Cultural return | François Arnaud in five roles

Here’s a brief look back at five notable moments in the 39-year-old actor’s career. In cinema and television, in Quebec and abroad.

Antonin Rimbaud, in I killed my mother

In 2009, two years after leaving the Montreal Conservatory of Dramatic Art, Arnaud starred in Xavier Dolan’s very first film, presented in Cannes, at the Directors’ Fortnight. He plays an artist in love with Hubert (Dolan). “I met Xavier – whom I didn’t know – when he came to see the Conservatory graduate play. Xavier already had his script in hand! » This secondary role made him known in Quebec, and also abroad, because I killed my mother is selected in various festivals around the world.

Yannick, in The great heat

This feature film by Sophie Lorain, also released in 2009, is adapted from the play of the same name by Michel Marc Bouchard. Arnaud plays the young lover of Gisèle (Marie-Thérèse Fortin), a 50-year-old social worker employed at a youth center in Quebec. When her husband died, she learned that he had had a relationship with a mistress for years. Gisèle will let herself be seduced by Yannick (Arnaud), a former user of the center, very much in love with her. On the film set, the actor will also become friends with the author of the play and the film’s script.

Cesar Borgia, in The Borgias

While he was supposed to play in Tom on the farm in 2011, at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, Arnaud lands a “small contract”… The role of the son of Rodrigo Borgias (Jeremy Irons) in this series which tells the story of the famous Borgia family at the turn of the 16th century^e century. “It was a loss,” remembers Michel Marc Bouchard, “but I knew we would work together again one day. » The success of the Showtime series, broadcast between 2011 and 2013, launched the young actor’s international career with a bang… and left him with little availability for the theater. In January 2025, 14 years later, Arnaud reunited with Bouchard for the creation ofA children’s party. “It had to be the right play, with the right role; a role tailor-made for François,” explains the playwright to The Press.

Manfred Bernardo, dans Midnight, Texas

In this drama broadcast in 2017 and 2018 on NBC and Global, Arnaud plays a very different role: the clairvoyant Manfred Bernardo, whom the ghost of his grandmother encourages to settle in a town in Texas. Midnight, Texas mixes horror, the supernatural, fantasy and humor. In Quebec, the series was presented in French on Club illico. This is one of Arnaud’s many projects in our southern neighbors over the past 10 years. He was featured in Yellowjackets, The Moodys, UnREAL, In Transit… He also starred in Spanish in an independent film shot in Argentina in 2023.

Vincent Lacroix, in Norbourg

In this thriller directed by Maxime Giroux, Arnaud plays the financial crook Vincent Lacroix, director of the Norbourg firm, an investment fund management company which defrauded thousands of investors. To find the “voice” of his character, Arnaud did not want to transform too much. Its composition is fine, with attention to detail. “I didn’t gain 50 pounds, even though I ate a lot of ice cream during filming,” he says with a laugh. I worked on the intonation of my voice, my head posture, my chin which fits into my neck. I prefer to build my characters from the inside, rather than transforming myself. Even if the big performances of actors who transform themselves are often rewarded at the Oscars. »