Michel Barrette (born April 26, 1957 in

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi () is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and com ...

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 ...

) is a television and movie

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, television and radio

host A host is a person responsible for guests at an event or for providing hospitality during it. Host may also refer to: Places * Host, Pennsylvania, a village in Berks County People *Jim Host (born 1937), American businessman * Michel Host ...

and

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a comedy, comedic performance to a live audience in which the performer addresses the audience directly from the stage. The performer is known as a comedian, a comic or a stand-up. Stand-up comedy consists of One-line joke ...

. He has played various roles in Quebec movies and television shows since 1982.

Profile

After serving in the

Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

, Barrette started his movie acting career in 1982 and appeared in nearly a dozen movies, including ''Les Boys'' in the first part of the series in 1997 (as Roger, a defenceman for a garage league team), ''Aurore'', and '' The Rocket (Maurice Richard)'', a tribute to life of the former

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

superstar

Maurice "Rocket" Richard Joseph Henri Maurice "Rocket" Richard (; ; August 4, 1921 – May 27, 2000) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Montreal Canadiens. He was the first player in NHL hist ...

. He also appeared in several popular television series, including ''La Petite Vie'' in 1995, ''Scoop'' and ''Paparazzi''. His most important role in television and arguably in his entire acting career was in ''KM/H'', a

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

TV series in which he played the main character for nearly eight years. His second main role was as a detective in the series '' Un homme mort'' in 2006. Barrette has also been one of the most notable stand-up comedians in Quebec since 1983 and performed several one-man comedy shows province-wide, including in 1989, ''100% Barrette'' in 1997, in 2000, in 2004 and ''Michel Barrette, 100% neuf'' in 2006. He was also part of a major show to aid victims of the 1996 Saguenay Flood. He was a regular guest on

Normand Brathwaite Normand Brathwaite (born August 27, 1958) is a Quebec comedian, movie and television actor, radio and television host and musician. He is known for hosting television variety shows for over 10 years, including ''Piment Fort'' as well as the Montr ...

's defunct-satirical television show '' Piment Fort'' during the 1990s. His first famous role was his stand-up character named Roland "Hi-Ha" Tremblay, which became a hit around 1988, and was the basis for

Serge Gaboury Serge may refer to: * Serge (fabric), a type of twill fabric *Serge (llama) (born 2005), a llama in the Cirque Franco-Italien and internet meme *Serge (name), a masculine given name (includes a list of people with this name) *Serge (post), a hitch ...

's comic strip of the same name, and also started the career of comic/actor

Vincent Bolduc Vincent ( la, Vincentius) is a male given name derived from the Roman name Vincentius, which is derived from the Latin word (''to conquer''). People with the given name Artists *Vincent Apap (1909–2003), Maltese sculptor *Vincent van Gogh ...

, who became famous by playing the same routine at age 9 or 10. He previously hosted, with

Jean-Marc Parent Jean-Marc is a French masculine given name. It may refer to: * Jean-Marc Adjovi-Bocco (born 1963), Beninese former football player * Jean-Marc Ayrault (born 1950), French politician * Jean-Marc Barr (born 1960), French-American film actor and dir ...

, ''Casse-Tête'', a Télé-Metropole show for the 1987 and 1988 seasons while he also hosted the TVA show ''Planete en folie'' in 1998. He hosted several radio shows, including morning shows on

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

radio stations CKOI,

CKMF CKMF-FM (94.3 MHz) is a French-language Canadian radio station located in Montreal, Quebec, owned and operated by Bell Media. The station airs a mainstream rock format and is the flagship station of the "Énergie" network, which operates across ...

and more recently

CHMP-FM CHMP-FM (98.5 MHz) is a French language talk radio station serving the Greater Montreal Area and licensed to the off-Island suburb of Longueuil. Owned and operated by Cogeco, it broadcasts with an effective radiated power (ERP) of 100,000 watts a ...

. In 2005, he traded one snowmobile to Kyle MacDonald of the book ''

One Red Paperclip One red paperclip is a website created by Canadian blogger Kyle MacDonald, who traded his way from a single red paperclip to a house in a series of fourteen online trades over the course of a year. MacDonald was inspired by the childhood game ''B ...

'' for a "party in a keg" invention (a beer keg and a neon sign). The trade was a part of multiple consecutive bartering deals that allowed MacDonald to trade in a red paperclip for a house. In 2022, Barrette played in

Martin Villeneuve Martin Villeneuve () is a Canadian screenwriter, producer, director, actor, and art director. He was nominated at the Canadian Screen Award (formerly Genie Awards, Genie Award) in 2013 for Best Adapted Screenplay, for ''Mars et Avril'', his featur ...

