Geneviève Bujold is a Canadian actress best known for her portrayal of Anne Boleyn in
the 1969 film Anne of the Thousand Days, for which she won a Golden Globe Award for best
actress and was nominated for an Academy Award.
Life and career Bujold was born in Montreal, Quebec, the daughter
of Laurette and Joseph Firmin Bujold, a bus driver.
She is of mostly French Canadian descent, with more distant Irish ancestry.
Bujold received a strict convent education for 12 years before entering the Montreal's
Conservatory of Dramatic Art, where she was trained in the great classics of French theatre.
She made her stage debut as Rosine in Le Barbier de Séville in 1962.
She got her first major break in 1965, while on tour with the company of the Théâtre
du Rideau Vert in Paris, when French director Alain Resnais selected her for a role opposite
Yves Montand in his film The War Is Over.
She stayed in France to make two more films: Philippe de Broca's Le Roi de Coeur, opposite
Alan Bates and Louis Malle's Le voleur, opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo.
Upon her return to Canada, she married film director Paul Almond in 1967, and starred
in three of his films: Isabel, The Act of the Heart and Journey, winning the Canadian
Film Award for best actress for the first two.
The couple divorced in 1973, but worked again together in Final Assignment and The Dance
Goes On, the latter featuring their son, Mathew Almond.
She also appeared in Michel Brault's film Entre la mer et l'eau douce, and Claude Jutra's
film Kamouraska, based on a novel by Anne Hébert, for which she won her third Canadian
Film Award for Best Actress.
Bujold appeared in a variety of roles for Canadian and U.S. television, notably for
NBC's Hallmark Hall of Fame in George Bernard Shaw's classics Saint Joan in 1967, which
earned her an Emmy Award nomination, and Caesar and Cleopatra in 1976, opposite Sir Alec Guinness.
She also appeared in Jean Anouilh's Antigone for PBS's Great Performances in 1974.
International recognition came in 1969, when she starred as Anne Boleyn in Charles Jarrott's
film Anne of the Thousand Days, opposite Richard Burton.
For her performance, she won a Golden Globe Award as Best Actress in a Leading Role, and
earned an Academy Award nomination in the same category.
The following year, she played the role of the visionary Cassandra in Michael Cacoyannis's
film version of The Trojan Women, opposite Katharine Hepburn, Vanessa Redgrave, and Irene
Papas.
Bujold was touted to become a star, but she walked away from her contract with Universal
Studios.
The resulting lawsuit was settled when she agreed to appear in the 1974 disaster film
Earthquake, opposite Charlton Heston, and the 1976 adventure film Swashbuckler, opposite
Robert Shaw.
In the ensuing years, she appeared in Obsession, opposite Cliff Robertson; Another Man, Another
Chance, opposite James Caan; Coma, opposite Michael Douglas; Monsignor, opposite Christopher
Reeve; and Tightrope, opposite Clint Eastwood.
She formed a professional friendship with director Alan Rudolph, and appeared in three
of his films: Choose Me, Trouble in Mind, and The Moderns.
She also appeared in David Cronenberg's psychological horror film Dead Ringers, opposite Jeremy
Irons.
After a long absence from Québec, she returned to appear in two films directed by Michel
Brault; Les noces de papier and Mon amie Max.
A few years later she was back to Quebec once again to play the role of Madame Lasalle in
La Turbulence des fluides, directed by Manon Briand.
In 1994 Bujold was chosen to play Captain Janeway, lead character in the ensemble cast
of the American television series Star Trek: Voyager.
However, she dropped out after filming just a few scenes of the first episode, citing
the lengthy work schedule for a TV series and her unwillingness to do news interviews.
The producers subsequently hired TV veteran Kate Mulgrew for the role.
Bujold continues to work, primarily in small-budget films with independent production companies.
Awards 1967 – Prix Suzanne Bianchetti for most
promising young actress in Le voleur 1968 – Canadian Film Award for Best Actress
in Isabel 1969 – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress
in Anne of the Thousand Days 1970 – Canadian Film Award for Best Actress
in The Act of the Heart 1973 – Canadian Film Award for Best Actress
in Kamouraska 1979 – Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress
in Murder by Decree 1988 – Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Award for Best Supporting Actress in Dead Ringers and The Moderns
1990 – Prix Gémeaux for Best Actress in Les noces de papier
Filmography References
External links Geneviève Bujold at the Internet Movie Database
The Canadian Film Encyclopedia