Roy Dupuis (born April 21,
1963) is a Canadian
actor best known for his role as counterterrorism operative Michael Samuelle
in the television series La Femme Nikita. He
is one of the most famous actors throughout French-speaking Canada,
while throughout English-speaking Canada he has become known for
portraying hockey legend
Maurice
Richard on television and in film, as well as
Roméo Dallaire in the 2007 film
Shake Hands
with the Devil.
Biography
Dupuis was
born Roy Michel Joseph Dupuis in New Liskeard,
Ontario
to parents of French-Canadian descent. From early infancy
until he was eleven years old, Dupuis lived in Amos
, Abitibi
, Quebec
.
The next
three years he lived in Kapuskasing
, Ontario
, where he
learned to speak English. His father was a traveling
salesman for
Canada Packers; his
mother was a piano teacher. He has a younger brother and an older
sister.
When he was fourteen, after his parents
divorced, his mother moved the family to Sainte-Rose, Laval, Quebec
, where he finished high school. After high school, he
studied acting in Montreal
, at the
National Theatre
School of Canada (L'École nationale de théâtre du Canada), from
which he graduated in 1986.
He lives
southeast of Montreal
, in an 1840
farmhouse located on 50 acres (200,000 m²) of land which he bought
in 1996 and which he has restored and renovated. He enjoys
sports, particularly hockey, sky-diving, and golf. His hobbies
include
astronomy and
physics (his interests in high school). He learned
to play the
cello as a boy and, at times,
still plays, sometimes in dramatic roles. For the past few years,
between television and film projects, he has been occupied with
learning to sail; he owns a couple of sailboats, and he is
custom-outfitting the larger aluminum-keeled vessel in preparation
for extended ocean voyages.
Career
While becoming an accomplished actor in Quebec and well-known in
some of the rest of Canada, Dupuis performed in many theater
productions, movies, and television series.
Among the stage roles that he has performed so far are: Luc in
Michel-Marc Bouchard's
Les
Muses orphelines (
The Orphan Muses), directed by
André Brassard in 1985; Roméo in
a Québécois adaptation of
William
Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet (
Roméo et
Juliette), directed by
Guillermo de Andrea in 1989; and Jay in
Jean-Marc Dalpé's
Le
Chien (
The Dog), Adrien in
Jeanne-Mance Delisle's
Un Oiseau
vivant dans la gueule (
A Live Bird in Its Jaws), and
Lee in a Québécois version of
Sam
Shepard's
True West, all three productions directed by
Brigitte Haentjens, in 1987-89,
1990, and 1994, respectively.
Roy Dupuis gained national celebrity virtually overnight as Ovila
Pronovost in the "télésérie Québécoise"
Les Filles de Caleb (also known as
Emilie) when it premiered on
Radio-Canada (1990-92),
and he co-starred as the journalist Michel Gagné in four seasons of
Scoop (1991-95). He was introduced to the American public
on television as Oliva Dionne in
Million Dollar Babies
(1994)--
Les jumelles Dionne: La véritable histoire tragique des
quintuplées Dionne (
The Dionne "Twins": The True Tragic
Story of the Dionne
Quintuplets). In the United States, he also debuted on the
big screen in such film roles as Becker in
Screamers (1995) and as John
Strauss in
Bleeders (1996),
also known as
Hemoglobin
(1997) in the UK. In 1997 he began appearing as Michael Samuelle in
the television series
La Femme
Nikita, also known as
Nikita. Recently, he won a
MetroStar Award for his role as Ross
Desbiens in
Le Dernier Chapitre: La Vengeance (2003), the
sequel to
Le Dernier Chapitre (2002), both filmed
simultaneously in dual-language versions broadcast in French and
English on
Radio-Canada and the
CBC,
respectively.
Roy Dupuis's first appearance on film was in a 1987 short
experimental work inspired by the 1926 avant-garde film
Anémique Cinéma, by
Marcel
Duchamp and
Man Ray, featuring the same
title.
Among Roy Dupuis' "tour-de-force" film performances are: Yves, in
Being at Home with
Claude (1991; Cannes,
Un
Certain Regard 1992)--his first major screen role—directed by
Jean Beaudin, adapted from a screenplay
by
Johanne Boisvert based on the
1986 stage play by
René-Daniel
Dubois; and Kevin Barlow, in
Manners of Dying (2004), the first
feature film directed by
Jeremy Peter
Allen, adapted from his own screenplay based on the short story
first published in the 1993 collection
The Facts Behind the
Helsinki Roccamatios and Other Stories by
Yann Martel. His performance as Alexandre
Tourneur in
Mémoires
affectives (2004), directed by
Francis Leclerc, who co-wrote the screenplay
with
Marcel Beaulieu, has recently
received awards.
