Micheline Lanctôt

2003 Lifetime Artistic Achievement (Screens and Voices (formerly Broadcasting and Film))

For more than 30 years, visionary filmmaker Micheline Lanctôt has been a formidable presence on the arts scene. She is widely recognized as a multitalented master of many trades: screenwriter, producer, designer, exceptional actor and accomplished musician.

Born in Montreal in 1947, Micheline Lanctôt studied art as well as music. After a brief period at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, she turned to film animation at Potterton Productions. There, a fateful encounter with Gilles Carle resulted in her 1972 role in La Vraie Nature de Bernadette, for which she won a Genie for best female performance.

Following this success, Madame Lanctôt's acting career began to take off with a series of film roles including Voyage en Grande Tartarie, Jean-Charles Tacchella's first full-length film; The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by Ted Kotcheff, in which she starred alongside Richard Dreyfuss; Mourir à tue-tête by Anne-Claire Poirier; and Blood & Guts by Paul Lynch.

In 1979, she scripted her first full-length work, L'Homme à tout faire, which won the silver medal at the San Sebastian Festival in 1980 as well as eight Genie nominations. In 1984, her second full-length feature, Sonatine, garnered numerous awards, including the Lion d'Argent at the Venice Film Festival. In 1992, she produced Deux Actrices, winner of the grand prize at the 1994 Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois. She also filmed Onzième spéciale for television, and the feature film La Vie d'un héros. In 2000 she received the Albert-Tessier Prize for her body of work in cinematography.

From Jamais deux sans toi to Bunker to Les Héritiers Duval, Scoop, Omerta, and Le Pollock, Micheline Lanctôt has put her stamp on television in Quebec and delighted viewers with her exceptional acting ability, her charisma, and her amazingly detailed performances. Most recently, film lovers have seen her in the new Denys Arcand film Les Invasions barbares.