Bianca Gervais spent a wonderful summer with her family, including a month in Spain with her partner, Sébastien Diaz, and their two daughters, Liv and Bowie. The actress, who plays the title role in The Pearlson TVA, and who can also be seen in the series Danse!, is fueled by projects. She has also chosen to mark her passage into her forties by returning to school.
• Also read: Bianca Gervais is returning to her studies, which are close to her heart
• Also read: Finally a trailer for the Dance series!
Bianca, how are you?
I’m doing great! I’m back from a month of vacation in Spain with my little family. It was a super relaxing and family-oriented summer. With the start of the school year, I’m sad to lose my two little female friends that I discovered even more this summer. My daughters and I had some great discussions. Bowie, who is 6, dresses in a real rainbow of colors and wants to become a cook, while Liv, his 10-year-old big sister, loves Tim Burton, only dresses in black and wants to become a director. Before Spain, we rented François Papineau and Bénédicte Décary’s chalet.
So, it was a great vacation! What do you remember from all that?
That work is not everything, and that I am very happy on vacation! (laughs) I think we are a beautiful family. We are good and happy, the four of us together. My role as a mother to my daughters fulfills me and they are two extraordinary young women.
How do you manage to juggle all your projects and family life? It amazes me that Sébastien manages to watch a movie every night with such a busy schedule…
What he doesn’t say is that he falls asleep to the damn movie every night! (laughs) Our life is crazy sometimes and, of course, that’s the part we don’t share on our social networks. This summer, we worked on a series called En crisse (Crissed), which deals with our collective anger. When I did the series Crevée (Crevée), which was about the fatigue of having to do everything, a sociologist told me that I had touched a nerve that would make people react. And it did indeed make people react. I received comments from angry people who insulted me and told me that I wasn’t the first woman to have children and a career, and to shut my mouth. I realized that people were really “en crisse” in life. Everyone is angry. There is a collective anger and I explored that. You can no longer drive in the wrong lane without being honked at aggressively! You go to a hockey game in an arena and the parents are yelling at the referees… It doesn’t make sense, this collective anger, and this series is about that. Sébastien is directing it, and it also has fictional aspects.
I want to ask you: what makes you angry?
Lots of things! Losing my rights as a woman and possibly having to campaign to stop that from happening really pisses me off. Managing social media after a TV appearance too. It’s crazy how much you get hit with a sledgehammer over your physical appearance, your words or your clothing. I didn’t feel angry when I was in my twenties. Life now is about getting around bombs, orange cones and collective anger. We have to try to understand what could have happened collectively.
You’ll be 40 next June. How does that feel?
I think I’m actually in my midlife crisis! (laughs) It allows me to dress more freely, without restraint, and to break down barriers. I also feel freer and liberated from many things. I feel much less pressure to please others. I’m also going back to school this fall: I enrolled at L’inis in fiction directing. I want to learn the language and reassure myself about this profession and the place I have in it. I’m going to take it step by step; I’m going to first make a web series and then, what I’m aiming for, is to make my own series one day. Quarantine also means getting laser hair removal done on my face.
Really?
Yes, and it would be very hypocritical for me to say otherwise. But just laser; I still want to push back aging a little. We live in a society where aging makes you lose your place. I know very well that right now, I’m on the first trio, but that in a few years, I’ll be on defense, at the back. I’m surrounded by fabulous actresses in their fifties who hardly work anymore. I know that I have an expiration date and it freaks me out. That’s why, among other things, I want to learn to direct: to be able to work and also put women I love in the foreground. I don’t want to wait for a phone call to work. I’m going to create jobs.
You will not have a third child. Was that a difficult decision to make?
No, it was clear. We have now two girls who are no longer young children and we have a different rhythm. We are rather at the stage of adding another member to our family, but it will be a dog! It is a goldendoodle that will arrive at the house on October 12 and that will help fight anxiety. We are at the stage of finding him a name.
The series The Pearlscurrently broadcast on TVA, was significant for you?
Yes, really. I’ve played signature roles in my career, but it’s been a while. My character Stephanie is great. I was trusted. I have to carry the series on my shoulders. It hasn’t happened that often in my career, hence its importance. There may not be others, but that’s okay since I had this one and it was important. This role brought a relationship of trust towards the actress in me, to the point where there is a before and after. The Pearls In my opinion.
Photo provided by CLUB ILLICO
Did you even decide to get a tattoo of a symbol related to this role?
It’s a tattoo that I had done by a woman named Laurie Pointe fine. It represents a pearl in a shell. It’s on my left hand, facing me. It really marks the before/after. I know now that I’m strong enough and that I have the right to carry such a project on my shoulders. That summer, I realized my childhood dream and I wanted to immortalize it.
Tell me about your role in the series Dance!.
I am one of the coaches, a mix between a great dancer from the Ballets Canadiens and Lydia Bouchard. She is a character of rigor and empathy. I am a bit of a good cop, while Maxime Le Flaguais’ character is the bad cop. I was also the mother of the young dancers and actors on the set. Between takes, I recommended that they save their energy and take a nap. I loved this contact and I hope there will be a second season. I was really impressed by Jeremyah Mogni, who plays the main role in the series.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY CLUB ILLICO
And what does your autumn look like?
This will be the return of Veronica and the Fantasticsmy return to school and a few other projects in progress.
The PearlsWednesday 8 p.m., on TVA. Dance!from September 19 on Club illico, soon illico+. Veronica and the FantasticsMonday to Thursday from 3:55 p.m., on Rouge FM. Exhausted is available on Tou.tv Extra. In crisis will be broadcast soon on Tou.tv Extra.
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