In
Maurice Richard
(
The Rocket), directed by
Charles Binamé (
Séraphin: un
homme et son péché) and released in late November 2005,
Roy Dupuis stars as French-Canadian
ice
hockey icon
Maurice "Rocket"
Richard, who played for the
Montreal Canadiens from 1942 to 1960 and
whom he portrayed previously on Canadian television in 1997 and
1999. Dupuis' own experience playing hockey and his ability to
perform on the ice on authentic period hockey skates were useful
for this film, in which several professional hockey players were
cast in supporting roles. The film was nominated for the
Jutra Award 2006 in fourteen categories,
including Dupuis for Best Actor, but he did not win it.
Leading
the nominations for a Genie Award in
thirteen categories, it won nine of the twenty-two awards on the
night of Tuesday, 13 February, 2007, at the Carlu Event Theatre in
Toronto
, including
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Roy
Dupuis.
In
December 2005, Roy Dupuis completed filming That Beautiful Somewhere,
based on the 1992 novel Loon, by Bill Plumstead its executive producer, and
both set and filmed on location in North Bay, Ontario
. The film, directed by Robert Budreau, is
produced by Lumanity Productions.
Its world première was on August 26,
2006, at the Montreal World Film Festival
(24 August to September 4, 2006); it was presented
at Cinéfest Sudbury
: International Film Festival (16-24 September
2006), at the Calgary International Film
Festival (September 22-October 1, 2006), and at other film
festivals, as well as broadcast on Canadian pay cable television,
before it was released commercially in Canada in April
2007.
On
location in Kigali
, Rwanda
, in mid-June
2006, Roy Dupuis began filming the dramatic feature film
Shake Hands
with the Devil, in which he performs the principal role of
Lieutenant-General Roméo
Dallaire, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for
Rwanda (UNAMIR) during the Rwandan Genocide. The film is based
on Dallaire's autobiographical book
Shake Hands with the Devil:
The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda.
After two months in
Kigali, filming continued in Halifax, Nova Scotia
, in August 2006. Prior to its release, a
"draft of the film" was screened as a courtesy by the producer,
Laszlo Barna, to
Paul Kagame, the President of Rwanda, and his
cabinet, who found it emotionally very moving.
The film was a
"special presentation" at the Toronto Film Festival
on 9 September 2007, and opened the 27th Atlantic Film Festival on 13
September 2007. Shake Hands with the Devil opened
in theaters on 28 September 2007. For his performance as Dallaire,
Dupuis won his second Jutra Best Actor award; in accepting it,
"Dupuis dedicated his award to his mother, who died recently, as
well as to Dallaire and the people of Rwanda."
In October 2006, along with
Gabriel
Byrne,
Christopher Plummer,
Max von Sydow, and
Susan Sarandon, he filmed
Emotional Arithmetic,
directed by
Paolo Barzman and adapted
by Barzman and
Jefferson Lewis from
the novel by Canadian writer
Matt Cohen
(1942-1999), who had written several drafts of a screeplay
adaptation himself before his death. Dupuis plays Benjamin Winters,
the "embittered" son of Melanie Lansing Winters (Sarandon) and her
husband, David Winters (Plummer).
The film closed the 2007 Toronto
International Film Festival
on 15 September 2007.
Although
Le Journal de
Montréal announced in October 2006 that Dupuis would be
the leading actor in
Nirvana, the next television series
of director
Patrice Sauvé, to be
broadcast on
Radio-Canada in January
2008, the project appears to have been abandoned.
In winter
2007, he participated in the improvisational short film directed by
Francis Leclerc, entitled
Revenir ("Return"),
conceived, filmed, and screened during the 11th edition of Festival
Regard, a festival of short films, held in Saguenay,
Quebec
.
Later in
2007 and 2008, Dupuis began working on several new film projects,
including: as Charles in Truffe ("Truffle"), directed by Kim Nguyen, produced by Renée Gosselin and distributed by
Christal Films, whose world première opens the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal
on July 3, 2008; as Mercier in "L'Instinct de Mort" ("Death
Instinct"), aka "L'Ennemi public n° 1" ("Public Enemy, No.
