# Monia Chokri

Monia Chokri (born 27 June 1982) is a Canadian actress and filmmaker.

## Life and career

Born in Quebec City in 1982, Chokri began her acting career after she completed her studies at Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal in 2005. Her mother is of Scottish descent, while her father is Tunisian with Berber roots.
In addition to having played in several theatre productions in Montreal, Chokri has received notable roles in films presented at the Cannes Film Festival directed by Québécois filmmakers who are better known outside of Canada, namely Denys Arcand and Xavier Dolan. In Heartbeats, she played Marie, a young woman who falls in love with the same man as her gay male best friend Francis, played by Dolan, who also directed. The quality of her acting has been noted by critics, notably in Les Inrockuptibles and Le Monde.
At the end of 2010, the readers of Les Inrockuptibles named Chokri #4 on their list of the top actresses of the year for her performance in Heartbeats.
Her debut as a director, the short film An Extraordinary Person (Quelqu'un d'extraordinaire), was released in 2013 and won the Prix Jutra for Best Live Action Short Film at the 16th Jutra Awards. Her feature debut, A Brother's Love (La femme de mon frère), premiered at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Babysitter, in which she was both the director and an actress, was released in 2022. She received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Lead Performance in a Film at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023.

## Filmography

* Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres), 2007 – Aziza
* Frédérique au centre, 2008 – Frédérique
* Hier, demain, hier, 2009 – Maya
* Heartbeats (Les Amours imaginaires), 2010 – Marie
* Laurence Anyways, 2012 – Stéfanie Belair
* Clémenceau, 2012 – Charlotte Beauséjour
* Gare du Nord, 2013 – Joan
* Nouvelle adresse, 2014–2015
* All Yours (Je suis à toi), 2014
* Endorphine, 2015
* The Saver, 2015
* Heal the Living, 2016
* A Taste of Ink, 2017 – Julia
* Ravenous (Les Affamés), 2017 – Tania
* Emma Peeters, 2018 – Emma
* A Brother's Love (La femme de mon frère), 2019 – director, screenwriter
* We Are Gold (Nous sommes Gold), 2019 – Marianne
* Before We Explode (Avant qu'on explose), 2019
* Babysitter, 2022 – Nadia; also director
* Falcon Lake, 2022 – Violette
* The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain), 2023 – director, screenwriter

## Awards and nominations

| Award | Year | Category | Work | Result |
| Canadian Film Festival | 2023 | Best Feature | Babysitter | Won |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 2023 | Best Performance in a Leading Role | Babysitter | Nominated |
| Canadian Screen Awards | 2024 | Best Original Screenplay | The Nature of Love | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2019 | Prix Un Certain Regard | A Brother's Love | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2019 | Un Certain Regard – Coup de cœur du Jury | A Brother's Love | Won |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2019 | Caméra d'Or | A Brother's Love | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2023 | Prix Un Certain Regard | The Nature of Love | Nominated |
| Cannes Film Festival | 2023 | Queer Palm | The Nature of Love | Nominated |
| César Awards | 2024 | Best Foreign Film | The Nature of Love | Won |
| Festival du nouveau cinéma | 2013 | Best Canadian or Québécois Short Film | An Extraordinary Person | Won |
| Locarno Film Festival | 2013 | Pardi di Domani | An Extraordinary Person | Nominated |
| Locarno Film Festival | 2013 | Junior Jury Award | An Extraordinary Person | Won |
| Prix Iris | 2013 | Best Supporting Actress | Laurence Anyways | Nominated |
| Prix Iris | 2014 | Best Live Action Short Film | An Extraordinary Person | Won |
| Prix Iris | 2023 | Best Director | Babysitter | Nominated |
| South by Southwest | 2014 | Jury Award – Narrative Short | An Extraordinary Person | Won |
| Tampere Film Festival | 2014 | Best Fiction | An Extraordinary Person | Won |
| Windsor International Film Festival | 2023 | WIFF Prize in Canadian Film | The Nature of Love | Nominated |