Sophie Clément

Theatre

After graduating from the National Theatre School in 1965, Sophie Clément joined the Jeunes Comédiens group at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), directed by Jean-Pierre Ronfard, a touring company and incubator for the next generation.

The following season, in 1967, Clément entered the big leagues with a small role in Jean-Louis Roux’s Bois-Brûlésby, a show from the TNM's regular program that marked the beginning of a long collaboration. She played about thirty characters on the company's stage, having a sustained presence for more than thirty years. Clément acted in Molière (Tartuffe, 1983), Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1988), Pirandello (Tonight We Improvise, 2000), and has participated in major Quebec creations, including Réjean Ducharme’s HA ha!... and Denise Boucher’s Les fées ont soif in 1978.

When artistic director Olivier Reichenbach tried to establish a permanent troupe at the TNM (1983–84), he clearly had Clément in mind. The special relationship between the actress and the TNM culminated in the 1986–87 season, when she won the Gascon-Roux Prize for two roles: Béatrice in Les Deux Jumeaux vénitiens (directed by Guillermo de Andrea) and, her unforgettable Médée in the play of the same name, Euripides’ classic tragedy directed by Jean-Pierre Ronfard.

Clément has played several memorable roles on other Montreal stages, including the radiant Mado in Jean Marc Dalpé’s Eddy (Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale, 1994) and the poignant Parisian maid in Georges Brassaï’s Histoires de Mari, a solo performance in which director Jean-Marie Papapietro made the most of all the nuances of Clément’s acting (Théâtre de Fortune/Usine C, 2006).

Since the vibrant 1960s and 1970s, Clément has passionately advocated for Quebec drama, performing in works by Michel Garneau, Jean Barbeau, Jeanne-Mance Delisle, Marcel Dubé, Michel Tremblay and, most notably, Réjean Ducharme, whom she interprets masterfully. Besides Sophie in HA ha!..., she played Pauline-Émilienne in Ines Pérée et Inat Tendu at the premiere at the Théâtre de la Sablonnière in 1968, directed by Yvan Canuel. Lorraine Pintal directed her in the same play in 1991, on the stage of the TNM, this time in the role of Isalaide Lussier-Voucru.

Among Tremblay's cast of characters, Clément played Marie-Lou and Carmen in À toi, pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou (Théâtre de l'Est Parisien, 1975; Lennoxville Festival, 1977), Mado and Hélène in En pièces détachées (Radio-Canada television theatre, 1971; Centre Saidye Bronfman, 1979), as well as 50-year-old Albertine in Albertine in Five Times, directed by Martine Beaulne (Espace GO, 1997), lending the Lafontaine Park snack bar employee an irresistible working-class charm.

Television and Cinema

Sophie Clément rarely acted on the big screen but those she has starred in are among the most notable in Quebec cinema: Françoise Durocher, waitress (1972), a film directed by André Brassard with a script by Michel Tremblay; Il était une fois dans l'est by the Brassard-Tremblay tandem (1974); Les Ordres by Michel Brault (1974); and L'Eau chaude, l'eau frette by André Forcier (1976).

On television, Clément has played more than twenty-five characters, notably in Catherine (1999–2003), L'Arche de Zoé (1994–95), in which she played the title role, and L'Héritage by Victor-Lévy Beaulieu (1987–90).

(See also Quebec Film History: 1970 to 1989.)