Louise Portal

Acting

Louise Portal

Born

1950-05-12 (76)

Place of birth

Chicoutimi, Québec, Canada

Known for

Acting

Credits

82 titles

Louise Portal (born May 12, 1950) is a Canadian actress, film director, singer and writer. She won the Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film The Decline of the American Empire, and was a nominee for Best Actress for Sous-sol (Not Me!). Her other film roles have included Full Blast, Séraphin: Heart of Stone (Séraphin: un homme et son péché), The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares), The Five of Us (Elles étaient cinq), The Happiness of Others (Le Bonheur des autres), Adrien (Le Garagiste), Paul à Québec, The Orphan Muses (Les Muses orphelines), Les Salopes, or the Naturally Wanton Pleasure of Skin and Cordélia. Portal was born in Chicoutimi, Quebec. Her tw…

Known for

Film credits

2020s · 9 titles

The Guide to the Perfect Family poster
6.5

A couple in Québec deals with the pitfalls, pressure and high expectations of raising kids in a society obsessed with success and social media image.

The Guide to the Perfect Family

2021

Confessions of a Hitman poster
6.3

A paid assassin working for the biker gangs of Quebec outsmarts both the police and the underworld for decades, committing 28 hits over 25 years.

Confessions of a Hitman

2022

A Christmas Storm poster
5.2

The preparations for the Christmas holidays turn into a nightmare for a mother of three children of whom she shares custody with her ex-husband.

A Christmas Storm

2024

The Cold poster
NR

Unable to accept the death of her husband, a woman keeps him secretly in their apartment. Helped by the cold, she tries to keep the corpse preserved for as long as possible.

The Cold

2021

The Emptiness Within poster
8.0

Elliot, a retired alcoholic, embarks on a desperate quest to find his son who has been missing for two decades. During his trip to French America he will meet Bourk, an Acadian with whom he will form an unlikely friendship.

The Emptiness Within

2024

F*ckin' Coffin! poster
6.7

May 20, 1980. After his father's passing, Raymond Tremblay, tax investigator, begins to suspect the funeral home of fraudulent activities. Accompanied by his daughter, little Lucy, he decides to go investigate in his native Saguenay against the backdrop of a referendum on Quebec's sovereignty.

F*ckin' Coffin!

2021

Zénith poster
NR

On the eve of a third lockdown triggered by an unbearable heatwave, Marie, a police officer, sees her life turned upside down when an unexpected accusation disrupts her daily routine. Torn between her professional duties and an insurmountable personal dilemma, Marie must confront truths that could destroy everything.

Zénith

2025

The day the dromedary left poster
NR

Élisabeth, a young painter who, after becoming quadriplegic due to an accident, tries to rebuild her life and identity through art. As her career begins to take off, an unexpected pregnancy with her best friend, Alexandre, forces her to confront her physical and emotional fragility, as well as the conflict between her desire for creative freedom and the new responsibilities life has placed upon her. Through painting, Élisabeth seeks to reconcile her traumatic past with an uncertain future, in an introspective story about resilience, the body, and personal transformation.

The day the dromedary left

2025

The Mother Eagle poster
NR

After learning of her convent's closure, a nun prays to Marie of the Incarnation and receives an answer in person.

The Mother Eagle

2021

2010s · 13 titles

And the Birds Rained Down poster
7.0

A photographer sets off toward a mysterious forest to find Boychuk, witness and victim of the Great Fire that swept through Northern Ontario at the turn of the 20th century. But before she arrives, she learns that Boychuck has just perished. Survivors of the long-ago fire, Tom and Charlie, two elderly men who have chosen to live out their last days in the woods, are introduced to Marie Desneige, whose 60 year institutionalization has only fueled her passion for life. Meanwhile, the photographer is discovering that Boychuck had been a painter, whose life’s work had been entirely inspired by the Great Fire. The story immerses us in a historical drama while captivating us with the strange lives of these men of the forest. Three men who, in choosing freedom above all else, made a deal with death.

And the Birds Rained Down

2019

The Natural Sweetness of Skin poster
5.2

Revealing women, showing men Dermatology professor Marie-Claire is embarking on a new project linking skin cells and sexuality, when unexpected events disrupt her professional, family and intimate life.

