Gabriel Arcand

Gabriel Arcand was born in the village of Deschambault but moved to Montréal when he was three. At 17, he joined a travelling theatre called La Roulotte, which performed in various parks in Montréal. In 1967 he took part in the Dominion Drama Festival, where he won a scholarship to study theatre but he put those plans on hold while he finished his Masters degree in philosophy at McGill University. Not that he had turned his back on acting. He appeared in the film la Maudite Galette while still at McGill. In 1971, he travelled to France where he completed an internship with the Centre national dramatique du Sud-Est. Back home he appeared in Tu brûles, tu brûles and then working with his brother, Denys Arcand, he also appeared in Réjeanne Padovani. He was given a Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in the international box-office hit Déclin de l’empire américain and won a Jutra Award for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Congorama. His 2013 film, Le Démantèlement, Arcand plays a man who sells his family farm to help his daughters, who have fallen on hard times. Written and directed by Sébastien Pilote, it won the best screenplay prize at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival from the society for authors and dramatic composers, beating out six other films.