Luc Guérin

Luc Guérin, actor (born 12 November 1959). A graduate of the National Theatre School (1984), Luc Guérin has appeared in various forms of live theatre but has made his greatest mark in comedy and became a television star early in his career. His first professional theatrical performance was in the title role in Icare (Icarus), a children’s play, directed by Joseph Saint-Gelais and presented in France and Switzerland. After completing his studies, Guérin continued to work with children’s theatre companies, including Le Petit à Petit (with which he appeared in 1984 in Arture, written by Claude Poissant and Marie-France Bruyère and directed by Denis Roy), Le Carrousel (with which he toured in 1987 in Les Petits Pouvoirs, written by Suzanne Lebeau and directed by Lorraine Pintal), and La Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale, which specializes in introducing young people to theatre. Guérin appeared with this last company in French-language productions of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, directed by Jean-Luc Bastien, in 1986 and Dario Fo’s Gli arcangeli non giocano al flipper (Archangels Don't Play Pinball), directed by André Montmorency, in 1988. At the same time, Guérin also explored experimental and institutional theatre. He worked with the Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental in Les Mille et une nuits, by Jean-Pierre Ronfard, in 1984, as well as with the National Arts Centre and with the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, where he appeared in Jean Genet’s Les Paravents, directed by André Brassard, in 1987 and Molière’s Le Malade imaginaire, directed by André Montmorency, in 1988.

These experiences over the years drew the young Guérin, with his natural demeanour and expressive features, to the comic repertoire, and he dove into it happily. In the 1990s, he appeared in two productions directed for the Just for Laughs comedy festival by Denise Filiatrault: Molière’s classic Les Fourberies de Scapin in 1992 and Francis Veber’s Le Dîner de cons, in which he played François Pignon, the butt of the evening’s joke, in 1994. Filiatrault also cast Guérin as the nervous, clumsy Allan, playwright Woody Allen’s alter ego, in a 1991 French-language production of his Broadway comedy Play It Again, Sam at Montréal’s Théâtre du Rideau Vert. Starting with Bonjour Broadway (a French-language production of Neil Simon’s Broadway Bound) in 1989, Guérin has appeared frequently with the Compagnie Jean-Duceppe, where Denis Bouchard has directed him in plays by the team of Claude Meunier and Louis Saïa, including the role of Bernard in Les Voisins (2001) and Réjean in Appelez-moi Stéphane (2005). Both roles fit him like a glove, and he recreated them in productions directed by Frédéric Blanchette at the Théâtre Hector-Charland in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Since the late 1980s, Guérin has also appeared regularly in summer theatre, notably at the Théâtre Saint-Sauveur.

Guérin has appeared extensively on television, both on humour shows and in light comedies, such as Samedi PM (1990) and Fred-dy (2000-2002). He appeared as an impossibly childish mafioso in Claude Meunier’s Détect.inc. (2004) and as an excitable literature teacher in Virginie (2006-2008). In 2000, Jean Beaudin gave Guérin what has proven to be his greatest dramatic role to date: popular country singer Willy Lamothe in the series Willy. Guérin won a Prix Gémeaux for his nuanced interpretation of this poignant anti-hero, depicting his humanity and melancholy alongside his cowardice and megalomania.

In films, Guérin has appeared in supporting roles in Le Party by Pierre Falardeau (1990), Histoires d'hiver by François Bouvier (1998) and La Veuve de Saint-Pierre by Patrice Leconte (1999). He has played leading roles in comedies, in particular the four films in the series Les Boys (1997-2005), the first three of which were directed by Louis Saïa and the fourth by George Mihalka. In 2007, Guérin appeared again as the parking lot attendant Marcel in the television series based on these films.