Director, Screenwriter

(b. October 28, 1955 Quebec City, Quebec)

Attracted to genre plots, radical visual styles and such outspoken comments as “the film is more important than the language,” ambitious filmmaker Yves Simoneau has often been called the least Québécois of Québécois directors. After making several short films and some thirty commercials, Simoneau made his feature directing debut with the critically acclaimed Les Yeux rouges (1982). He followed this with Pourquoi l’étrange Monsieur Zolock s’intéressait-il à la bande dessinée? (1983), which won a special jury prize at the Banff Film Festival and the Genie Award for Best Theatrical Documentary.

1986 saw the release of Simoneau’s internationally renowned Pouvoir intime (1986), a taut crime thriller that spills over into existential anxiety and features bravura camera moves and trompe l’oeil effects. Pouvoir intime defined Simoneau’s stylistic approach and opened the door for him to make Dans le ventre du dragon (1989), an unconventional mix of comedy and sci-fi fantasy that was a box-office sensation in Quebec.

After directing Perfectly Normal (1990), the most successful English-Canadian comedy ever made, Simoneau left for a career in Hollywood where he has made films both for television and for theatrical release. In 2000 he made the CBC-TV movie Nuremburg (2000), starring Alex Baldwin and Christopher Plummer. He continues to direct for television in both Canada and the United States.

Film and video work includes

Les Célébrations, 1979 (director; editor; writer)
Les Yeux rouges, a.k.a. Les Yeux rouges ou les vérités accidentelles, 1982 (director; writer)
Pourquoi l'étrange Monsieur Zolock s'intéressait-il tant à la bande dessinée, a.k.a. Zolock, 1983 (director)
Les Fous de bassan, 1987 (director; writer)
Dans le ventre du dragon, 1989 (director; writer; associate producer)
Memphis, 1992 (director; TV)
Till Death Do Us Part, a.k.a. Married for Murder, 1992 (director; TV)
Cruel Doubt, 1992 (director; TV)
Mother's Boys, 1994 (director)
Amelia Earhart: The Final Flight, 1994 (director; TV)
Dead Man's Walk series, a.k.a. Larry McMurtry's Dead Man's Walk, 1996 (director; TV)
Intensity, a.k.a. Dean Koontz's Intensity, 1997 (director; TV)
Free Money, 1998 (director)
36 Hours to Die, 1999 (director; TV)
Nuremberg series, 2000 (director; TV)
Ignition, 2001 (director)
Night Visions series, 2001 (director; consulting producer; TV, one episode)
Napoléon series, 2002 (director; TV)
Shadow Realm, 2002 (consulting producer; TV)
44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out, 2003 (director; co-producer; TV)
The 4400 series, 2004 (director; producer; TV)