's ''

The 12 Tasks of Imelda ''The 12 Tasks of Imelda'' (french: Les 12 travaux d’Imelda) is a Canadian comedy-drama feature film, written, produced and directed by Martin Villeneuve and released in 2022. Based on the last twelve years of Villeneuve’s paternal grandmothe ...

(Les 12 travaux d'Imelda)'', co-starring playwright

Robert Lepage Robert Lepage (born December 12, 1957) is a Canadian playwright, actor, film director, and stage director. Early life Lepage was raised in Quebec City. At age five, he was diagnosed with a rare form of alopecia, which caused complete hair lo ...

and actress-signer

Ginette Reno Ginette Reno (born Ginette Raynault; 28 April 1946) is a Canadian author, composer, singer, and actress. She has received nominations for the Genie and Gemini Awards and is a multi-recipient of the Juno Award. She is a gold and platinum sel ...

, in which he plays Martin and

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 ...

's uncle André.Jean Siag
"Les 12 travaux d’Imelda : Étonnante comédie"
'' La Presse'', October 28, 2022.

Filmography

Cinema

* ''The Emperor of Peru'' - 1982 * ''

Angel Square ''Angel Square'' (also known as ''The Comic Book Christmas Caper'') is a 1990 Canadian film directed by Anne Wheeler and starring Ned Beatty and Nicola Cavendish. The film is based on the novel of the same title by Brian Doyle. Premise In 1945, ...

'' - 1990 * ''

Montreal Stories ''Montreal Stories'' (french: Montréal vu par...), also titled ''Montreal Sextet'' in some releases, is a Canadian drama film, released in 1991 as an homage to the city of Montreal, Quebec on the occasion of its 350th anniversary. ...

(Montréal vu par...)'' - 1991 * ''Coyote'' - 1992 * ''The Postmistress'' - 1992 * ''

Les Boys ''Les Boys'' is a 1997 Quebec-made comedy film directed by Louis Saia. It has spawned three sequels and by any measure ( profit, box office or attendance) is the most successful Quebec made film series of all time, and one of the most successfu ...

'' - 1997 * ''

Alice's Odyssey ''Alice's Odyssey'' (french: L'Odyssée d'Alice Tremblay) is a Canadian family comedy fantasy film, directed by Denise Filiatrault and released in 2002. The film stars Sophie Lorain as Alice Tremblay, a single mother who becomes drawn into the fai ...

(L'odyssée d'Alice Tremblay)'' - 2002 * ''

Father and Sons ''Father and Sons'' (french: Père et Fils) is a 2003 French-Canadian comedy film directed by Michel Boujenah Michel Boujenah (born 3 November 1952) is a French-Tunisian Jewish actor, comedian, film director, and screenwriter. Life and ca ...

(Père et fils)'' - 2003 * ''

Bittersweet Memories "Bittersweet Memories" is a power ballad by the Welsh heavy metal band Bullet for My Valentine. It is the third single from the band's third studio album, ''Fever''. The music video for "Bittersweet Memories" was released on 25 November 2010 ...

(Ma vie en cinémascope)'' - 2004 * ''

How to Conquer America in One Night ''How to Conquer America in One Night'' (french: Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit) is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Dany Laferrière and released in 2004. The film centres on the relationship between Fanfan (Maka Kotto), a Haitian ...

(Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit)'' - 2004 * '' The Rocket (Maurice Richard)'' - 2005 * ''

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 ...

'' - 2009 * ''Le poil de la bête'' - 2010 * '' Crying Out (À l'origine d'un cri)'' - 2010 * '' The Happiness of Others (Le Bonheur des autres)'' - 2011 * ''

(Les 12 travaux d'Imelda)'' - 2022

Television

* '' Bye Bye'' (1990, 1996) * ''

La Petite Vie ''La petite vie'' was first a stage sketch of the comedy duo Ding et Dong, formed by Claude Meunier and Serge Thériault, and later a hit Quebec television sitcom aired by Radio-Canada from 1993 to 1999. In total, 59 episodes were created plus 3 ...

'' (1995) * ''Scoop'' (1992–1995) * ''10-07: L'affaire Zeus'' (1995) * ''10-07: L'affaire Kalka'' (1996) * ''Paparazzi'' (1997) * ''

KM/H The kilometre per hour ( SI symbol: km/h; non-standard abbreviations: kph, km/hr) is a unit of speed, expressing the number of kilometres travelled in one hour. History Although the metre was formally defined in 1799, the term "kilometres per ho ...

'' (1998–2006) * ''Un homme mort'' (2006) * ''Le Gentleman'' (2009) * ''Rock et Rolland'' (2010)

References

External links

*
Michel Barrette Producer profile on The 1 Second Film website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrette, Michel 1957 births Living people Canadian male film actors Canadian stand-up comedians Canadian male television actors French Quebecers Male actors from Quebec People from Saguenay, Quebec Comedians from Quebec