Yves Jacques

Jacques, Yves

Yves Jacques, actor (b at Québec 10 May 1956). This splendid actor had an international career in theatre and film since the early nineties, after revealing his talent for all aspects of performing on Québec stages and television. After completing his studies in theatre at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe (1980), he appeared on stage in Québec City at the Théâtre du Bois de Coulonge and the Théâtre du Trident, where he performed Jonson, Molière, Wesker, Beaumarchais, and Higgins (Harold et Maude, Trident subscriber's prize for the role of Harold). Then he settled in Montréal where he excelled as Lydie-Anne de Rozier in the première of Michel Marc Bouchard's hit, les Feluettes, directed by André Brassard (Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale, 1987) that led to a tour of Canada and France. He played at the Theatre Du Nouveau Monde in Galilée (1989, dir. Robert LePage); in Brecht's l'Opéra de Quat'Sous/Threepenny Opera (1991, dir. René Richard Cyr); and at the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Des restes humains non-identifiés et la véritable nature de l'amour/Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love by Brad Fraser dir. and translated into French by André Brassard 1991). He portrayed Scapin in Molière's les Fourberies de Scapin (1992), and triumphed in Goldoni's les Jumeaux vénitien/The Venetian Twins (2000), two shows by Denise Filitrault.

At the same time, a wide television audience discovered him as of 1981: he shone in several comic sketches, imitations and numbers in Bye-Byes - end-of-year variety programs, where he would be a regular until 1991. He was seen as a singer with the group Slick and the Outlags, the resulted of a musical parody on American rock and roll of the 50s created at his debut. In film, the role of the homosexual Claude in Denys Arcand's Deçlin de l'empire américain/The Decline of the American Empire (1985) propelled him to international fame. He would take on this character again in les Invasions Barbares/The Barbarian Invasions by the same filmmaker (2002).

His collaboration with the French director Jérôme Savary of the Théâtre national de Chaillot, began in 1992 with The Légend of Jimmy, Luc Plamondon and Michel Berger's rock opera that earned him a Félix in performance from ADISQ. After Paris, where he decided to settle, it was presented in Montréal and Québec City. Jacques performed in Paris under Savary's direction in Oscar Wilde's l'ímportance d'être constant/The Importance of Being Ernest (1996) and Molière's Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (1997).

He shot films with Michel Poulette, Jacques Rouffio, Jean Beaudin (Souvenirs intimes), Patrice Leconte (la Veuve de Saint-Pierre), Charles Binamé (Un homme et son péché), Claude Miller (la Classe de neige, la Petite Lilly...), Yves Simoneau and Luc Dionne (Aurore), and played in French TV movies with Belmondo, Rich, Mondy, Aznavour. He even appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator.

Finally, he travelled the world with the play la face cachée de la lune/The Hidden Face of the Moon by Robert Lepage, in French and English and excelled everywhere (2001-05). He was named Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Republic in 2001.