Pierre Curzi (born February 11, 1946, in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian actor, screenwriter and politician in Quebec. He is a former Member of the National Assembly of Quebec (MNA) for the riding of Borduas in the Montérégie region south of Montreal. Elected under the Parti Québécois (PQ) banner, he later sat as an independent.
Politics
Curzi entered politics when he announced his candidacy for the riding of Borduas in the 2007 provincial elections, following the retirement of Jean-Pierre Charbonneau. He defeated the Action démocratique du Québec's Claude Gauthier by over 2,000 votes. He was later named the PQ critic for culture, communications and language.
Curzi was forced to apologize and retract a statement he made in October 2007 during a radio interview that appeared to suggest that a sovereign Quebec would have "more teeth" and could potentially remove the voting rights of Quebec's English-speaking community living on Montreal's West Island."PQ language critic backtracks" , Montreal Gazette, October 23, 2007. He faced some criticism in 2008 as one of two MNAs, along with Daniel Turp, who endorsed a controversial petition opposing Paul McCartney's performance at Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations."Separatists decry McCartney's Quebec concert", National Post, July 16, 2008. In September 2010, Curzi expressed on the television interview show Les Francs-tireurs his theory that there was a shortage of Francophone players on the National Hockey League team the Montreal Canadiens and that this was "damned well political" and the result of a federalist plot.
On June 6, 2011, Curzi and caucus mates Louise Beaudoin and Lisette Lapointe resigned from the Parti Québécois to sit as independents over the PQ's acceptance of a bill changing the law to permit an agreement between the City of Québec and Quebecor Inc. concerning the construction of an arena in Quebec City.
Acting and screenplay career Curzi went to the École nationale de Théâtre in 1969. Prior to his political career, he played in numerous popular Quebec movies, plays, television shows and documentaries including We Are Far from the Sun (On est loin du soleil), Duplessis, Maria Chapdelaine, The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe), Babylone, Les Filles de Caleb, Million Dollar Babies, Virginie, Suzanne, Caffè Italia, Montréal, Exit, Matroni and Me (Matroni et moi), The Barbarian Invasions, Tideline (Littoral), Chili's Blues (C'était le 12 du 12, et Chili avait les blues), Le Négociateur, The New Life of Paul Sneijder (La nouvelle vie de Paul Sneijder) and Romeo and Juliet.
Overall, he played roles in about 50 productions since 1971 and had been nominated for four Genie Awards for his roles in Maria Chapdelaine (1983), Lucien Brouillard (1983) and The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain) (1986) and a nomination for best screenplay for Intimate Power (Pouvoir intime) in 1986.
He was also the president of the Union des artistes for eight years. The UDA is the main union group for cinema, theatre and television actors in Quebec.
He is married to Marie Tifo, an actress with whom he costarred in the films Red Eyes (Les Yeux rouges), Lucien Brouillard, Le jour S... and Intimate Power
Electoral record
Filmography
1964 : Trouble-Maker (Trouble fête) 1971 : We Are Far from the Sun (On est loin du soleil) : Yvon 1973 : You Are Warm, You Are Warm (Tu brûles... tu brûles...) 1973 : The Paths of the World (Les Allées de la terre) : Antoine 1975 : Confidences of the Night (L'Amour blessé) 1976 : Let's Talk About Love (Parlez-nous d'amour) 1980 : Fantastica : André 1980 : Suzanne : Pierre 1981 : The Plouffe Family (Les Plouffe) : Napoléon Plouffe 1982 : Wild Flowers (Les Fleurs sauvages) : Pierre Dubuc 1982 : Red Eyes (Les Yeux rouges) : Bertrand Houle 1983 : Lucien Brouillard : Lucien Brouillard 1983 : Maria Chapdelaine : Eutrope Gagnon 1984 : Le jour S... : Jean-Baptiste Beauregard 1984 : The Crime of Ovide Plouffe (Le Crime d'Ovide Plouffe) : Napoléon Plouffe 1985 : Le Million tout-puissant 1986 : Evixion 1986 : Intimate Power (Pouvoir intime) : Gildor 1986 : The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain) : Pierre 1988 : You're Beautiful, Jeanne (T'es belle Jeanne) : Paul 1989 : In the Belly of the Dragon (Dans le ventre du dragon) 1990 : Babylone : Luigi 