1"), a
feature film about notorious
French gangster
Jacques Mesrine,
played by
Vincent Cassel, directed by
Jean-François Richet; as
Mr. Turcotte in "
Un été sans
point ni coup sûr" ("A No-Hit No-Run Summer"), a baseball
feature film set at the beginning of
the 1960s adapted from the novel of that title by
Marc Robitaille, directed by
Francis Leclerc; as Scully in "
The Timekeeper", an English-language
feature film directed by Louis
Bélanger;, as Irishman Liam Hennessy in
André Forcier's "
Je me souviens" and as another
character named Charles in "
Les
doigts croches" (2008), directed by
Ken Scott.
On March 18, 2008, after fourteen years, Dupuis returned to the
stage for a limited run as Ian in a French translation of
Blasted, the controversial first
play by British playwright
Sarah Kane
(1971-1999).
Jean Marc Dalpé's
French version,
Blasté, directed by
Brigitte Haentjens for her company
Sybillines Inc., also featured
Céline Bonnier and
Paul Ahmarani.
Civic and philanthropic activities
- For two decades, Roy Dupuis actively supported the Mira Foundation, a non-profit, community
organisation providing and training guide- and service dogs for
blind and physically handicapped people.
- Roy Dupuis is co-founder and co-president of the Rivers Foundation , an ecological
organisation that protects the rivers of Quebec and their natural
and cultural habitats from small hydroelectric dam projects and
other environmental and economic threats, and to encourage, through
education, the development of alternative energy sources.
Selected awards
Selected stage performances
- Blasted, by Sarah Kane, trans. as Blasté by Jean-Marc Dalpé (2008)
- True West, by Sam Shepard, trans. Pierre Legris (1994)
- Un Oiseau vivant dans la gueule (A Live Bird in
Its Jaws), by Jeanne-Mance
Delisle (1990)
- Roméo et Juliette (Romeo and Juliet), by William Shakespeare, trans. Jean-Louis
Roux (1989)
- Les Muses orphelines (The Orphan Muses), by
Michel Marc Bouchard
(1988)
- Le Chien (The Dog), by Jean-Marc Dalpé (1987-1989)
- Toupie Wildwood, by Pascale
Rafie (1987)
- Au pied de la lettre (At the End of the
Letter), by André Simard
(1987)
- Fool for Love, by
Sam Shepard, trans. Michèle Magny (1987)
- Harold et Maude (Harold and Maude), trans. and adapt.
by Jean-Claude Carrière of
the play by Colin Higgins (1986)
- Les Deux Gentilshommes de Vérone (The Two Gentlemen of
Verona), by William
Shakespeare (1985)
- La Passion selon Pier Paolo Pasolini (The Passion
According to Pier Paolo
Pasolini), a play by René
Kalinsky based on Teorema (1985)
Selected television work (TV-ography)
Selected filmography
Notes
- . Subsequent biographical information comes from this
source.
- . Subsequent biographical information comes from this
source.
- Sarah Hampson, "A Home Boy, Happy That Way," Globe and Mail 31
August 2002: R3 (Metro ed.).
- Les Règles du jeu: Roy Dupuis (The Name of
the Game: Roy Dupuis. In French with English subtitles.), 23
mins., documentary film about Roy Dupuis completed in 2005 and
first broadcast on Super Écran on 26 January 2006.
- Prod. Agent Orange Inc., with participation of Téléfilm
Canada & Hammerhead Productions & the
colloboration of Société Radio-Canada:
Short experimental film featuring Roy Dupuis & Louise Bedard.
Dir./conception Bernar Hébert; prod. Michel Ouellette;
music Randall
Kay; script Nicole Boutin; dir. of photography/cameraman
David Franco.
(Full clips of the film, providing these production details, are
accessible on the internet via a variety of fansites.)
- Marise Strauss, " Rocket Sweeps Genies – Almost,"
Playback 13 February 2007, accessed
14 February 2007.
- Peter Howell, 'Rocket' Scores Genies Triple Hat Trick: The Rocket
Scores Nine Genies, But Bon Cop, Bad Cop Takes Best Picture,"
The
Toronto Star, 14 February 2007, accessed 14 February 2007.
(Incl. photograph with caption "Roy Dupuis Wins Best Actor for The
Rocket at the Genie Awards on February 13" and related links to
other photographs from the award ceremony.)
- "Shake Hands with the Devil Reawakens Past in
Rwanda", CBC, 10 August 2007, accessed 24 August
2007.
- Visa Screening Room Schedule", accessed 24 August
2007.
- For further updates and useful features, including a
downloadable PDF press kit and
production stills, see the film's official website at Shake Hands with the
Devil, accessed 25 August 2007.
