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Pascale Bussières

b. June 27, 1968, Montreal, Quebec Combining understated passion with carefully modulated intensity, Pascale Bussières has become the most compelling and charismatic Quebec actress of her generation, the nineties heir to Geneviève Bujold and Carole Laure. Bussières first attracted attention as a suicidal teenager in Micheline Lanctôt’s rigorously dark Sonatine (1984), for which the sixteen-year-old received a Genie nomination for Best Actress. She took a long hiatus from acting to complete a degree in film production at Concordia University, then appeared in Jacques Leduc’s La Vie fantôme (1992), which netted her the Best Actress award at the Montreal World Film Festival, and Deux Actrices (1993), which reunited her with Lanctôt. But it was Bussières’s starring role in the TV mini-series “Blanche” (1993), Charles Binamé’s popular historical melodrama, which rocketed her to stardom and non-stop work in Quebec film and television. “Blanche” was one of the most-watched programmes ever broadcast in Quebec, and in 1994 Bussières received the Metro Star award as the Most Popular Actress in Quebec. It is a measure of her range that she leapt from her role as the heroine in “Blanche” to that of the roller-blading cokehead in Binamé’s Generation X picture Eldorado (1994), then followed that with her portrayal of a prim theology professor who uncovers her desire for women in Patricia Rozema’s When Night is Falling (1995). Equally proficient performing in English as in French, Bussières has since appeared in films by many of Canada’s major directors, including Guy Maddin’s Twilight of the Ice Nymphs (1997), Denis Villeneuve’s Un 32 auôt sur terre (1998), Léa Pool’s Emporte-moi (1999) and The Blue Butterfly (2003), Jeremy Podeswa’s The Five Senses (1999), Manon Briand’s La Turbulence des fluides (2002) and Denise Filiatrault’s Ma vie en cinemascope (2004) for which she won her first Genie Award for Best Leading Actress. She has also worked extensively in France on such films as La Répétition (2001), co-starring Emmanuelle Béart, and is currently in production on the CBC-TV mini series “René Lévesque”. By Andrew McIntosh, with excerpts from Take One’s Essential Guide to Canadian Film

By Andrew McIntosh
Film and video work includes Sonatine, 1984 (actor) Le Chemin de Damas, 1988 (actor) Haut les mains, Pour tout dire series, 1988 (actor) La Peau et les os, 1988 (actor) Chambres en ville series, 1989-1996 (actor; TV) La Femme de Pierre, 1989 (actor) Tandem series, 1989-1992 (actor; TV) À la troisième personne, 1990 (director; writer; cinematographer; producer) Clin d’oeil, 1990 (actor) Femme de Pierre, 1990 (actor; TV) La Marxiste et les autres, 1990 (actor) Marilyn series, 1991-1993 (actor; TV) Moïse, Fictions 16/26 series, 1991, (actor; TV) Touroul series, 1991 (actor; TV) Des poissons solubles, 1992 (actor) Montréal, ville ouverte, 1992 (actor; TV) La Vie fantome, 1992 (actor) Anita, 1993 (actor) Blanche series, 1993 (actor; TV) Deux actrices, 1993 (actor) État de grâce, 1993 (actor) Vox populi, 1993 (actor) Eldorado, 1995 (co-writer with Charles Binamé, Lorraine Richard, Robert Brouillette, et al.; actor) La Forêt et le bûcheron, 1995 (actor) When Night is Falling, 1995 (actor) Les 1000 merveilles de l’univers, 1996 (actor) Marguerite Volant series, 1996 (actor; TV) The Whole of the Moon, 1996 (actor; TV) Dans la joie, 1997 (actor) Guy Maddin: Waiting for Twilight, 1997 (appears as herself) Honeymoon, 1997 (actor) Paparazzi series, 1997 (actor; TV) Platinum, 1997 (actor; TV) La Thrill-logie de l’inter-raie, 1997 (actor) Twilight of the Ice Nymphs, 1997 (actor) Un 32 auôt sur terre, 1998 (actor) L’Âge de braise, 1998 (actor) Le Coeur au poing, 1998 (actor) The Five Senses, 1999 (actor) Thunder Point, 1998 (actor; TV) The Windsor Protocol, 1998 (actor; TV) Emporte-moi, 1999 (actor) Mansfield Park, 1999 (voice for French dub) Souvenirs intimes, 1999 (actor) La Beauté de pandore, 2000 (actor) La Bouteille, 2000 (actor) Les Filles ne savent pas nager, 2000 (actor) La Princesse astronaute series, 2000-2002 (actor; TV) The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne, 2000 (actor; TV, one episode) Between the Moon and Montevideo, 2001 (actor) Ma Folle de soeur, 2001 (actor) La Répétition, 2001 (actor) X Change, 2001 (actor; TV) Les Moutons de Jacob, 2002 (actor) La Turbulence des fluides, 2002 (actor) Petites coupures, 2003 (actor) The Blue Butterfly, 2004 (actor) Ma vie en cinémascope, 2004 (actor) Le Coeur a ses raisons series, 2005 (actor; TV) Note: Updated to June 30, 2005