Michel Barrette (born April 26, 1957) is a Canadian television and movie actor, television and radio host, and stand-up comedian. He has played various roles in Quebec movies and television shows since 1982.
Life Barrette was born in Chicoutimi, Quebec. After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces, he started his movie acting career in 1982 and appeared in nearly a dozen movies, including Les Boys in the first part of the series in 1997 (as Roger, a defenceman for a garage league team), Aurore, and The Rocket (Maurice Richard), a tribute to life of the former Montreal Canadiens superstar Maurice "Rocket" Richard. He also appeared in several popular television series, including La Petite Vie in 1995, Scoop and Paparazzi. His most important role in television and arguably in his entire acting career was in KM/H, a TVA TV series in which he played the main character for nearly eight years. His second main role was as a detective in the series Un homme mort in 2006.
Barrette has also been one of the most notable stand-up comedians in Quebec since 1983 and performed several one-man comedy shows province-wide, including in 1989, 100% Barrette in 1997, in 2000, in 2004 and Michel Barrette, 100% neuf in 2006. He was also part of a major show to aid victims of the 1996 Saguenay Flood. He was a regular guest on Normand Brathwaite's satirical television show Piment Fort in the 1990s. His first famous role was his stand-up character named Roland "Hi-Ha" Tremblay, which became a hit around 1988. It was the basis for Serge Gaboury's comic strip of the same name and also started the career of comic/actor Vincent Bolduc, who became famous by playing the same routine at age 9 or 10.
He previously hosted, with Jean-Marc Parent, Casse-Tête, a Télé-Metropole show for the 1987 and 1988 seasons while he also hosted the TVA show Planete en folie in 1998.
He hosted several radio shows, including morning shows on Montreal radio stations CKOI, CKMF and more recently CHMP-FM.
In 2005, he traded one snowmobile to Kyle MacDonald of the book One Red Paperclip for a "party in a keg" invention (a beer keg and a neon sign). The trade was a part of multiple consecutive bartering deals that allowed MacDonald to trade in a red paperclip for a house.Snowmobile trade with Kyle MacDonald
In 2022, Barrette played in Martin Villeneuve's The 12 Tasks of Imelda (Les 12 travaux d'Imelda), co-starring playwright Robert Lepage and actress-singer Ginette Reno, in which he plays Martin and Denis Villeneuve's uncle André.Jean Siag, "Les 12 travaux d’Imelda : Étonnante comédie" La Presse, October 28, 2022.
Filmography Cinema
The Emperor of Peru - 1982 Angel Square - 1990 Montreal Stories (Montréal vu par...) - 1991 Coyote - 1992 The Postmistress - 1992 Les Boys - 1997 Alice's Odyssey (L'odyssée d'Alice Tremblay) - 2002 Father and Sons (Père et fils) - 2003 Bittersweet Memories (Ma vie en cinémascope) - 2004 How to Conquer America in One Night (Comment conquérir l'Amérique en une nuit) - 2004 The Rocket (Maurice Richard) - 2005 Je me souviens - 2009 The Hair of the Beast (Le poil de la bête) - 2010 Crying Out (À l'origine d'un cri) - 2010 The Happiness of Others (Le Bonheur des autres) - 2011 The 12 Tasks of Imelda (Les 12 travaux d'Imelda) - 2022 Two Days Before Christmas (23 décembre) - 2022
Television
Bye Bye (1990, 1996) La Petite Vie (1995) Scoop (1992–1995) 10-07: L'affaire Zeus (1995) 10-07: L'affaire Kalka (1996) Paparazzi (1997) KM/H (1998–2006) Un homme mort (2006) Le Gentleman (2009) Rock et Rolland (2010)
References
External links
Michel Barrette Producer profile on The 1 Second Film website