McCamus' most noted film role is that of struggling actor Henry Adler in I Love a Man in Uniform (1993), directed by David Wellington. As a result of the role, he won the Genie Award for Best Actor. McCamus has been nominated for the Genie Award on two occasions since, for Long Day's Journey into Night (1996), also directed by Wellington, in which McCamus reprised his successful performance as Edmund Tyrone from the Stratford Festival, and for the Oscar-nominated The Sweet Hereafter (1997), directed by Atom Egoyan.