Yves Jacques

Life and career

Jacques was born in Quebec City in 1956. He studied theatre at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, and began acting on stage in both Quebec City and Montreal. He became more widely known to film and television audiences beginning in 1981 as a sketch performer in Télévision de Radio-Canada's annual Bye Bye New Year's Eve variety special, and soon began appearing more widely in film and television roles. To international audiences, he is best known as Claude, the gay academic in Denys Arcand's The Decline of the American Empire and The Barbarian Invasions. On stage, he is noted for originating the role of Lydie-Anne in the premiere of Michel Marc Bouchard's play Lilies.

He has been in several movies by French filmmaker Claude Miller, including Of Woman and Magic and Little Lili. His fame has continued to grow with films and theatrical productions in both France and Quebec. Since 2001, he has toured the world in two shows by Robert Lepage, Far Side of the Moon (La Face cachée de la lune) and Le Projet Andersen, where he played all the roles. Since 2018, he has appeared regularly in Mathieu Quesnel's theatrical creations. More recently, he played in Aline by Valérie Lemercier, in Maria by Alec Pronovost, and in Chloé Robichaud's Les jours heureux. In 2022, Yves Jacques 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.