Jessica Paré
| Jessica Paré | |
|---|---|
 Paré in September 2009 | |
| Born | December 5, 1982 Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Spouse(s) | Joseph M. Smith (2007–present) |
Jessica Paré (born December 5, 1982) is a Canadian film and television actress. She has appeared in the films Stardom (2000), Lost and Delirious (2001), Wicker Park (2004), Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), and co-starred in the vampire horror-comedy Suck (2009).
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[edit] Early life
Paré was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the daughter of Anthony Paré, the head of the education department at McGill University, and Louise Mercier, a conference translator. She grew up in the Montreal suburb Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and has three brothers.[1] Paré is bilingual, speaking both English and French.[1]
Paré's parents were both actors; her father was a drama teacher and toured with a theatre company. Her mother acted in amateur productions. Paré would watch her father at rehearsals as a child, and became interested in acting herself when helping him learn his lines for The Tempest.[2]She attended Villa Maria, a private Catholic girl's high school in Montreal, where she played Jesus in a production of Godspell. Paré studied drama at TheatreWorks, and appeared in over half a dozen amateur theater productions as a teenager, including a role as Maid Marian in Robin Hood.
[edit] Career
Paré landed a small role in Bonanno: A Godfather's Story, a mafia TV movie, during her final year in high school, which convinced her to pursue acting as a career.[3] She also found small roles in an episode of the horror/teen TV series Big Wolf on Campus and in the French film En Vacances in 1999. She dropped out of the fine-arts program at Montreal's Dawson College and pursued acting for two years.
After auditioning for a bit part for the independent film Stardom (2000), director Denys Arcand chose Paré to star in the film.[1] She played a naive ice hockey player propelled to international stardom as a supermodel, co-starring with Dan Aykroyd; the role paralleled her own involvement with the film. The comedic satire closed the 2000 Cannes Film Festival with mixed reviews from critics.[4] Paré became the Canadian film industry’s "it girl" following the release of the film.[5] She was voted one of the 25 most beautiful people in Canada by a Canadian magazine, but she didn't take the title very seriously.[6]
Paré next starried in Lost and Delirious (2001), opposite Piper Perabo, in a story of two young lovers set in a girls' boarding school. The film was the English-language debut of director Léa Pool, and debuted to positive reviews at the Sundance Film Festival.[7] Paré appeared in the miniseries Random Passage in 2002, based on a series of award-winning novels by Bernice Morgan, and set in Newfoundland in the 1800s. Also that year, she appeared in the miniseries Napoléon as the emperor’s mistress. She had a cameo as a pop singer in Deepa Mehta's Bollywood/Hollywood, and starred in the girl gang thriller Posers. Paré next appeared in the CTV miniseries The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton (2003), directed by Jerry Ciccoritti, in the title role of murdered heiress Nancy Eaton.
Paré made her Hollywood film debut in the 2004 feature Wicker Park, directed by Paul McGuigan, as Josh Hartnett's fiancee. Paré starred in Lives of the Saints that year, with Sophia Loren and Kris Kristofferson, a TV miniseries set in the 1960s. She was in the mockumentary See This Movie, with Seth Myers and John Cho, and had a role on the teen drama series Jack & Bobby that year. The WB television series was about two brothers, one who grows up to be President of the United States; Paré's character, Courtney Benedict, grows up to be First Lady.
