Mario Saint-Amand (born ) is a Canadian actor from

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 ...

Biography

Mario Saint-Amand began his career in 1987 at the Denise-Pelletier Theater in ''

Le Mariage de Figaro ''The Marriage of Figaro'' (french: link=no, La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro ("The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro")) is a comedy in five acts, written in 1778 by Pierre Beaumarchais. This play is the second in the Figaro trilogy, ...

'' (The Marriage of Figaro) alongside

Guy Nadon Guy Nadon, CM (born August 28, 1952 in Montreal, Quebec) is a French-Canadian actor. Though his most notable English-language role was arguably in '' H2O'', his other works have been in his first language of French. In 2010, he was appointed a M ...

. Saint-Amand made the transition from opera to theatre by taking the role of Harlequin in

Marivaux Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist. He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing nume ...

's play ''

Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard ''The Game of Love and Chance'' (french: Le Jeu de l'amour et du hasard) is a three-act romantic comedy by French playwright Marivaux. ''The Game of Love and Chance'' was first performed 23 January 1730 by the Comédie Italienne. In this play ...

'' (The Game of Love and chance). Throughout the early 1990s, he appeared in a plays directed by

André Brassard André Brassard (28 August 1946 – 11 October 2022) was a Canadian stage director, filmmaker and actor, best known for staging the vast majority of Michel Tremblay's plays. He was the director of the French section of the National Arts Center ...

, Dominique Champagne, and André Montmorency. Saint-Amand began his film career in the late 1980s. His first starring role was in the 1991 movie 'Love-Moi' directed by Marcel Simard. He starred in several TV series including ''

Scoop Scoop, Scoops or The scoop may refer to: Objects * Scoop (tool), a shovel-like tool, particularly one deep and curved, used in digging * Scoop (machine part), a component of machinery to carry things * Scoop stretcher, a device used for casualty ...

'', ''

Networks Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

'' and more recently, in ''Grande Ourse'' (Big bear), directed by Patrice Sauvé. At the 1994

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States a ...

, Saint-Amand won the "Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role" award for his notable portrayal of a man with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

in a guest appearance on the TV series

L'Amour avec un grand A ''Avec un grand A'' is a French-Canadian drama television series comprising 52 episodes which aired from February 19, 1986 to March 22, 1996 on Télé-Québec. Created and written by Janette Bertrand, the series dealt with issues impacting romanc ...

(Love with a Capital L). In 2004, he founded a company named ''Les Films de la Dune'' (The Movies of the Dune) with the aim of producing his own projects. He also founded the ''Ciné Cabarouette'' to introduce elementary school students to the art of film making. He continued to appear in movies throughout the 2000s, notably as Gérald "Gerry" Boulet in ''

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

'', a biopic about the lead singer of the French Canadian blues band Offenbach. Saint-Amand began working as a screenwriter with the encouragement of

André Forcier André Forcier (born Marc-André Forcier on July 19, 1947) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His work has been linked to Latin American magic realism by its use of fantasy but is firmly rooted in Quebec's reality. His unromanticized, e ...

. He started with the movie ''

Coteau rouge ''Coteau Rouge'' is a 2011 French-Canadian (Quebec) film written and directed by André Forcier and produced by Les Films du Paria. Synopsis Another offbeat comedy from André Forcier about the Blanchard family, a tightknit group living in Co ...

'' (red knife), in which he also played the character Henri Blanchard. Afterwards, he played for''L'enfer, c'est moi'' (Hell, it's me), the biographical story of Actress Néfertarie Bélizaire's childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her uncle in Haiti. He also played in "Pas de Mal À Une Mouche" (No Harm to a Fly) inspired by the Maryse Latandresse novel of the same name. In 2012, he started his own band "Le Saint-Amand Blues" and released five mini-albums. He produced two more albums in 2013 and 2014. In these albums, he paid homage to the songwriters of Offenbach and

Gerry Boulet Joseph Gaétan Robert Gérald (Gerry) Boulet (March 1, 1946 – July 18, 1990) was a French Canadian rock singer.

. These albums included 11 songs and 11 short stories that are part of the show he gave throughout Quebec during spring of 2013. In 2019, Mario Saint-Amand was a student at

Laval University Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of: People * House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne * Laval (surname) Places Belgium * Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxemb ...

and an assistant researcher at the Quebec Addiction Rehabilitation Center and has been a spokesperson for Maisons Péladeau since 2014.Radio-Canada site

Filmography

* 1988: animateur Émission AZ, au ''

Canal Famille Vrak (stylized as VRΔK) is a Canadian French language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel primarily broadcasts live-action programming aimed at youth audiences. History Background The youth channel TVJQ () went on the air in 19 ...