The Natural Sweetness of Skin

2018

Le Chevreuil poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Le Chevreuil

2012

The Happiness of Others poster
5.8

Twenty years before the events in the film's story, Jean-Pierre left his wife, Louise. At that moment, Marion and Sylvie, Jean-Pierre's two children, were respectively 10 and 8 years old. Eventually, Jean-Pierre will come back to his family and he believes that his past mistakes were forgotten.

The Happiness of Others

2011

Roseline like in the movies poster
NR

Roseline is a renowned actress with an impressive career. After a lifetime on camera, she gets ready to play her greatest role yet. Fiction and reality blur together, surfacing a deeply buried secret—then: lights, camera, action

Roseline like in the movies

2019

Nous sommes le Freak show poster
NR

A bingo game. An allegorical, wild and humorous portrait. An hommage to eccentricity and entertainment, to those things that remain unchanged.

Nous sommes le Freak show

2017

Adrien poster
5.6

Is having control of our life a right? Are living and dying freedoms, duties or responsibilities? How should we love? How should we live? How should we die? These questions are woven into the story of Adrien, who suffers from kidney failure. He runs a garage in Trois-Pistoles, a small town on the St-Lawrence in Québec, where people seem ordinary, but aren't: each love story, each life, each destiny is unique.

Adrien

2015

He Shoots, He Scores poster
3.3

After a horrible bus accident, a hockey team return to form.

He Shoots, He Scores

2010

L'érotisme et le vieil âge poster
NR

The director deals with the subject of the sexuality of older people, an often taboo subject. The actress Louise Portal and her partner Jacques Hébert participated in this documentary. They share their experience with us.

L'érotisme et le vieil âge

2017

L'odeur après la pluie poster
NR

Claire, a recently retired widow, shares her suburban house with her sister Gisele. On a scorching summer day, Julien an old flame, shows up unexpectedly with the intention of winning Claire back. Proof that life never ceases to amaze us.

L'odeur après la pluie

2016

The Wolves poster
6.2

A woman travels from the big city to the countryside. The locals are suspicious.

The Wolves

2015

Everything Outside poster
NR

When circumstances conspire to leave Louise, an established Quebec painter, and Ahmed, an aspiring Lebanese-Canadian actor, sharing a remote lake house, the tension rarely abates. Understandably, Louise resents her solitude being trespassed on, particularly by someone whose backstory is hardly airtight.

Everything Outside

2018

Paul à Québec poster
6.9

In 1999, Paul and his partner Julie experienced beautiful moments with their young daughter. They are looking for a house in Montreal and frequently see their family, notably Julie's parents who live in St-Nicolas, a suburb of Quebec City. But the illness has hit Roland hard, the proud and generous patriarch of the family, who tries as best he can to hide the ultimatum he is suffering from his children. Life being what it is, Roland will have to be admitted to a palliative care center while his loved ones, including Paul, will have to come to terms with the idea of ​​his death. In the process, Paul will take up drawing.

Paul à Québec

2015

2000s · 12 titles

The Barbarian Invasions poster
7.0

In this belated sequel to 'The Decline of the American Empire', middle-aged Montreal college professor, Remy, learns that he is dying of liver cancer. His ex-wife, Louise, asks their estranged son, Sebastian, a successful businessman living in London, to come home. Sebastian makes the impossible happen, using his contacts and disrupting the Canadian healthcare system in every way possible to help his father fight his terminal illness to the bitter end, while reuniting some of Remy's old friends, including Pierre, Alain, Dominique, Diane, and Claude, who return to see their friend before he passes on.

The Barbarian Invasions

2003

Heading South poster
5.4

A story of three female tourists who visit Haiti, in order to enjoy the sexual nature of the young men.

Heading South

2006

Alice's Odyssey poster
5.2

After reading a bedtime story to her daughter, Alice Tremblay leaves her daughter's room and enters her own fairytale.

Alice's Odyssey

2002

Angel at Sea poster
5.1

Louis is a twelve year old boy who lives with his parents and older brother in southern Morocco. Louis is very happy until the day his father shares a secret with him.

Angel at Sea

2009

Séraphin: Heart of Stone poster
6.1

The story takes place during the colonization of the Laurentian region in Quebec towards the end of the 19th century (approx. 1885-90), near Sainte-Adèle. An unscrupulous man, Séraphin Poudrier, dominates the small community using his wealth. Mayor of the village, he will marry Donalda Laloge, after her father, unable to repay his debt, gives her to him in marriage. Donalda, a gentle and submissive woman who was promised to the handsome Alexis Labranche, rather, he will live his life according to the wishes of this petty and contemptuous miser, but will never let his situation get him down.