- Jay Stone, "Opening Reel Soon: Fall Movie Season Offers a
Wealth of Selection", The Ottawa Citizen 25 August
2007, accessed 25 August 2007.
- The Canadian Press, "Keira Knightley Drama ’Silk’ among Winners at
Quebec’s Jutra Awards", The Chronicle Journal
(Thunder Bay,
Ontario), 10 March 2008,
accessed 16 March 2008.
- "Casting Adds Up for 'Emotional Arithmetic,'"
Production Weekly 12 September 2006, accessed 15 September
2006. See also Agnès Gaudet, "Emotional Arithmetic: Roy Dupuis dans un
film sur l'Holocauste," Le
Journal de Montréal 15 September 2006, accessed 16
September 2006.
- Emotional Arithmetic, "Gala Programme Schedule", official website of the
Toronto International Film
Festival, accessed 24 August 2007.
- Marise Strauss, "Films by Branagh, Moore, Reitman announced for
TIFF", Playback, 22 August 2007, accessed
24 August 2007.
- Maxime Demers, "Radio-Canada: Roy Dupuis dans
Nirvana," Le Journal de Montréal
15 November 2006, rpt. canoe.com, accessed 22 February
2007.
- Dir. Francis Leclerc. Cf. Stéphane Bégin,
"Un Record d'assistance pour la 11e édition: 20
000 festivaliers au rendez-vous" ("A Record Attendance for the 11th
Edition [of Festival Regard]: 20,000 festival-goers at the event"),
Le Quotidien (Chicoutimi, Quebec) 12 February 2007,
accessed 14 February 2007: Revenir (literally, to "return"
or "come back" or "go back"; or to "return home") is a short
improvised film created with the participation of Roy Dupuis and
Sylvain
Marcel; it was conceived, directed, and filmed within 48 hours
according to impromptu criteria, and then screened during the
11th
Festival Regard sur le court métrage au Saguenay, Quebec.
For some documentary footage of Dupuis and Leclerc engaged in the
filming process, see "Roy Dupuis and Francis Leclerc", Flash, broadcast
12 February 2007 (video clip; in French), accessed 12 February
2007.
- "La SODEC termine sa ronde de décisions en longs métrages
de fiction," SODEC communiqué (press release) 10
January 2007, accessed 13 March 2007 (in French).
- Brendan Kelly, " Truffe' to Kick Off Fantasia: Montreal's Fantasy
and Genre Fest Bows July 3", Variety,
26 June 2008.
- .
- "Patrice Robitaille, Jacinthe Lagüe, Roy Dupuis et Guy
Thauvette joueront pour Francis Leclerc", cinoche.com
(news item) 5 June 2007, accessed 13 June 2007 (in French).
- "La SODEC annonce sa première ronde de décisions pour
l'exercice 2007-2008", SODEC communiqué (press
release) 23 February 2007, accessed 13 March 2007 (in French).
- Roy Dupuis at Agence
Premier Rôle, accessed 29 June 2008.
- Christiane Charette, radio interview with Roy Dupuis, Radio-Canada, broadcast 26
January 2007, online posting of audio clip, ZapMédia,
accessed 25 February 2007 (in French).
- "Blasté", Sybillines Inc. (company website),
accessed 18 January 2008 (in French).
Selected references
Books and articles (print publications)
- Hampson, Sarah. "A Home Boy, Happy That Way." Globe and Mail 31 August 2002: R3 (Metro
ed.). Biographical account based on interview with Roy Dupuis.
- Heyn, Christopher. "A Conversation with Roy Dupuis." Inside
Section One: Creating and Producing TV's La Femme Nikita.
Introd. Peta Wilson. Los Angeles: Persistence of Vision Press, 2006. 77-81. ISBN
0-9787625-0-9. In-depth conversation with Roy Dupuis about his role
as Michael on La Femme
Nikita, as well as his thoughts on acting and
directing.
- St-Denis, Danièle. Dans les peaux de Roy Dupuis.
(In Roy Dupuis' Skins.) Outremont, Qc: Les Éditions
internationales Alain Stanké, 2004. ISBN 2-7604-0955-4. Detailed
account of Roy Dupuis' characters as embodied in some of his
documented stage, television, and film performances.
Interviews and other articles (online publications)
Audio-visual sources
- Les Règles du jeu: Roy Dupuis. (The Name of
the Game: Roy Dupuis. In French with English subtitles.) 23
mins. Documentary film about Roy Dupuis completed in 2005 and first
broadcast on Super Écran on 26
January 2006.
See also
External links