The acting profession is as demanding as it is uncertain. Despite their talent, the actors are at the mercy of the will of the writers, producers, broadcasters and agents to water, and the public. A roll can write, but also ensure longevity. The actors are looking for new challenges, characters that will take them to all possible areas. Sometimes there is a wanted, forced, or uncontrolled pause. Then a call, a role, an occasion that brings her back to light.
Veronique Bannon
Photo provided by Marie-Ève Rompré
For more than a decade, Véronique Bannon was on our television every day. There was Watatatow, then Virginie. She was only 14 when she began her acting career. A time in which the view of others becomes disproportionately important. Véronique never hid it, mental problems spread. She was one of the first to express her discomfort when it wasn’t sexy. She was therefore one of the first public figures to open this dialogue, oh so important! Her condition has taken her out of the game, a necessary reconstruction. Returning there took courage and perseverance to convince her that she had lost none of her talent. In Season 2 of Portrait Robot, she inherits an intense score. The character she plays, Chantal Sicaire, is a former nude dancer married to the leader of the largest motorcycle club, the Hells Riders, who wakes up from a long coma after an attempted murder.
Pierre Paul Alain
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
It’s hard not to notice this actor’s powerful comeback, as intense as it is disarming. He had managed to grow from his status as a child actor into a young adult by delivering sensitive performances. Let’s think of Alexis, who he wore in Destinées for 7 seasons. Then, between 2015 and 2020, everything stopped. It’s the dramas of his daily life that have taken over the place, offering him the role of his life, that of a close guardian to his parents. Rafaël Ouellet’s excellent film Arseneault & fils propelled him back to prominence by playing the uncontrollable black sheep of a poaching family. That fall he appeared in Before the Crash, Hotel and Anna and Arnaud. We can see it again this winter in Season 3 of Les Mecs: double fault, in Season 2 of Reasonable Doubt, then in Les Bombs. Embodying Yoan in the à coeur beat, he is both tough and moving, skinned, violent and explosive. An actor of great talent, capable of conveying to us subtle and visceral emotions.
Martin Larocque
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
Martin has always shown his versatility and his great openness to others. He impersonated the Hercule Belhumeur of Virginie daily, spoke of Lust in L’été c’est sin, was the gloved doctor of Les Beaux Malaises and more recently lent his features to the disreputable Welshman in District 31. Thereby , he founded the children’s publishing house La car, we saw him dance and sing in A Violin on the Roof, he wrote a column about his best role, dad, became a lecturer and reminded of the importance of self-esteem. He recently opened the Café Maudit bonheur. It’s good to find it daily thanks to Big Brother celebrities. Martin is a sage. He’s having a good winter. We find him in season 2 of Le Bonheur, he is Me Théberge in The Emperor, he will appear in After the flood on Crave and Eyes closed on ICI Tou.tv. And in cinemas, he will be the host of La Cordonnière, due out in February.
Jacques Lavallee
Photo provided by Maude Arsenault
Nice surprise to see Jacques Lavallée playing the role of the patriarch of the Larouche family in Xavier Dolan’s excellent series The night where Laurier Gaudreault woke up. He embodies an uncompromising man, proud and above all plagued by secrets. A very likeable actor with 50 years of experience. If he inherited a few roles as a judge or lawyer in recent years (Pour Sarah, Ruptures, District 31), he was gold of the time in the credits of the most popular series of the 1990s, Scoop, Emergency or Nightmare of Love. He earns more of his living by lending his voice to many actors such as Hugh Grant, Martin Short, Colm Feore or Alan Rickman. It was probably in a dubbing studio that he met Dolan, who often offered him a role in his films. His Pierre Larouche shows all the nuances of his game.
This winter, three singers shine with their presence in cutting-edge shows.
Nathalie Simard
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
We can say that she is not lacking in courage. His presence at Sortez-moi d’ici is evidence of this. Most importantly, let’s not forget that Nathalie Simard defied her attacker long before the #MeeToo global movement. She undertook a long trial in the public eye. Then a long rebuild to heal pain that will probably never go away. The one who left her mark on generations with Le village de Nathalie and her songs, including La guerre des tuques, deserves to be considered a strong, smiling, authentic woman, ready to seize opportunities, even the boldest.
marjo
Photo agency QMI, Joël Lemay
Our national rocker, who has been discreet for the last few years, returns to the limelight by becoming a trainer at The Voice. It’s probably the biggest platform for a musical artist. And 46 years of career is precious for young singers who can benefit from his advice, his creativity and his openness. A recording broadcast on Télé-Québec, Amoureuse allowed us to reconnect with his work. Marjo, who is preparing to return to the stage, has lost none of her enthusiasm. But on the contrary.
Natalie Choquette
After making her mark on the world’s great stages in the most prestigious operas, the soprano set out to democratize classical singing by carrying her diva in humorous operatic performances. Her voice can be heard on fifteen albums, including the most recent, Colores, a family album that pays homage to the painters who shaped her. In recent years she has been engaged in writing children’s books and has published about fifteen works. Following her daughter Éléonore’s remarkable transition to Big Brother celebrities, here she is at the forefront of all the dilemmas that the competition brings.