Séraphin: Heart of Stone

2002

A Happy Man poster
4.6

Pierre, a French professor of quantum physics, inherits an inn from his aunt Jeanne in the Lac St-Jean region. He arrives with his daughter and settles in the small village of Sainte-Simone-du-Nord, home to just 400 residents. The locals, however, greet these “strangers” with suspicion—especially the village mayor, who once had a falling-out with Jeanne, the Frenchwoman. He manages to rally the townspeople to make life difficult for these newcomers from across the Atlantic. Yet Pierre’s good humor is unshakable, and he refuses to be discouraged—even without electricity, heat, water, or a car.

A Happy Man

2009

Dangerous People poster
4.3

It has kidnapped Roxane Labelle, a Canadian singer covered gold records and awards. To his captors, no question of release without payment of a large ransom. Father and manager of the star, Paul Labelle asks a small accountant do it. Easier said than done, especially the payer also has a large sum to the Mafia and, rapidly, what Québec account scoundrels, thieves and killers are chasing the fabulous bonanza.

Dangerous People

2002

The Orphan Muses poster
5.8

Haunted by the death of their father and the disappearance of their mother, four children, three girls and a boy, take refuge in an ideal and delirious world while opposing their social environment. With its lively and daring camerawork, The Orphan Muses goes beyond filmed theater and plunges the viewer into the heart of personal and family identity.

The Orphan Muses

2000

Saint Jude poster
3.0

Teen-aged sisters Jude and Maureen, living with their volatile father in Montréal, live a life of substance abuse, hustling and petty theft. After Jude's father kicks her out of the house for her abusive and thieving ways, Jude is forced to survive on the streets with the assistance of her odd assortment of friends, including middle aged pedophile Clarence, pre-teen male hustler Georgie, pimp Big Al, and Maureen's junkie boyfriend Gabe. Georgie has a crush on Jude, while Jude unrealistically fantasizes about a normal married life with Gabe. All the while, Jude is also trying to elude the sadistic Mink, who she inadvertently crossed

Saint Jude

2000

The Five of Us poster
6.4

In Montreal, the teenagers Manon, Anne, Isa, Claudie and Sophie are friends since their childhood. While spending a couple of days in the cottage of Sophie's parents nearby a lake, the girls decide to give a party, and Manon and Sophie hitch for a ride to the town in a jeep to buy some beers and supplies and they invite the driver to the party. On the return, the same driver stops the car and later Sophie is found stabbed, raped and covered of blood. Fifteen years later, Manon sees the guy in a car-wash and she invites her former friends to return to the house nearby the lake, where wounds of their traumatic loss are disclosed.

The Five of Us

2004

From My Window, Without a Home poster
6.0

After abandoning her four-year-old daughter in Lebanon to pursue a better life in Quebec, Sana cuts every link to her Lebanese ties and never looks back. That is until her daughter, now 21, shows up in Montreal for a visit. This film explores what it means to be free for a woman.

From My Window, Without a Home

2006

No artwork available
9.0

No synopsis available yet.

Romain et Juliette

2000

1990s · 5 titles

Bye Bye Love poster
4.0

Two women, a friendship. Two parallel love stories. Marianne has a passionate affair with Nino while the relationship of Lea and David is falling apart. While a couple is forming, another's becoming undone. Yet, the choice of the two friends remains the same: break up with the past and plunge into the unknown.

Bye Bye Love

1993

The Big Snake of the World poster
6.0

Tom Paradise, a young 40-something refusing to grow up, drives his bus endlessly through the city dreaming of the landscape of the American West that forever impressed him. In love with freedom and Jack Kerouac's On the Road, he resists all the sensible people who try to persuade him to settle down. For Tom has only one idea in his head: to once again head south, riding the waves of love and fate.

The Big Snake of the World

1999

Full Blast poster
4.7

A strike at a sawmill in a small Canadian town puts Steph and Piston out of work. They want to resurrect their band but Marie-Lou, Piston's ex-wife and the band's former lead singer is not enthusiastic about the idea. Meanwhile Steph is having realtionship trouble with Rose, an older woman that he's been seeing and drifts first to Marie-Lou and then to Charles, who once left town but is now back.

Full Blast

1999

Memories Unlocked poster
5.9

In this French Canadian drama, the life of a paraplegic painter implodes when an old girlfriend comes back into his life and accuses him of raping her 15 years earlier.

