Madeleine Bisson

Toronto-based actress Madeleine Bisson was discovered by Palme d'Or winner, Laurent Cantet ("The Class"), who was looking to put together the perfect cast for his adaptation of the Joyce Carol Oats novel, "Foxfire," about a group of young girls in 1950s upstate New York who form their own gang. Bisson was chosen from over 1,000 girls in an open casting call to play the role of Rita, a sweet and vulnerable young woman who is preyed on by predatory men and becomes the impetus for the creation of the "Foxfire" gang. Born in Etobicoke, Ontario, now based in Toronto, Bisson always knew that acting was in her blood, performing on stage at a Church's basement at just age ten. "It was love at first sight," she remarks. Bisson would later go on to study Theatre Performance at the University of Toronto, a highly competitive program that requires students to re-audition every year, leaving only ten graduates by the end of the final year. Her training had prepared her well for the improv that wa