Canadian master puppeteer. Jacques Trudeau launched his theatre career as an actor and contemporary dancer with L’Arabesque, a company from Longueuil (Quebec province). He joined Théâtre Sans Fil, a puppet company that performed with giant puppets, in 1972 and toured the world with productions such as The Hobbit (1979) and Lord of the Rings (1985), both based on the famous books by J.R.R. Tolkien that Trudeau co-adapted for theatre.

Involved since 1990 in the largest international puppet festival in Saguenay, Canada, he became its co-Artistic Director in 2012.

President of l’Association Québécoise des Marionnettiste (2002-2004) and a UNIMA Councillor (1999-2011), Trudeau was elected a member of the UNIMA Executive Committee in 2004. He founded the UNIMA North America Commission in 2004 and was its first president. Elected UNIMA General Secretary during the 20th UNIMA Congress in Perth (Australia), Jacques Trudeau became the first person from outside Europe to hold this position.

In his capacity as UNIMA General Secretary, Jacques Trudeau worked with the editor-in-chief, Thiery Foulc, and the publisher, Christophe Bara from l’Entretemps, to finalize the editing of the Encyclopédie Mondiale des Arts de la Marionnette (World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts) that was published in its first French edition on September 25, 2009, the result of thirty years of immense effort involving several hundred people. In 2012, he was re-elected UNIMA General Secretary for another four-year mandate during the 21st UNIMA Congress in Chengdu (China).

From 2008-2011, Jacques Trudeau has also served as Artistic Director of the TOT Puppet Festival in Barcelona.

(See Canada.)