Memories Unlocked

1999

Not Me! poster
10.0

In this Canadian psychological drama a repressed young man struggles with his phobia of sex. It began when he was a sensitive 11-year old awakened in the night by the sound of his parents making love. Not understanding the nature of the groans, he peeks in and is horrified by the sight. Things get worse the next day when he and his mother discover that daddy died in his sleep that night. The boy, confused by it all deduces that it was the sex-act that killed his father and so refuses to mature so he will never have to die. This goes on several years and for some reason his mother doesn't seem to mind. Things seem okay until his mom's new boy friend moves in. The teen and the lover constantly fight. Late at night, the boy begins spying on his mother and the man and in so doing comes to realize that sex is not as deadly as it seemed. Once this light dawns, the boy is able to grow up and become normal.

Not Me!

1996

1980s · 7 titles

Wild Animals poster
4.6

Berg and Bela are married stunt drivers, but one night Bela dies in an accident. Jaded and reclusive, Berg becomes a nighttime security guard where he befriends a young woman, Mimi, who works nights too. Soon a shadowy figure from Bela's past comes into Berg and Mimi's lives. Berg is forced to protect Mimi and seems responsible for a murder, but the man from Bela's past who caused her so much pain won't stop until he sees Berg suffer as much as Bela did.

Wild Animals

1984

My Best Pals poster
6.3

They are the best friends of the world. Five friends who shared everything: may 68, hippies years, the rock and their love for Bernadette. This Bernadette has left them to become a rock-star, and is back 15 years later for a weekend. Jean-Marie Poire describes with this movie the portrait of a generation with lots of humor served by excelent actors.

My Best Pals

1989

The Decline of the American Empire poster
6.7

Four very different Montreal university teachers gather at a rambling country house to prepare a dinner. Remy (married), Claude (a homosexual), Pierre (involved with a girlfriend) and Alain (a bachelor) discuss sex, the female body and their affairs with them. Meanwhile, their four female guests, Louise (Remy's wife of 15 years), Dominique (a spinster), Diane (a divorcée) and Danielle (Pierre's girlfriend) are spending the time at a downtown health gym. They also discuss sex, the female body and, naturally, men. Later in the evening, they finally meet at the country house and have dinner. A ninth guest, named Mario, who used to know Diane, drops in on the group for some talk and has a surprise of his own.

The Decline of the American Empire

1986

Larose, Pierrot et la Luce poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Larose, Pierrot et la Luce

1982

Cordélia poster
7.1

In a little village at the end of the 1890's, a young woman offends all the 'right-thinking' villagers by allowing men in her house in the absence of her husband. When he is found dead, all of the suspicion is directed towards the liberal woman. She is judged more for her morality then for the crime she is accused of. Her culpability is still a subject of debate today.

Cordélia

1980

Tinamer poster
4.5

Tinamer is 27 years old when her mother dies. The funeral of this last one makes her relive certain events of her childhood which marked her forever.

Tinamer

1987

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Exit

1986

1970s · 6 titles

Series credits

Bonsoir bonsoir! poster
4.0

Each day, Jean-Philippe Wauthier welcomes guests on the show in warm, friendly setting. His interviews focus on their newsworthy achievements but also, and most importantly, on their passions, interests and opinions.

Bonsoir bonsoir!

2019

Champs-Elysées poster
6.8

No synopsis available yet.

Champs-Elysées

1982

En mode Salvail poster
2.0

What to expect: interviews, musical performances, a fierce band, surprising stories and most of all, guests who are more than happy to play along and follow Éric Salvail on his beautifully crazy tangents!

En mode Salvail

2013

La semaine des 4 Julie poster
2.0

No synopsis available yet.

La semaine des 4 Julie

2020

Les Enfants de la télé poster
6.5

No synopsis available yet.

Les Enfants de la télé

2010

On va se le dire poster
2.0

Host Sébastien Diaz, known for his curiosity, is interested in absolutely everything that's going on in the world. At the rate things are changing, every day brings surprising new trends, unusual developments and contradictory social movements. Sébastien is joined by regular contributors and invites various celebrities to talk about the hottest topics in this modern round table.

On va se le dire

2019

Les échangistes poster
NR

Host Penelope McQuade welcomes three celebrities each evening, along with two different swapping contributors who will intervene, make critical comments and spice up the conversations!

