TORONTO -- The sci-fi clone saga "Orphan Black" heads into this weekend's Canadian Screen Awards with a leading eight wins under its belt.
The Space TV series collected the trophies at an early awards ceremony Wednesday, which handed out hardware in most of the television categories.
MuchMusic and MTV's "Degrassi" also scored big with four wins, while CBC-TV's "The Rick Mercer Report" and HBO Canada's "Sensitive Skin" each collected three.
"Orphan Black" entered the race with a leading 13 nominations, tied with the Xavier Dolan film "Mommy."
Dolan and his fellow film nominees won't learn their fates until Sunday, when a non-televised ceremony will hand out most of the film awards.
A star-studded televised bash on Sunday night, hosted by comedy star Andrea Martin, will feature the marquee TV and film awards. The show airs on CBC-TV.
Early wins for "Orphan Black" included best casting, directing and writing as well as a supporting actor trophy for Jordan Gavaris for his turn as the flamboyant Felix. Gavaris won the same category last year.
Series star Tatiana Maslany -- who has wowed critics for deftly tackling a slew of disparate cloned characters -- will seek a repeat win for best actress on Sunday's televised ceremony, while the show competes for best dramatic series against Bravo's "19-2," Showcase's "Continuum," CTV's "Motive," and Global's "Remedy."
Meanwhile, critically acclaimed cop drama "19-2" came up empty-handed Wednesday, despite entering the race with 10 nominations overall. It's up for two final trophies Sunday, including best drama and best actor for Jared Keeso.
East coast comic Jonathan Torrens claimed the sole win Wednesday for CBC-TV's sitcom "Mr. D," which also had 10 nominations overall. Torrens earned the trophy for his featured supporting role as kooky vice principal Cheeley.
The school-set sitcom will seek the best comedy title Sunday against TMN/Movie Central's "Call Me Fitz," City's "Seed," CTV's "Spun Out," and Super Channel's "Tiny Plastic Men." Star Gerry Dee is also still up for best comic lead actor, against Adam Korson of City's "Seed," Don McKellar of "Sensitive Skin," Dave Foley of CTV's "Spun Out," and Mark Meer of Super Channel's "Tiny Plastic Men."
Sunday promises to include some Hollywood star wattage with recent Oscar-winner Julianne Moore set to present an award.
She's also competing in the best actress category for her turn as an aging starlet in David Cronenberg's "Maps to the Stars." She's up against Ahn Ji Hye and Yoon Da Kyung, both for "In Her Place," Julianne Cote for "Tu dors Nicole," and Anne Dorval for "Mommy."
Meanwhile, the best actor competition pits Ryan Reynolds from "The Captive" against Bruce Greenwood for "Elephant Song," Michael Murphy for "Fall," Evan Bird for "Maps To The Stars" and Antoine Olivier Pilon for "Mommy."
The supporting actor category includes John Cusack and Robert Pattinson, each for "Maps To The Stars," as well as Justin Chatwin for "Bang Bang Baby," Marc-Andre Grondin for "Tu dors Nicole" and Kris Demeanor for "The Valley Below."
The supporting actress race includes Sandrine Bisson for "1987," Kil Hae Yeon for "In Her Place," Mia Wasikowska for "Maps To The Stars," Suzanne Clement for "Mommy" and Catherine St-Laurent for "Tu dors Nicole."
Cronenberg's dark comedy boasts 11 nominations but faces stiff competition from "Mommy," which recently beat Richard Linklater's "Boyhood" and Wes Anderson's "The Grand Budapest Hotel" to be crowned best foreign film at France's Cesar Awards.
