Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Leger, Viola
Actor and teacher born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts in 1929, to Acadian parents. Mme Legér returned to her Acadian roots when she 18 years old. She studied teaching, in French, in New Brunswick. It was as a teacher that she met Antonine Maillet , a relationship which would shape the rest of her professional life. She spent a great deal of her teaching life in extracurricular activities, notably in drama classes. At 38, Mme Léger went to Boston University to study teaching theatre. She then studied with renowned teacher Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, in 1968 and he insisted she take a career as a performer.
But it was in 1971 when she was approached by Maillet and since has performed Maillet's La Sagouine over 1400 times, in English and French, and has toured nationally and abroad with the piece.
She has also performed in other Maillet works, including Évangeline Deusse as well as performing, in English, in Albertine, en cinq temps , in Toronto. In 1998, she appeared in the Théâtre du Rideau Vert hit, Grace et Gloria and toured the piece across the country, in French and English, in 1999. More recently, she appeared in the premiere of Maillet's new play, Le Tintamare (Rideau Vert, April, 1999) and in 2002, she appeared at the Théâtre de l'Ile in Gatineau in a one-woman show, Veillée avec Viola.
She is an officer of the Order of Canada and has won a Dora Mavor Moore Award (1981, Sagouine) and a Masque Award (2001, Grace and Glorie, shared with Linda Sorgini , her co-star) among other national and international honours. In 2001, she was appointed to the Senate.
Mme Léger's performances are marked by a gentleness of spirit and a profound complicity with the audience.
(Additional information provided by Alvina Ruprecht)
Last updated 2009-04-23
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