Les échangistes

2016

Y'a du monde à messe poster
7.5

Public figures from different backgrounds meet each week. At first glance, these guests would seem to have little in common. However, something does unite them all: an event or experience that they have graciously agreed to share that justifies their seat at the same table. As the program unfolds, their shared history is gradually revealed.

Y'a du monde à messe

2017

Ménage à trois poster
NR

Annie-Soleil Proteau and Patrick Langlois spend an hour with a beloved and well-known figure to find out as much about them as possible and discover new aspects of their personality, in an entertaining mix of interviews and wackiness!

Ménage à trois

2014

Destinées poster
0.5

Destinées revolves around clinique Jouvence, a cosmetics and health clinic offering a variety of treatments ranging from massage to cosmetic surgery.

Destinées

2007

La fureur poster
5.0

A musical game show opposing two gender-segregated teams of celebrities.

La fureur

1998

1res fois poster
9.0

Two Quebec personalities candidly discuss the “firsts” that have marked their professional lives and shaped who they are both on and off camera. Our guests will also experience other unique “firsts” on the show. Emotions will run high as guests share personal secrets, reunite with long-lost friends, watch surprise variety numbers.

1res fois

2018

No artwork available
2.0

Dany Turcotte invites celebrities to discover a small rural towns in unexpected and surprising ways. Events are carefully planned cater to the celebrity’s tastes, desires and passions.

La petite séduction

2006

L'appart du 5e poster
9.0

Three college students from Montreal decide to share an appartment who happens to hide an unexpected guest. The ghost of a boy named 'Théophile Langevin' haunts the place until he finds out who killed him and why. With the help of Vicky, Justine & Greg, they will all find out what truly happened in 1957.

L'appart du 5e

2013

Cette année-là poster
NR

A culture show set hosted by Marc Labrèche and his collaborators, Simon Boulerice, Émilie Perreault and Fred Savard. Each week, based on a significant year in history, they revisit a cultural event of a previous era and compare it with today’s yardstick. The hosts and their guests examine subjects that link the chosen year to what’s hot in cultural circles right now.

Cette année-là

2018

Viens voir les comédiens poster
NR

Viens voir les comédiens is a television show on the Canadian French-language arts and culture television network ARTV.

Viens voir les comédiens

2002

Toute la vérité poster
NR

Crown prosecutors live in a world where the stakes are naturally high. It is a world where home robberies, sexual abuse and murder exist. It's a dangerous world that presents enormous challenges, both brutal and complex. But far from making a damning report, this is the truth of the courageous men and women who have the resources to cope.

Toute la vérité

2010

Viens-tu faire un tour? poster
NR

Michel Barrette hits the road with public figures. Every drive is the perfect opportunity to share a moment, a chat and a trip down memory lane. For each outing, Michel selects the car best suited to his guest from his personal collection.

Viens-tu faire un tour?

2014

L'heure est grave poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

L'heure est grave

2018

Les Beaux Malaises poster
8.4

Fictional series based on the life (and starring) Martin Matte, a comedian and popular figure in PQ, Canada. It tells the story of the awkward but funny moments that the stand-up man has to face everyday.

Les Beaux Malaises

2014

Cheval-Serpent poster
6.3

The Cheval-Serpent is a male strip club with a sulphurous reputation whose success cannot be denied thanks to the work and vigilance of its owner and manager. But a change at Montreal's City Hall has repercussions on the bar and puts the institution in danger...

Cheval-Serpent

2017

Nos étés poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Nos étés

2005

Terre humaine poster
7.0

Terre humaine is a French-Canadian soap opera TV series written by Mia Riddez-Morisset which originally aired between September 1978 and March 1984. The series totaled 229 episodes. The show takes place in rural Quebec in the late 1970s where conflicts between generations build scenes for a good novel.

Terre humaine

1978

Les grands procès poster
7.0

Dramatic reenactments of major Quebec trials.

Les grands procès

1993

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Benezra reçoit

2020

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

La liste

2009

Prozac poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Prozac

2010

H2O poster
9.0

H2O is a Canadian political drama two-part miniseries that first aired on the CBC Television October 31, 2004. It starred Paul Gross and Leslie Hope, with former politician Belinda Stronach making a cameo appearance. Written by Gross and John Krizanc and directed by Charles Binamé, it was nominated for five Gemini Awards and four DGC Craft Awards. It won one Golden Nymph Award for best actor.

H2O

2004

Casino poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

Casino

2006

La dernière communion poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

La dernière communion

2024