Micheline Lanctôt (born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian actress, film director, screenwriter, and musician. Lanctôt was born in Frelighsburg, Quebec. Her post-secondary education was in music, fine arts, and theatre at Collège Jésus-Marie in Outremont, and in art history at the Université de Montréal and the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal; she later studied film animation at the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and then at Gerald Potterton's studios, Potterton Productions, where she remained for four years. Lanctôt began her acting career in 1972, winning a Canadian Film Award for Best Actress for her starring role in Gilles Carle's The True Nature of Bernadette (La vraie nature de Bernadette). Since then, she has appeared in a wide variety of film and television roles, such as Carle's The Heavenly Bodies (Les Corps Célestes), Ted Kotcheff's award-winning The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, Claude Chabrol's Blood Relatives and Guy Fournier's Radio-Canada TV series Jamais deux sans toi. She has directed for the theatre also, directing Oleanna by David Mamet for the Théâtre de Quat'Sous in Montreal in 1994, and in 1999, Bousille et les justes by Gratien Gélinas for the Théâtre du Rideau Vert. She began her live-action film-directing career with The Handyman (L'Homme à tout faire) (1980), nominated for best direction and for best film at the Genie Awards in 1981. This success was followed by Sonatine (1984), which launched the career of Pascale Bussières and won both the Genie Award for Best Director at the 6th Genie Awards in 1985, and the now-defunct Silver Lion for Best First Film (1983-1987) at the 41st Venice International Film Festival. Since 1982, Lanctôt has been a part-time instructor in the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema at Concordia University. Lanctôt defended Gaétan Soucy's novel The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes) in the 2004 edition of Le Combat des livres, broadcast on Première Chaîne. In 2016 she was the curator of the Festival Vues dans la tête de... film festival in Rivière-du-Loup. She is also a matron of the Prix collégial du cinéma québécois, an annual program engaging film studies students in Quebec CEGEPs to present an award for the year's best Quebec film.

Filmography

• 2026Les oubliés — Rose
• 2025Where Souls Go — Louise
• 2024You Are Not Alone — Lucy
• 2023Frontiers — Angèle Messier
• Martin Matte en direct — Tireuse de couteaux (Le dernier lien)
• 2023The Nature of Love — Madeleine
• À cœur battant — Édith Leclerc
• 2022Arlette — Présidente de la chambre
• 2022Arsenault and Fils — Irène
• Le temps des framboises — Martha Conley
• STAT — Josette Harvey
• L'autre midi à la table d'à côté
• 2020Laughter — Jeanne
• 2019A Way of Life — Director, Writer
• Les invisibles — Micheline Lanctôt
• Toute la vie — Édith Leclerc
• 2017Ravenous — Pauline
• The Disappearance — Susan Bowden
• 2017Winter Claire — Mère de Claire
• 20169 — Director
• 2016Boundaries
• Fatale-Station — Jean O'Gallagher
• 2016Nitro Rush
• 2015Early Winter — Lucille
• 2015My Internship in Canada — Mairesse de St-Philémon
• 2015Others — Director, Writer
• 2014Maternel
• 2014The Yellows — Nel
• 2013Joy and Elation
• 2013Sarah Prefers to Run — Entraîneure McGill
• The Yellows — Nel
• Unite 9 — Élise Beaupré
• 2011Good Neighbours — Mme. Gauthier
• 2011Pour l'amour de Dieu — Léonie (62 ans), Writer, Director
• 2011Score
• J'ai la mémoire qui tourne
• 2009Suzie — Suzie, Director, Writer
• 2007Happiness Bound
• 2005A Year in the Death of Jack Richards — Julie Duceppe
• 2005Familia — Madeleine
• 2005Tripping the Wire: A Stephen Tree Mystery
• 2004Happiness is a Sad Song — Chauffeur (Autobus)
• 2004Les Guerriers — Director, Writer
• 2003How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause — Mère
• 2003The Barbarian Invasions — Nurse Carole
• 2003The Juniper Tree — Writer, Director, Editor
• Bunker, le cirque — Lise Langlois
• 2002Women Without Wings — Zef
• According to Jim — Director
• 2000Heaven — Veuve #1
• Le Polock — : Aurore Langlois
• 1999The Long Winter — Rose-Aimee Bouchard
• 1998Now or Never — Arlette
• 1998Streetheart
• 1997Heads or Tails — Huissier Saisibec
• 1997The Revenge of the Woman in Black — The Director
• 1996L'oreille d'un sourd
• Omertà, la loi du silence — Lucille Mallette
• Les héritiers Duval
• 1994A Hero's Life — Director, Writer
• 1994Ruth
• 1993Two Can Play — Writer, Director
• 1988Onzième spéciale — Director
• 1987La ligne de chaleur — Screenplay
• 1987La poursuite du bonheur — Director
• 1984Sonatine — Director, Screenplay
• 1980The Coffin Affair
• 1980The Handyman — Director, Writer
• 1979A Scream from Silence — La monteuse
• 1978Blood & Guts — Lucky Brown
• 1978Blood Relatives — Mrs Carella
• 1976Ti-Cul Tougas, ou, Le bout de la vie — Odette
• 1975A Token Gesture — Production Design, Director
• 1974Child Under a Leaf — The Friend
• 1974The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz — Yvette
• 1974Voyage to Grand Tartarie
• 1973Noël and Juliette — Monique
• 1973Souris, tu m'inquiètes
• 1973The Heavenly Bodies — Sweetie
• 1972The True Nature of Bernadette — Bernadette
• Un château de cartes — Special Effects

Appearances as themselves (29)

• 2025À la lumière du soir — Self
• Dans un cinéma près de chez vous — Self
• 39-45 en sol canadien — Self
• À tour de rôles — Self - Main Guest
• Bonsoir bonsoir! — Self
• L'effet Wow — Self
• On va se le dire — Self
• Zone franche — Self
• Cette année-là — Self
• Les poilus — Self
• Pour emporter — Self
• 2018The Devil's Share — Self (archive footage)
• Dans les médias — Self
• Y'a du monde à messe — Self
• Esprit critique — Self, Self - Collaborator
• 2016Les réalisatrices contemporaines: l'état des choses — Self
• Beauté fatale — Self
• Viens-tu faire un tour? — Self
• Deux hommes en or — Self
• En mode Salvail — Self
• On passe à l'Histoire — Self
• Les Enfants de la télé — Self
• Ça finit bien la semaine — Self
• Les Appendices — Self
• Club social — Self
• Curieux Bégin — Self
• Les p'tites vues — Self
• Sucré salé — Self
• Viens voir les comédiens — Self