Micheline Lanctôt

Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947 in Frelighsburg, Quebec, Canada) is a celebrated Canadian actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician whose multifaceted career has spanned over five decades. She began her artistic education studying music, fine arts, and theatre at Collège Jésus‑Marie in Outremont before pursuing art history at the Université de Montréal and the École des Beaux‑Arts de Montréal, later honing her cinematic craft at the National Film Board of Canada and Gerald Potterton’s studio. Lanctôt made her breakthrough as an actress in 1972, winning the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress for her leading role in Gilles Carle’s The True Nature of Bernadette, and subsequently appeared in notable films such as The Heavenly Bodies, The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, and Claude Chabrol’s Blood Relatives. Transitioning to directing, she debuted with the live‑action film The Handyman (1980), which earned Genie nominations for both direction and best picture, and achieved critical acclaim with Sonatine (1984), securing the Genie Award for Best Director and the Silver Lion for Best First Film at the Venice International Film Festival. In addition to her screen work, Lanctôt has directed theatrical productions, including David Mamet’s Oleanna for Théâtre de Quat’Sous and Gratien Gélinas’s Bousille et les justes for Théâtre du Rideau Vert. Since 1982 she has shared her expertise as a part‑time instructor at Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, and she remains active in cultural stewardship, curating festivals such as Vues dans la tête de… and serving as a matron for the Prix collégial du cinéma québécois. Her contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, notably the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 2003, underscoring her enduring influence on Canadian cinema and the arts.