b. 1963


After studying film at l’Université de Montréal, Jean-Marc Vallée went on to make a number of acclaimed short films, including Les Fleurs magiques (1995), which won the Genie Award for Best Short Film, and Les Mots magiques (1998), which won a Prix Jutra and an award for Best Short Film at the Aspen Shortsfest. His debut feature, Liste Noire (1995), was nominated for nine Genie Awards, including nods for Vallée’s direction and editing.

He made two more features – Los Locos (1997) and Loser Love (1999) – and directed for television while developing his labour of love, C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005), with his screenwriting partner François Boulay. The period piece about a young gay man’s relationship with his father and his family as he comes of age in the Quebec of the Quiet Revolution took ten years to complete. When the film’s $4 million budget proved inadequate to purchase several key music rights, Vallée sacrificed much of his own salary to secure the songs.

C.R.A.Z.Y. was a critical and commercial smash hit, grossing $6.5 million in Canada (earning it the Golden Reel Genie Award for highest box-office gross) and dominating both the Genie and Jutra Awards, winning awards for Best Film and Best Director at both. It won numerous awards at international festivals – including Best Canadian Feature Film at the Toronto International Film Festival® and the Audience Award at the AFI Film Festival – and was selected as Canada’s official submission for the 2005 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also named one of Canada’s Top Ten of 2005 by an independent, national panel of filmmakers, programmers, journalists and industry professionals.