Pascale Bussières (born June 27, 1968) is a

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 Fren ...

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), 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 ...

Life and work

Born in

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 ...

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 ...

, Canada, Pascale Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in

Micheline Lanctôt Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician. Biography Lanctôt was born in Frelighsburg, Quebec. Her post-secondary education was in music, fine arts, and theatre at École de musique ...

’s 1984 film '' Sonatine''; however, it was ''Blanche'', the 1993

Radio-Canada The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

series directed by

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 ...

that gave her star status in

. After ''Blanche'', and then a lead in Binamé’s Generation-X picture ''

Eldorado El Dorado (, ; Spanish for "the golden"), originally ''El Hombre Dorado'' ("The Golden Man") or ''El Rey Dorado'' ("The Golden King"), was the term used by the Spanish in the 16th century to describe a mythical tribal chief (''zipa'') or king o ...

'', Bussières became the 1990s heir to

Geneviève Bujold Geneviève Bujold (; born July 1, 1942) is a Canadian actress. For her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in the period drama film ''Anne of the Thousand Days'' (1969), Bujold received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other film cre ...

and

Carole Laure Carole Laure O.C. (born August 5, 1948) is an actress and singer from Quebec, Canada. Career Throughout most of her career, Carole Laure primarily collaborated with Anglophone singer, songwriter, producer, and director Lewis Furey, whom she ...

– the most charismatic actress of her generation. It's a measure of Bussières's range as an actress that her follow-up to ''Eldorado'' was the role of a prim-and-proper mythology teacher who discovers her lesbian desires in

Patricia Rozema Patricia Rozema (born 20 August 1958) is a Canadian film director, writer and producer. She was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Early life Rozema was born in King ...

's ''

When Night Is Falling ''When Night is Falling'' is a 1995 Canadian drama film directed by Patricia Rozema and starring Pascale Bussières and Rachael Crawford. It was entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival. Plot Camille Baker ( Pascale Bussières) i ...

''. She also gives a standout performance as an alienated fashion model who wants to conceive a child in Denis Villeneuve's debut feature, ''

August 32nd on Earth ''August 32nd on Earth'' (french: Un 32 août sur terre, and also known as ''32nd Day of August on Earth'') is a 1998 Canadian drama film directed and written by Denis Villeneuve, in his feature film directorial debut, and produced by Roger Fr ...

(Un 32 août sur terre)'', and won both the 2004 Best Actress

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.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 her dramatic impersonation of Quebec singing star

Alys Robi Alice Robitaille (February 3, 1923 – May 28, 2011), from Quebec City, "petite Alys" (little Alys), was a French Canadian singer mainly remembered for her later French interpretations of Latin American songs, who performed under the stage name Al ...

in '' Bittersweet Memories (Ma vie en cinémascope)''.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links