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Houde, Germain

Germain Houde
Germain Houde. Photo by Monic Richard.

Quebec-based actor, born in 1952, and studied at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec (1976). Germain Houde has specialized in strong leading roles and tough characters. In 1980, he toured his one-man show for four years in Quebec and France, portraying a "fake toughie" homosexual trapped in stereotypes, for which he won the Prix Paul-Hébert.

During the 1970s, Germain Houde performed regularly with Troupe des Treize. He played leading roles in Coup de sang by Jean Daigle (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 1976); Le Temps d'une vie and La Complainte des hivers rouges by Roland Lepage (1978); La Locandiera by Goldoni (1978); La Cuisine/The Kitchen by Arnold Wesker (1979); Shakespeare's Macbeth; Bernard Pomerance's L'Homme éléphant/The Elephant Man) (Théâtre du Trident, 1982); Arthur Miller's Les Sorcières de Salem/The Crucible (1983); and Tennessee Williams' Un tramway nommé Désir/A Streetcar Named Desire (1984).

Houde made a strong impression in the 1994 production of David Mamet's Oleanna at the Théâtre de Quat'Sous directed by Micheline Lanctôt. He also played leads in Pierre ou la consolation at Café de la Place des Arts; Luna Park at Théâtre Ubu; and La Grande Magia (Compagnie Jean-Duceppe 1998, for which he won a Masque Award in February, 2000); Maureen Hunter's L'Atlantide/Atlantis (Théâtre la Licorne, 1999); and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde's La Cerisaie/The Cherry Orchard (March, 2000). In 2014, he played the artist Mark Rothko in Rouge/Red at Théâtre du Rideau Vert.

Though he has had a very solid career in television and film, his first love is theatre. He once said, "I sometimes have the impression, when I do television, that I am a carpenter who is asked to make melamine furniture. I can do it, but..."

Profile by Gaetan Charlebois. Additional information from Raymond Bertin, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca

Last updated 2021-02-01