Dany Papineau

Dany Papineau was born in Bromont, south of Montreal, in 1974, into a French-speaking family. Shy as a kid, he discovered acting only at the age of 18. At the time he was studying civil engineering. At the age of 21, Dany went to work on a ranch in Alberta for the summer in order to improve his English. Amazed by the beauty of the Rockies, he bought his first video camera to share his experience of the West with his family back home. He then went traveling for two years, exploring throughout North America, and never returned to his civil engineering studies. Instead, Dany returned to Montreal and took up various jobs on film sets. His English was so much improved that his acting coach referred him to several casting agencies. He soon landed occasional English-language parts as he continued his studies at the Montreal Actors' Studio. In 2000, Dany moved back west to Vancouver, where he studied acting at the Vancouver Film School. He graduated in 2001. As digital technology opened new possibilities for independent filmmakers, Dany acted, filmed, produced, edited, and provided technical support for Vancouver's independent filmmaking scene, including, the "24 Hour Film Contest," the "Reel Fast 48 Hour Film Festival," and the "Crazy 8's." This diverse training experience encouraged Dany to undertake his own film project. In 2003, the Canadian National Film Board accepted his proposal and provided a grant to realize his film "2 Frogs in the West," a 21 minute short film which follows a young French-Canadian girl as she discovers the West for the first time. "2 Frogs" has been shown in several film festivals. While continuing his acting career, Dany Papineau is now working on his next project: the feature film version of "2 Frogs in the West."