Marc Labrèche

A clever, talented actor-comedian-host, Marc Labrèche was most successful when he could draw on satire and comedy to make a statement about the human condition. Born Nov. 20, 1960 in Montréal, Canada, Marc Labrèche followed in the footsteps of his father, the Québec comedian Gaétan Labrèche. Labrèche won a Best Supporting Actor Gémeaux for his role as a penny pincher with a social-climbing wife on the satirical sitcom "La petite vie" ("Little Life") (Radio-Canada, 1993-98) but became a cult icon for hosting the comedy "news" series "La fin du monde est à 7 heures" ("The End of the World is at 7") (TQS, 1997-2000), likened by many to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, 1996- ). Winning another Gémeaux for his work, Labrèche went on to create a more traditional (but still sharp) talk show, "Le grand blond avec un show sournois" (TVA, 2001-03), which he left after his wife died. An immensely gifted comedian, Labrèche won three more Gémeaux awards for his work playing triplets - two men and one woman - as well as their grandfather on the soap opera parody "Le coeur a ses raisons" ("The Heart Has its Reasons") (TVA, 2005-07) and earned Genie and Jutra nominations for "L'âge des ténèbres" ("The Age of Ignorance") (2007), about a civil servant driven to fantasy to escape his increasingly complicated and unhappy life.