'', dans le rôle d'Antoine Zénon. * 1990: ''

Watatatow ''Watatatow'' was a Canadian French-language children/youth television series, that aired from 1991 to 2005 on Radio-Canada. The first show aired on September 17, 1991. 104 half-hour episodes were filmed every year; they were shown four afternoo ...

'' : Simon Laurin * 1991: ''Love-Moi'' : Jacques * 1992: ''L'Automne sauvage'' : Antoine * 1995: ''

Radio Enfer ''Radio Enfer'' (French for ''Hell Radio'') is a Québécois sitcom broadcast on Canal Famille and its later incarnation, Vrak.TV, about a group of students at an unidentified high school managing their own high school radio station. ''Radio Enf ...

'' : Guylain Ti-Guy Tremblay * 1995: ''

'': Robert Jonhson * 1995: ''Les grands procès'' (Affaire Cordélia Viau) : Sam Parslow * 1996: ''

Karmina Karmina is an American indie pop music duo of sister singer-songwriters Kelly Adams (Rudisill) (lead vocals, harmonies, keyboards) and Kamille Rudisill (lead vocals, harmonies, guitars). Their name is derived from ''carmina'', which means “song� ...

'' : Pierre Boutin * 1998: ''La Part des anges'' : Philippe Bernard * 1998: ''Escape'' : Prisoner * 1998: ''Réseaux'': Michel Valois * 1999: ''Opération Tango'' : Sergent Davila * 2000: '' Family Pack (Que faisaient les femmes pendant que l'homme marchait sur la Lune ?)'' : Bob * 2003: ''Grande Ourse'' : Pierre Lamy * 2005: ''L'Héritière de Grande Ourse'': Pierre Lamy * 2005: ''Emilio'' : The Cat & Emilio grown-up * 2007: ''Le Symptôme'' : Capitaine Colorado * 2007: ''Truffe'' : Mineur * 2008: '' Blind Spot (Lucidité passagère)'' : Mathieu * 2009: ''

Je me souviens () is the official motto of Quebec, and translated literally into English means: "I remember." The exact meaning of this short sentence is subject to several interpretations, though all relate to the History of Quebec, history of the Quebec peo ...

'': Rock * 2010: ''

'' : Henri * 2011: ''

'' :

Gerry Boulet Joseph Gaétan Robert Gérald (Gerry) Boulet (March 1, 1946 – July 18, 1990) was a French Canadian rock singer.

* 2016: ''District 31'': Michel David

Awards and nominations

Awards

He won a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

in 1994 in the category "Best Performance in a Supporting Role" in all dramatic categories for his character Jean Pierre in "Missionary AIDS" written and directed by

Janette Bertrand Janette Bertrand (born March 25, 1925) is a Quebec journalist, actress, educator, and writer. Biography She was born in Montreal, grew up there, and studied journalism at the Université de Montréal. She began work at the ''Petit Journal'', wor ...

Nominations

His first nomination took place at the presentation of

Prix Gémeaux The Prix Gémeaux () or Gémeaux Awards honour achievements in Canadian television and digital media that is broadcast in French. It has been sponsored by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television since 1987. Introduced as a French-language equ ...

in 1992 following the interpretation of his character, Alain, suffering from

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

in ''L’amour c’est pas assez'' (Love is not enough). It was still under the direction of

at the time, which is when he won the award for "Best Male Performance in a Supporting Role" for his memorable composition of the character of Jean-Pierre suffering from AIDS in the Dramatic "Missionary AIDS". In 1994, his character Simon Laurin in the popular series ''

'' lead him to a third nomination in the category ''Best performance drama show or drama series''. While still under the direction of Janette Bertrand, he gets re-nominated again in 1996 when he gets offered the role of Louis Côté in ''Un Peu, Beaucoup, À la Folie'' (A Little, Much, To the Folly) that he will play alongside Marcel Leboeuf and

Macha Limonchik Macha () was a sovereignty goddess of ancient Ireland associated with the province of Ulster, particularly the sites of Navan Fort (''Eamhain Mhacha'') and Armagh (''Ard Mhacha''), which are named after her.Koch, John T. ''Celtic Culture: A H ...

. First nominated for the 2012

Prix Jutra 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.Coteau rouge ''Coteau Rouge'' is a 2011 French-Canadian (Quebec) film written and directed by André Forcier and produced by Les Films du Paria. Synopsis Another offbeat comedy from André Forcier about the Blanchard family, a tightknit group living in Co ...

'' and his interpretation of the legendary singer of the band Offenbach, Gérald Gerry Boulet, in the movie ''

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Amand, Mario 1968 births Living people Canadian male film actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male voice actors French Quebecers Male actors from Quebec People from Sept-Îles, Quebec