Girard, Rémy

Girard, Rémy

Rémy Girard, actor (b at Jonquière, Que 10 Aug 1950). Rémy Girard has carried on a prolific career in theatre, in film and on television. While for theatre afficionados he was the unforgettable Estragon in Waiting for Godot, to the general public he was the colourful coach in les Boys, and on the small screen, the unique Papa Bougon.

At 19, he joined Université Laval's theatre troupe and, abandoning law for theatre, entered Conservatoire de theatre du Québec, graduating in 1974. He made his debut in Quebec City, where he co-founded le Parminou and le Vieux-Théâtre. At that time, he touched on writing, directing and management. In the early 1980s, he settled in Montréal to pursue his theatre and television career.

Rémy Girard excelled in innovative stage roles. At the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM) he portrayed the Shakespearean roles Bottom (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1988), Brother Laurent (Romeo and Juliette, 1989) and Falstaff (The Merry Wives of Windsor, 2002, prix Gascon-Roux for best male performance). After Le Songe..., Robert Lepage directed him in La Vie de Galilée (1989), for which he won a second Gascon-Roux for his performance of the celebrated astronomer, Galileo. Girard, a skilled comic actor, proved both funny and moving in Le Malade imaginaire (Théâtre du Rideau Vert, 1996), Waiting for Godot (TNM, 1992) and in Don Quixote (TNM 1998) as a gallant Sancho. He also performed Québécois repertoire, notably in Les Fridolinades (Rideau Vert, 1986-91), as well as works by Tremblay (La Trilogie des Brassard, Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui, 1991) and Michel Marc Bouchard (Le Voyage du couronnement, TNM, 1995).

Rémy Girard has also directed and co-authored many plays including Le Grand Gala (Théâtre des Grands Chênes, 1994), with Normand Chouinard; La Déprime (La Licorne/Rideau Vert, 1981), with Denis Bouchard; and other works, among them La Farce de l'âge (Théâtre du Rideau Vert, 1991).

In film, several producers have preferred him: Yves Simoneau (Dans le ventre du dragon, 1989); Denys ARCAND (THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE, 1986; Jesus of Montréal, 1989, Genie Award); Georges Mihalka (La Florida, 1993); and Louis Saïa (Les Boys I à IV, 1997-2005). He won Genies for his performances in Robert Ménard's Amoureux fou (1991) and Francis Mankiewicz's Les Portes tournantes (1988). He was seen in Séraphin, un homme et son péché (2002) by Charles Binamé, and Luc Dionne's Aurore (2005). While he gave up playing comedy on both big and small screens, he demonstrated great dramatic intensity in Denys Arcand's films, notably The Barbarian Invasions (2003; Genie Award), in which he was very moving as a professor and unfaithful husband, arriving at the end of a life that he had lived to the hilt.

On television, Rémy Girard has portrayed some 50 roles, and appeared in "Scoop" (1991-94), "La Petite Vie" (1993-99) and "Les Bougon, c'est aussi ça la vie" (2003-06).