Series F 709-20 - Home on the Range series

Stephen Alexander Onda was born on February 23, 1958 to Ed and Helen Onda. He was raised on the family farm in the Atwater, Saskatchewan district. Onda received his primary and secondary education in Atwater and Esterhazy. He studied Brass Instrument Technique and Music Theory at Mary College in Bismark, North Dakota (1977-1979) and Special Education and Developmental Psychology at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon (1979-1981). From 1981 to 1983, Onda attended the University of Regina, where he studied film and video production.

Onda's professional career as an independent producer began in 1983, when he established Framework Productions Inc., a film and video production company in Regina. Onda served as the company's president and produced the majority of its productions. After the dissolution of Framework Productions Inc., Onda established Heartland Motion Pictures Inc. He served as president and worked as a producer, co-producer and line producer from 1988 to 2000. Onda then worked as a contract producer with WestWind Pictures Inc. (2000-2003) and was CEO of Tyndal Stone Media Inc., a multi-media production company. In 2003, Onda established Stephen Onda Productions Inc. He currently (2014) continues to serve as president of that company and do production work.

Onda was one of the founding members of the Saskatchewan Film Producers Association and served as president of the Saskatchewan Motion Picture Industry Association (SMPIA) for the 2009-2010 term. He helped SMPIA lobby the Saskatchewan Government for the creation of SaskFilm and the Saskatchewan Film Employment Tax Credit Program. He is currently a member of the Canadian Media Producers Association and Saskatchewan Media Production Industry Association (SMPIA). Onda regularly attended national and international film and television festivals and participated in numerous workshops and seminars.

Onda's work has received numerous award nominations and critical recognition and has won awards at major competitions and festivals at the provincial, national and international level. He was the recipient of a 1992 Gemini Award for Best Children's Drama for The Garden.

Onda and his wife, Tannis, have two children: Zach and Olivia.

Heartland Motion Pictures Inc. was a television and motion picture production company in Regina, Saskatchewan. Incorporated on July 26, 1988, the company's registered office was located at 2352 Smith Street. Stephen Onda established the company and served as president. Onda also worked as a producer along with business partner and writer/director Will Dixon.

The company's body of work included feature films, television series and documentaries with significant Saskatchewan creative and artistic content that were broadcast locally, nationally and internationally. Some of the company's more notable productions included the made for television movie "Guitarman"; "The Garden", a television drama that won Best Dramatic Children's Program at the 1992 Gemini Awards; and the television series "Utopia Cafe" and "The MAXimum Dimension". The romantic comedy Conquest won an award for best Canadian feature film at the Atlantic Film Festival in 1998.

Heartland Motion Pictures wound down its operations in 2000 and was struck off the Saskatchewan corporate registry on December 31, 2009.