Desiree Elle is an actress, producer, director, writer, composer and singer. | Photo credit: Laura Cortes
“I think women have a harder time finding material that they’re excited about,” she says. “There are more men in decision-making positions in the industry. It ultimately comes down to who’s producing, writing and directing.”
By making films that feature strong female leads, Elle hopes to encourage gender equality in the film industry. “I just want to be a part of that,” she says.
Multiple skills
Ambitious, passionate and sympathetic, Elle has an uncanny ability to transform her original ideas into fairy-tale realities.
Having sung from a young age, a teenaged Elle turned down interest from record labels to pursue a degree in marketing at Concordia. After paying her way through school with singing gigs at local venues, Elle committed to the arts.
She approached Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth hotel in downtown Montreal with a demo and landed a thrice-weekly show singing contemporary R&B and jazz tunes in its piano bar.
It was during this period that she discovered acting. “I absolutely fell in love with it,” she says.
An intensive summer acting workshop at Concordia led her to boldly apply to the drama school that was the set of her favourite childhood TV show, Inside the Actors Studio hosted by James Lipton, founder and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School.
Knowing it was a longshot, Elle was astounded when the school offered her an audition, and subsequently a scholarship. Ten days after receiving the offer, she was living in New York and attending the program designed by Actors Studio co-presidents Al Pacino, Ellen Burnstyn and Harvey Keitel. Another high profile graduate is Bradley Cooper.
Elle credits her creative versatility to her diverse cultural background. Born in Montreal’s West Island to a French father and Venezuelan mother, the trilingual artist feels equally connected to her South American, European and Canadian roots.
“I definitely feel like a citizen of the world,” she says. “And I feel that way about the things that I decide to do — whether it’s singing, acting, producing or writing.”
With upcoming projects underway as well as the making of an EP record, 2016 will prove to be another busy year for Desiree Elle.