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Girard, Rémy

CTE photo
André Brassard's 1992 production of Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot/Waiting For Godot with Rémy Girard (l) and Normand Chouinard at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde

Quebec-based character actor, born in Jonquière in 1950, probably best known for his roles in Denys Arcand's films The Decline of the American Empire (1986), The Barbarian Invasions (2002), The Fall of the American Empire (2017); and the film series Les Boys. His father was a well known local politician and he studied law towards a career in politics himself. While studying, he dabbled in theatre in Quebec City until Paul Hébert told him he was an actor, not a lawyer.

In 1974, he graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec (where he performed in, among others, Genet's Le Balcon/The Balcony).

Rémy Girard has performed lead roles in the inaugural production of Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui's new theatre, Michel Tremblay's La Trilogie des Brassard, as well as in Les Gars at Théâtre la Licorne.

In autumn of 1996 he performed the lead in Molière's Malade Imaginaire/Imaginary Invalid, at Théâtre du Rideau Vert (he had previously played the house in, notably, La Déprime, 1983). In 1998, he played in Dominic Champagne's hugely successful version of Wajdi Mouawad's adaptation of Cervantes' Don Quichotte at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde/TNM. He appeared in the February, 2000, Allan Sandler co-production of La Cage aux folles and in January, 2002, in the TNM production of Les Joyeuses commères de Windsor/The Merry Wives of Windsor, as Falstaff. More recently, in 2019, he played Agrippa in Coriolan (dir. Robert Lepage) at TNM.

Rémy Girard's performances are marked by great attention to character detail (particularly voice).

He has a substantive career in television and film, and has received many awards for his acting. In 2019, he was named Officer of the Order of Canada.

He lives in Montreal with his handicapped adult son Renaud, and his partner of twenty-two years.

Profile by Gaetan Charlebois

Last updated 2023-12-05