Monia Chokri

Chokri's screen career started taking real shape through her collaborations with Québécois directors who, as TMDB notes, are often better known outside Canada than within it. Her work with Xavier Dolan — first in Heartbeats (2010) and then in Laurence Anyways (2012) — put her in front of Cannes audiences and international critics. In Heartbeats, she played Marie with a kind of brittle, aching wit that made the character's romantic delusion feel genuinely painful rather than absurd. The Les Inrockuptibles readers' poll placing her fourth among the year's best actresses wasn't just flattering; it signaled that people were paying attention (TMDB). She also appeared in a film by Denys Arcand, another Cannes-circuit name from Québec (TMDB). The move into directing didn't come out of nowhere. Her 2013 short An Extraordinary Person (Quelqu'un d'extraordinaire) won Best Short Film at the 16th Jutra Awards — a real credential, not a consolation prize (TMDB). Then came A Brother's Love (La femme de mon frère) in 2019, her feature debut, which premiered at Cannes. For a first feature to land at Cannes is the kind of thing that changes a filmmaker's trajectory. Babysitter followed in 2022, with Chokri taking on both the director's chair and an acting role simultaneously — a dual commitment that's harder than it looks. By 2023, she'd received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Performance in a Film at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards, recognition that she's still very much a working actress, not just a director who used to act (TMDB). Her career arc — conservatory-trained performer to Cannes-selected filmmaker — isn't a straight line. It's messier and more interesting than that.