Tuesday, April 13, 2010
French Canadian Model, Tae Kwon Do champion, make-up artist and stunt actress.
Nathalie started doing sports at a very early age. Being a rather beautiful, shy, quiet girl, lent itself to many personal challenges for Nathalie, but sports seemed to hold the answer. It dawned upon her, even at her early age, that an active, sports, life-style maybe the perfect place for her to express herself and give her the feeling of fitting in.
With this new realization, Nathalie started on a new path. She started with gymnastics for at least 5 years, under a very strict & disciplined coaching staff. Her elite gymnastic club had only one competition in mind as a goal, the Olympics. With great disappointment Nathalie’s Olympic dreams ended when she contracted mononucleosis. 8 months later, once she recovered, Nathalie was devastated when she was told that at the age of 10, she was now too old to continue. Here ended the gymnastic chapter of Nathalie’s life along with this Olympic dream. That summer she was sent to a day-camp where Nathalie continued exploring new sports like; wrestling, kayaking, baseball, fencing and more. Nathalie found that she loved all the sports, but wasn’t sure which one to pursue. Even with all these sports and new acquaintances in her life, she still felt something was missing … but what?! That same summer a councilor in the camp was building a soapbox racer. Everyday Nathalie could be seen standing and staring at the box-racer. Deep down hoping she could try it. Her dream came true. Not only did Nathalie manage to beat out the boys, but she also was the only girl to compete and win in the Jeux de Montreal (The Montreal Games). This single win revealed to Nathalie how competitive and excited she got through sports. It wasn’t only the winning itself, but more so, the challenges, competitions, and goals that sports presented to her.
It was now time for Nathalie to start high school and try her hand at some modeling. Success was not far behind with offers to model in countries like Japan pouring in. Unfortunately with these two new stages in her life also came, jealousy, isolation and teasing. To fight against these, her parents thought it prudent to send Nathalie for some self-defense classes. Unbeknownst to them, they have now started Nathalie on a new long adventurous path. After a few classes of self defense, the teacher saw that Nathalie had a lot of potential and suggested that she should join the Tae Kwon Do class. Which she did and LOVED! Nathalie then found herself training for competitions and winning multiple titles. During her 21 years+ of Tae Kwon Do, Nathalie became a multiple winner in both Canada and the U.S.A. She also earned the title of Quebec Champion 5 years in a row, PLUS Canadian Champion. Never being one to rest on her laurels, it came time for Nathalie to push her limits once again. Despite an extremely limited knowledge of English at the time, she moved to Vancouver B.C. Once there she started training with a new Tae Kwon Do master who thought Nathalie could easily qualify and win the Pan-Am Games. Regrettably, like many amazing athletes, Nathalie found herself not being able to compete for her country. Not because of the lack of skill, but because of the lack of money. With her heart crushed, money gone, but with no lack of determination, it was time for Nathalie to go back home to Montreal. Hoping to pursue her dreams, Nathalie continued to train in Tae Kwon Do. She went as far as to change her fighting style so she would have an even better chance to recapture her dream and goal of going to THE OLYMPICS.
Eventually, even with all her efforts, time, discipline, sacrifices and aspirations, only one thing could prevent Nathalie from going to the Olympics … politics. Torn between honor and the knowledge that it was time to move on, Nathalie had to find a new goal. A new path to take and we are so glad she did!
A new breath-taking life opened up in front of Nathalie. She started her move into the ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY. Nathalie got her foot in the door by being a make-up artist in FILM. One fateful day, someone heard about her Tae Kwon Do reputation (which still to this day follows her) and referred her to a STUNT COORDINATOR. Nathalie realized how amazing this new career could be for her. She could make a living doing a job that encompassed two of her life’s loves, training and challenges. Once again, her drive, passion and dedication for whatever she takes on motivated her to improve herself. Nathalie took courses in; rigging, stunt driving in L.A., high-falls, air rams (kicker-plates), fire gags, etc. Not wanting to be out done by the guys, she did (and still does) some serious weight training, which has had fantastic results that you can see in the film Gothika as Nathalie does a NAKED stunt in a shower.
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