Paré shot the TV pilot Protect and Serve with Dean Cain in 2007. She filmed the independent French-Canadian romantic comedy Jusqu'à toi that year. Paré co-starred as Liza, along with Justin Bartha, Mélanie Laurent and Billy Boyd.[8] She had a small role in The Trotsky, a comedy filmed in Montreal in late-2008, directed by Jacob Tierney.[9] She also filmed Suck, beginning in November 2008, a vampire horror-comedy written and directed by Rob Stefaniuk.[10] Paré learned to play the bass guitar for the role.[11] Suck premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Contemporary World Cinema programme. She was nominated for a 2010 Canadian Comedy Award for best female performance in film for the role.[12]
Paré filmed Red Coat Justice by Wyeth Clarkson in 2009.[5] She had a role in the 2010 comedy Hot Tub Time Machine, starring John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry and Clark Duke. Paré played a groupie from character Nick (Craig Robinson)'s past.[13] Paré appears in the Canadian comedy Peepers, written and directed by Seth W. Owen, along with Joe Cobden, Paul Spence, and Ricky Mabe. The film, about pleasures in voyeurism, competed in the Just For Laughs film festival in Montreal in July 2010.[14] She plays Megan, a reception secretary, on the fourth season of the television series Mad Men.[15]
[edit] Personal life
As of 2009, Paré lives in Los Angeles, California, where she has been living since around 2004. She is married to writer and producer Joe Smith.[5] Paré has made her family life a priority, and has commented that she has refused to risk losing close relationships over pursuing a career in film.[4]
[edit] Filmography
- Bonanno: A Godfather's Story (1999), Rosalie Profacies
- Stardom (2000), Tina Menzhal
- En Vacances (2000), Carole Beaumont
- Lost and Delirious (2001), Victoria "Tori" Moller
- Random Passage (2002), Annie Vincent (age 15) – TV miniseries
- Napoléon (2002), Eléonore Denuelle – TV miniseries
- Bollywood/Hollywood (2002), Kimberly Stewart
- Posers (2002), Adria
- The Death and Life of Nancy Eaton (2003), Nancy Eaton – TV miniseries
- Wicker Park (2004), Rebecca
- Lives of the Saints (2004) Rita Amherst – TV movie
- See This Movie (2004), Samantha Brown
- Jack & Bobby (2004-2005), Courtney Benedict – TV series
- Protect and Serve (2007), Hope Cooke - TV pilot
- Life (2007) – TV series, in the episode "The Fallen Woman"
- Caniformia (2009), The Waxing Lady
- Shoe at Your Foot (French: Jusqu'à toi) (2009), Liza
- Suck (2009), Jennifer
- The Trotsky (2009), Laura
- Peepers (2009), Helen
- Hot Tub Time Machine (2010), Tara
- Red Coat Justice (2010), Amethyst
- Mad Men (2010), Megan – TV series
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c Kirkland, Bruce (September 6, 2000). "Fresh face of Stardom". Jam!. Retrieved on October 2, 2007.
- ^ "Kaleidoscope". October 19, 2000. McGill Reporter. Retrieved on October 2, 2007.
- ^ "Flare.com Asks… Jessica Paré". December 2004. Flare. Retrieved on October 6, 2007.
- ^ a b Buchanan, Jason. "Jessica Paré Biography". Allmovie. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.
- ^ a b c Wilner, Norman (September 1, 2009). "Jessica Paré". Now. Vol. 29, No. 1. Retrieved on September 6, 2009.
- ^ Anderson, Jason (October 26, 2000). "Shooting stars". Eye Weekly. Retrieved on October, 2007.
- ^ Hays, Matthew (June 7, 2001). "Suddenly, this summer". Montreal Mirror. Retrieved on October 3, 2007.
- ^ Goldstein, Gregg (August 29, 2007). "Four fitted for bilingual 'Shoe'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved on October 4, 2007.
- ^ Bailey, Patricia (September 29, 2008). "Tierneys team up on Trotsky". Playback. Retrieved on November 10, 2008.
- ^ Vlessing, Etan (November 12, 2008). "McDowell, Pare, Foley sink teeth into 'Suck'". The Hollywood Reporter. November 13, 2008.
- ^ Demara, Bruce (December 5, 2008). "Blood, guts and rock 'n' roll". Toronto Star. Retrieved on December 10, 2008.
- ^ Less Than Kind leads comedy nominees". CBC News. June 22, 2010. Retrieved on July 4, 2010.
- ^ Burr, Ty (March 26, 2010). "'Hot Tub Time Machine' movie review". The Boston Globe. Retrieved on June 28, 2010.
- ^ Griffith, John (July 10, 2010). "A lean, mean laugh machine". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved on July 11, 2010.
- ^ Corliss, Richard (August 20, 2010). "Mad Men Watch: Weekend Update". Tuned In. Time. Retrieved on August 20, 2010.
[edit] References
- "Jessica Paré". Encore Entertainment. Retrieved on October 3, 2007.
- Johnson, Brian D. (June 5, 2000). "Cannes Film Festival 2000". Maclean's. Retrieved on October 2, 2007.
- Loos, Ted (November 2000). "Jessica Pare". Interview. Retrieved on October 2, 2007.
- Valade, Claire (Fall 2000). "From sea to sea: Montreal". Take One. Retrieved on October 5, 2007.
