Evelyne Brochu (born November 17, 1982) is a Canadian actress and singer-songwriter. In 2013, she became well known for her English-speaking role as Delphine Cormier, a French scientist on the hit Canadian science fiction thriller TV series ''

Orphan Black ''Orphan Black'' is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identica ...

''. She has also released two studio albums as well as several singles.

Early life

Brochu grew up in

Pointe-Claire Pointe-Claire (, ) is a Quebec local municipality within the Urban agglomeration of Montreal on the Island of Montreal in Canada. It is entirely developed, and land use includes residential, light manufacturing, and retail. As of the 2021 cen ...

, a suburb of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. Her native language is

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

, but she has also spoken

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

from an early age. Growing up she had

anglophone The English-speaking world comprises the 88 countries and territories in which English is an official, administrative, or cultural language. In the early 2000s, between one and two billion people spoke English, making it the largest language ...

friends and learned English at Jean XXIII High School in

Dorval Dorval (; ) is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburban City (Quebec), city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has t ...

, Quebec. She studied drama at the

Cégep de Saint-Laurent Cégep de Saint-Laurent () is a public French-language college located in the Saint-Laurent borough in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located just south of the English-language Vanier College. History The college traces its origins to the mer ...

. In 2005, Brochu graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique in Montreal. She says a key turning point in learning English was when she became an avid viewer of ''

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ''The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air'' is an American television sitcom created by Andy and Susan Borowitz that aired on NBC from September 10, 1990, to May 20, 1996. The series stars Will Smith as a fictionalized version of himself, a street-smart ...

'' as a child. Her father left when she was years old and, when her father later remarried, she found herself with a step-sister. Brochu has stated that she has a good relationship with her stepmother. Her mother is a

violoncello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C ...

teacher and her father worked as a taxi driver. While out cycling, she was hit by a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

and was told by her doctors that to keep her knee in good shape she could no longer run or dance. She stopped both and took up yoga and acting.

Career

Johnathan Sousa Cara Gee and Evelyne Brochu 2013

Some of her most prominent French-speaking roles include: Chloé in '' Inch'Allah'', Rose in ''

Café de Flore Café de Flore () is one of the oldest coffeehouses in Paris, known for its emblematic shopfront and celebrated for its famous clientele, which in the past included influential writers, philosophers, and members of Parisian high society (tout-Par ...

'', Sara in ''

Tom at the Farm ''Tom at the Farm'' () is a 2013 psychological thriller film directed by and starring Xavier Dolan. The film is based on the play of the same name by Michel Marc Bouchard, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dolan. It also stars Pierre-Yves Cardi ...

'', and Stéphanie in '' Polytechnique''. In 2013, she became well known for her English-speaking role as Delphine Cormier, a French scientist on the hit TV series ''

.'' Brochu portrayed Aurora Luft in

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

spy Espionage, spying, or intelligence gathering, as a subfield of the intelligence field, is the act of obtaining secret or confidential information (intelligence). A person who commits espionage on a mission-specific contract is called an ''e ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

X Company ''X Company'' is a Canadian/Hungarian spy thriller television series created by Mark Ellis and Stephanie Morgenstern, the creators of the CTV series '' Flashpoint'', which ran from 2008 to 2012. The series premiered on February 18, 2015, on C ...

''. Brochu also has a successful singing career. She released a duet with

Félix Dyotte Félix Dyotte is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Quebec, who won the SOCAN Songwriting Prize in 2020 as the writer of Evelyne Brochu's single "Maintenant ou jamais".Calum Slingerland"William Prince Wins 2020 SOCAN Songwriting Prize" ''Exclaim!' ...

entitled "C'est l'été, c'est l'été, c'est l'été", in 2016, as well as appearing on Dyotte's 2017 album ''Politesses'' on the song "Je cours", and has released a solo single entitled "Quoi". In September 2019 Brochu, in cooperation with Dyotte, released her first music album called ''Objets Perdus''. In 2020, Dyotte won the

SOCAN Songwriting Prize The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada, SOCAN Songwriting Prize, formerly known as the ECHO Songwriting Prize, was an annual competition recognizing the best in Canadian emerging music, both anglophone and francophone, fro ...

in the French category for the album's single "Maintenant ou jamais". In September 2023, Brochu released another album in cooperation with Dyotte titled ''Le Danger''.

Personal life

She previously dated Canadian actor François Arnaud, however in a May 2014 interview she stated that they were no longer together. Her cousin is Xarah Dion, a French-Canadian singer. In February 2015, Brochu stated in an interview that she is a

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

and that she struggled when portraying Aurora Luft in ''

'':

There was a moment in Episode 2 when I was with o-star Dustin Milligan when I have to give him orders, I don’t want to do that, and he doesn’t want me to do that, and my first instinct, as a woman, was to smooth it out for him. The director was like, no, you’re a sergeant now. You have to give orders. You have authority. I'm a feminist, it’s 2015.

She resides in

. Brochu is fluent in English and French but can also speak

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

well. She can perform contemporary

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

and

yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...

. Brochu also has musical talents which include being able to play the drums, guitar and piano as well as singing mezzo-soprano and alto. In June 2018, she confirmed her pregnancy with a picture on her Instagram account with her boyfriend Nicolas Schirmer. Their son, Laurier, was born on October 6, 2018. In August 2020, she revealed to be pregnant with twins. She confirmed the birth of the twins, Camille and Matthias, on Instagram on November 16.

Filmography

Television

Film

Theatre

Awards and nominations

Music

Studio albums

Singles

Videography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brochu, Evelyne 1982 births Living people Actresses from Quebec City Canadian women pop singers Canadian feminists Canadian film actresses Canadian stage actresses Canadian television actresses Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal alumni French-language singers of Canada Musicians from Quebec City Singers from Quebec 21st-century Canadian actresses 21st-century Canadian women singers