1993 : April One : Jean Leduc 1994 : Chili's Blues (C'était le 12 du 12 et Chili avait les blues) : Monsieur CN 1996 : A Cry in the Night (Le Cri de la nuit) : Pierre 1999 : Matroni and Me (Matroni et moi) : M. Larochelle 2003 : The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares) : Pierre 2003 : 1604 : De Monts 2004 : La Pension des étranges 2004 : How to Conquer America in One Night (Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit) 2004 : Tideline (Littoral) : Policier Turcot 2005 : Idole instantanée : Gaétan Lemieux 2006 : Roméo et Juliette : Paul Véronneau 2007 : Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres) : Pierre 2013 : Manigances : Notice Rouge : Georges Paoli 2016 : The New Life of Paul Sneijder (La Nouvelle Vie de Paul Sneijder) : Maître Wagner-Leblond 2015 : Chorus : Jérôme 2018 : The Fall of the American Empire (La Chute de l'empire américain) : Maître Wilbrod Taschereau 2020 : Old Buddies (Les Vieux chums) 2021 : A Revision (Une révision) 2021 : Joutel 2023 : Testament 2025 : Cardboard City (Ville Jacques-Carton)
Television
1975 : Youhou : Michel 1978 : Duplessis : Reporter 1979 : Riel : Isidore 1980 : Frédéric : Biker Leader 1984 : Le Parc des braves : Major Paul Bérubé 1985 : Un amour de quartier : Speedy Joe 1986 : Des dames de cœur : François O'Neil 1989 : Miléna Nova Tremblay : François Tremblay 1989 : Super sans plomb : J.-P. St-Onge 1989 : Un signe de feu : François O'Neil 1990 : Les Filles de Caleb : Dosithée Pronovost 1992 : Les Intrépides 1992 : Montréal P.Q. : Paulus Quintal 1992 : Les Cravates léopards : Vermontier 1993 : Shehaweh : Sieur de Maisonneuve 1993 : Les Grands Procès : Me Robert Calder 1994 : Cœur à prendre : Vincent, Bouquet 1994 : Les Jumelles Dionne (tv movie) : Alphonse Fortier 1995 : Jalna : Greg 1996 : Marguerite Volant : Renaud Larochelle 1997 : Le Masque : Victor Thibault 1996 : Virginie : Gilles Bazinet (1997-2002) 2004 : Smash : Bernier Fafard 2005 : Providence : Jean-Guy Bélanger 2005 : Le Négociateur : Maurice Martel 2007 : Les Invincibles : Gene 2010 : La Promesse : Daniel (Nurse) 2014 : Nouvelle Adresse : Gérard Lapointe 2014 : Mensonges : Dr Michel Pelletier (Psychiatrist) 2015 : O''' : Richard 2018 : Appelle-moi si tu meurs : Cesare Ciccarelli
Theatre 2006: août (Jean Marc Dalpé) 2005: La Tempête (William Shakespeare) 2005: Coin St-Laurent 2002: La Nuit des rois (William Shakespeare) 2001: L'Hiver de force (Réjean Ducharme) 2001: Le Mouton et la Baleine (Ahmed Ghazali) 1999: Trick or treat (Jean Marc Dalpé) 1998: Le miroir aux tartuffes (Jean-Claude Germain) 1997: Chrysanthème (Eugène Lion) 1995: Mère Courage (Bertolt Brecht) 1994: La Mouette (Anton Tchekhov) 1993: La Reprise (Claude Gauvreau) 1992: Six personnages en quête d'auteur (Luigi Pirandello) 1992: Conte d'Hiver (Anne Legault) 1991: Shakespeare, un monde qu'on peut apprendre par cœur (Michel Garneau) 1989: La Nuit du 16 janvier (Ayn Rand) 1988: Le Baiser de la Femme Araignée (Manuel Puig) 1988: Cendres (David Rudkin) 1986: Deux sur la Balançoire (W. Gibson) 1986: Avec Lorenzo à mes Côtés (Grand Cirque ordinaire inspired from Musset) 1984: En attendant Godot (Samuel Beckett) 1984: Mère Courage (Bertolt Brecht) 1984: Le Tir à Blanc (André Ricard) 1979: Le Théâtre de la Maintenance (Jean Barbeau) 1978: L'Abécédaire Conditionnel (Michel Garneau) 1978: Les Fiancés de Rose Latulipe (Grand Cirque ordinaire) 1977: Les Nerfs à l'Air (Collective) 1977: L'Impromptu chez M. R. Pantalon 1976: La Steppette Impossible 1975: La Tragédie Américaine de l'Enfant Prodigue (Collective) 1975: Colette et Pérusse (Robert Claing) 1975: Une Brosse (Jean Barbeau) 1974: Floralie (Roch Carrier) 1974: Salut Galarneau (Jacques Godbout and D. Chouinard) 1973: Don Quichotte (Jean-Pierre Ronfard, adapted from Cervantes) 1973: Galipotte 8 (Robert Gravel) 1972: Les Oranges sont vertes (Claude Gauvreau) 1972: Sparages (Marcel Sabourin) 1971: Les Fourberies de Scapin (Molière) 1971: Chiniqui (Collective) 1970: Chmou (Pierre Bégin and Pierre Collin) 1970: La Guerre Yes Sir (Roch Carrier) 1969: Gens de Noël, Tremblez!, (Collective) 1969: À Cœur Ouvert (Robert Gurick) 1969: P.O.T. T.V.'', (Collective)
Note The Sections Filmography, Television and Theatre were copied and adapted from the French Wikipedia Page of Pierre Curzi. See that page's history for attribution.
References
External links
Curzi's Bio