French-Canadian
French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fr ...
actress, who had roles in the films '' Polytechnique'', '' Séraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)'', ''Switch'' and '' Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)''. Internationally she is best known for her roles as Colette Valois in ''
Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
'', Margaux LeMarchal in ''
Revenge
Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...
'' and Lise Delorme in ''
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
''.
Life and career
Vanasse was born in
Drummondville
Drummondville is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste.
Drummondville is ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, the daughter of Conrad Vanasse, a council worker, and Renée (née Gamache), who was her manager at the beginning of her career. At the age of nine, Vanasse expressed her desire to sing or to act and she fulfilled that wish when she appeared in the teen show ''Club des 100 watts'' after winning a "lip sync" competition. It was then, with the help of her mother, that Vanasse began to audition for, and take part in, TV commercials and to play minor and supporting roles in various French Canadian TV movies.
In 1998, the production company now known as Motion International asked Vanasse to co-host a Québec-based children's science show, ''Les Débrouillards''. Producer Lorraine Richard and director
Léa Pool
Léa Pool C.M. (born 8 September 1950) is a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker who taught film at the Université du Québec à Montréal. She has directed several documentaries and feature films, many of which have won significant awards including the ...
spotted her there, and offered Vanasse her first big break in the role of Hanna in '' Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)'' (1999), a story of a teenager trying to find her identity in a tormented family environment. The film was presented at forty festivals, and shown in twenty countries. Her performance was highly acclaimed both nationally and internationally and earned her the 2000 Best Actress
Jutra Award
The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.Deux frères'' ( fr) (1999). Her character became very prominent in 2000–2001, and the debate stirred by the violent realism led her to become, together with Langlais, a spokesperson for the government-funded TV program ''Parler, c'est grandir'', a broadcast aimed at youngsters from unstable backgrounds. In 2001, she applied for the ITHAKA program and took a six-month break in
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
to devote herself to travel and academics, after which she played Donalda in
Charles Binamé
Charles Binamé (born May 25, 1949) is a Quebec director. He was born in Belgium and came to Montreal with his family at a young age. He joined the National Film Board of Canada as an assistant director in 1971, but soon left for the private sect ...
's epic, '' Séraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché)'' (2002). She was cast as an FLQ terrorist in the 2006
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
''October 1970'' on CBC's English network. Vanasse appeared in such Canadian productions as '' Sans Elle'', '' Ma fille, mon ange'', and the Canadian/American/British mini-series ''
Killer Wave
Killer Wave is a 2007 joint American-Canadian action-thriller TV mini-series, directed by Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald and written by Tedi Sarafian, George Malko, William Gray.
Plot
The US east coast is suddenly struck by a type of a massi ...
''.
In 2009, Vanasse was a producer and a cast member of the film '' Polytechnique'', directed by
Denis Villeneuve
Denis Villeneuve (; born October 3, 1967) is a Canadian filmmaker. He is a four-time recipient of the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Award) for Best Direction, winning for '' Maelström'' in 2001, '' Polytechnique'' in 2009, ''Incendies ...
, which portrays the 1989
École Polytechnique massacre
École may refer to:
* an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée)
* École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France
* École, Savoi ...
in Montréal. She won the
Genie Award
The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
for
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
for her performance.
In 2011, Vanasse was cast as the French
stewardess
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primar ...
, Colette Valois, in the American-produced television series ''
Pan Am
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
'', which was later cancelled after one season.
From January to April 2013, Vanasse was cast on the Quebec television series ''30 Vies''. In July 2013, ''
Deadline Hollywood
''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...
'' announced that Vanasse had joined the cast of ABC's ''
Revenge
Revenge is committing a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. Francis Bacon described revenge as a kind of "wild justice" that "does... offend the law ndputteth the law out of office." Pr ...
'' as French businesswoman Margaux LeMarchal in the third season of the popular drama. During 2012 and 2013, Vanasse filmed the movies '' All the Wrong Reasons'', '' Buddha's Little Finger'' and '' En solitaire''.
From 2017 to 2020, Vanasse starred in the television series ''
Cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to:
Animals
* Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae
**''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...
'', as detective Lise Delorme. It was the first time she had played a Québécoise character on English-language TV, rather than a character from France. At the
7th Canadian Screen Awards
The 7th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 31, 2019, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2018.
she won the award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Program or Limited Series.
Personal life
She was in a relationship with
Remstar
Remcorp is a Canadian private investment firm founded by businessman Maxime Rémillard. Its head offices are located in Montreal, Quebec.
History
The company was founded in 1997.
At first involved in the entertainment industry, Remcorp now ma ...
CEO
Maxime Rémillard
Maxime Rémillard is a Canadian businessman born on January 17, 1975, in Greenfield Park, Quebec. He is the president of both Remcorp, a leading Canadian private investment firm and Remstar Media, an entertainment and content delivery company.
...
from 2006 to 2014.
On 21 April 2018, Vanasse announced via
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
that she had given birth to her first child, a boy, with her ex-boyfriend Hugues Harvey.