ÉVELYNE BROCHU’S HOME IS WHERE HER HEART IS
Despite her English projects, she’ ll always return to Quebec
When I first interviewed Québécoise actress Évelyne Brochu two years ago, she was talking about how she would love to work in the language of Spielberg and she seemed a natural candidate to make the transition, given her background.
Brochu comes from a francophone family, but she grew up in Pointe- Claire, always had anglophone friends and learned excellent English thanks to her teachers at Jean XXIII high school in Dorval.
But in the fall of 2012, that was just talk and nothing more. At that point, she hadn’t done any notable films or TV projects in English, instead focusing exclusively on her French- language career, which was positively booming. We were meeting around the time of the launch of the much- acclaimed Middle East- set drama Inch’Allah, and Brochu had just won a Prix Gémeaux — the Quebec equivalent of the Emmy — for best actress for her work in the series La Promesse.
She already had an impressive CV that included roles in Jean- Marc Vallée’s Café de Flore and Denis Villeneuve’s Polytechnique, and she was just about to begin work on Xavier Dolan’s psychological thriller Tom à la ferme. Brochu had also recently signed with Los Angeles- based agent Marc Hamou, who also represents Jay Baruchel and Marc- André Grondin, and that association has since paid major dividends.
She snared a role in the ultrahot Canadian- made sci- fi series Orphan Black, and she’s currently in the midst of shooting the third season of the cult hit Toronto-shot series. She plays the French scientist Delphine Cormier, who is in a romantic relationship with one of the slew of clones played by Orphan Black star Tatiana Maslany.
“The cool thing about our relationship is that the issue is not that we’re gay,” Brochu said. “It’s that we’re sitting on opposite sides of the science fence. I’m a scientist, and so is she. But she’s also the experiment. She’s sick. That’s what we’re concerned with, and that’s a super angle. I’m proud to be part of a show that has these cool, modern, forwardthinking values.”
Brochu also spent three months in Hungary this year shooting the Canadian-Hungarian co- production X Company, a spy series set during the Second World War about five young recruits — who are Canadian, American and British — who are brought together to train at a secret facility on the banks of Lake Ontario. They are then parachuted behind Nazi lines in Europe.
Brochu plays Aurora Luft, who is half Jewish- German, half French- Canadian and 100 per cent committed to fighting fascism however she can.
The series premières on CBCTV on Feb. 18.
“I get to play a spy — basically, this really courageous, idealistic girl who is a freedom fighter but outside of the box,” Brochu said.
“I got to work in Budapest for three months and a half, with an international cast, with people from Germany, of course Hungary, England, Canada and the States.
“The show will be a great adventure to follow, but for me it was a great adventure to shoot it.”
Brochu also has a prominent role in the Montreal- shot film Pawn Sacrifice, based on the life of the chess champion Bobby Fischer and starring Tobey Maguire and Liev Schreiber. It’s due on screens in 2015.
For the past 12 months, Brochu’s main focus has been on English projects, but she in no way wants to give up on her franco work here. She has a new
I feel a very strong sense of pride when I talk about work that comes from here … I’m so in love with the place.
French- language film, director Sophie Deraspe’s Les loups, which just premièred at the Whistler Film Festival and will open the Rendez- vous du cinéma québécois Feb. 19. It was shot on the Magdalen Islands, and Brochu plays a young woman who repairs to an isolated island to try to pull her life together.
“I wouldn’t really want to step out ( of Quebec film and TV),” Brochu said. “There are too many things that are happening here that are exciting and inspiring. There are amazing artists I would still like to collaborate with. So to me it’s not an exile. It needs to be well- managed. I’m travelling more than I used to, obviously.
“I think home will always be here for me — in terms of my heart, but creatively, as well. I feel a very strong sense of pride when I talk about work that comes from here, just because I’m so in love with the place. But artistically I’m proud of what we do, and I want to be a part of it.”
When she was studying at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Montréal in the early 2000s, one prof who knew how fluent she was in English suggested she head straight to Stratford after graduation. But Brochu didn’t think that was the way to break into the English scene.
“I knew there had to be steps before I did it. First I wanted to be established here. I like when things grow naturally. It’s like a plant.
“And I never had a plan. It just sort of happened. I think life decides. The time has to be right.”