the expansion of FIA and consolidation of its activities including cooperation with UNESCO and response to the ongoing economic and political development of the European Union. When he left the fall of the 'Berlin Wall' and of the Soviet Union had opened a new situation for the performers in Eastern Europe and their unions and had made their relation to FIA similar to the one in the rest of the world.

Rolf Rembe died in 2022.

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Pierre Chesnais 1952-1968

After completing his law degree and with a diploma from the Paris Institute of Political Studies (l'Institut d'études politiques - IEP), Pierre Chesnais was engaged by the National Actors Union (Syndicat National des Acteurs - SNA) in 1948 as a "general agent." He put in place a legal service and social service in the union.

In 1951, together with Jean Darcante, he was instrumental in the creation of FIA, finally achieved in London in 1952. He was named its Secretary General and retained this position until 1968. The work was focused, among other things, on problems related to cinematic co-productions, to TV broadcasting, to performers' rights and various theatrical issues.

In 1955, he was also active in the creation of ADAMI (then called the "Agency for the administration of the rights of musicians and performing artists"). He became its first managing director and remained in this position until 1968.

In 1957, on behalf of the SFA and of FIA, he drew up a draft law on the rights of performers, intended both for use by the French legislator and for consideration in the context of an international Convention (the first would be the Rome Convention in 1961).

Unfortunately, in France, the 1957 law on Literary and Artistic Property failed to recognise performers as authors.

As a lawyer, but also an activist, Pierre Chesnais had accepted a salary at the union that did not match up to his qualifications and in 1969, the union of music producers (le syndicat des producteurs de disques - SNEP) employed him as general secretary. He stayed there until 1986 and would also become managing director of the Society for the management of the rights of music producers (Société de gestion des droits des producteurs phonographiques - SCPP) from 1985 to 1987.

Ever a defender of literary and artistic intellectual property rights, he was one of the main contributors to the so-called " Lang Law " of 1985, which put in place a system of neighbouring rights for performers and producers.

He was also behind the creation, in 1984, of the " Foundation for the creation and distribution of music" (later the FCM) which brought together the collecting societies, the authors' and performers' unions, the union of music producers and the public authorities. He was its President from 1985 to 1988 and was still an Honorary President when he passed away in 2011.

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Testimonies

Peter Plouviez, former Vice-president of the International Federation of Actors (FIA) and General Secretary of Equity UK, describes the role played by FIA and Equity UK in the fight against Apartheid in South Africa.
The Hobbit - FIA History
International Solidarity - FIA History
International Trade Secretariats - FIA History
FIA in the Cold War - FIA History
FIA's Logo (by Catherine Alméras)

This account by Catherine Alméras (former Vice-president of FIA) tells us the history of the creation of FIA's logo by Jean Cocteau, famous French poet, writer, designer, playwright, artist, and filmmaker.

FIA: the First 30 Years (by Gerald Croasdell)

This fascinating account by Gerald Croasdell (FIA General Secretary from 1974 to 1983) describes the early years of our Federation. It highlights the exceptionally difficult circumstances surrounding FIA’s early years: from the challenging WWII recovery to the Cold War that would follow. Additional challenges were also already emerging back then – mostly due to technological development, the advent of television and the cross-border sale of recorded television and radio programmes – which would have profound implications for performers and their work environment. 

The Long Road towards Cooperation (by Rainer Fattmann, Friedrich Ebert Foundation)

This document tells the history of the various international trade union organisations and their predecessors, in the arts, culture, media and entertainment sector after World War II. For the purpose of this project, Rainer Fattmann – research staff in the Archive of social democracy in the Friedrich Ebert Foundations – made use of the files and documents passed on to the Archive by the several trade union organisations, complemented by interviews of various trade union past of present leaders from the sector.

Some Observations on the FIA Activities (by Rolf Rembe)

This account by Rolf Rembe (FIA General Secretary from 1968 to 1973 and then from 1983 to 1991) is the continuation of Gerald Croasdell’s “FIA – the First Fifty Years“. He details FIA’s activities in the 70’s and 80’s, including the Federation’s relationship with other international organisations such as UNESCO, the ILO and WIPO. 

FIA: the First Fifty Years (Speech by Rolf Rembe)

This speech was delivered by Rolf Rembe (FIA General Secretary from 1968 to 1973 and then from 1983 to 1991) in London during FIA’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2002. This speech in entertaining and rich with anecdotes. 

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