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.
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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. 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. 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
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
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
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)
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.