Maka Kotto
Date of birth: 1961-12-07
Place of birth: Douala, Cameroon
Known for: Acting
Also known as:
Biography
Maka Kotto (born December 7, 1961) is a Cameroonian-born Canadian politician. Educated in France, Kotto immigrated to Quebec, Canada, where he was an educator before entering politics. Kotto was a Parti Québécois member of the National Assembly of Quebec for the riding of Bourget. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the Minister of Culture and Communications. A former member of the House of Commons of Canada for the Bloc Québécois, Kotto is also a published author and has appeared in films. Kotto was born in Douala, Cameroon, and graduated from high school at Lycée Henri-Martin in Saint-Quentin, France. He studied law, politics, dramatic art and cinema in Nanterre, Bordeaux and Paris. Kotto immigrated to Quebec in 2006. Before becoming a politician, Kotto was an author, actor, and stage director. He appeared in the 1989 movie How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired (Comment faire l'amour avec un nègre sans se fatiguer), based on the novel by Dany Laferrière. He also appeared in a second film in 2000, Lumumba, starring as Joseph Kasa-Vubu. Kotto was also an educator in dramatic art for nearly 15 years in France and Quebec. Kotto was elected to the House of Commons of Canada, representing the Bloc Québécois in the 2004 Canadian federal election. In that election, he defeated incumbent Liberal MP Yolande Thibeault and five other candidates. Upon winning the Saint-Lambert riding, Kotto became the first black Canadian Member of Parliament for the Bloc. He was re-elected two years later, winning a comfortable, but reduced, popular vote and a much larger plurality in the 2006 Canadian federal election. He defeated five other candidates to win his second term in office. Kotto served as the Bloc's critic for Canadian heritage. On November 12, 2007, Kotto announced that he would be the candidate for the Parti Québécois in the provincial riding of Bourget in Montreal to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of former PQ house leader Diane Lemieux. It was his second attempt at provincial politics; he was defeated in his previous candidacy in Viau by former Liberal MNA William Cusano. Kotto resigned his seat in House of Commons of Canada on March 5, 2008, in order to run in the provincial by-election. His vacancy was officially recognized by the Speaker on March 13, 2008. On May 12, 2008, he won the Bourget by-election as a Parti Québécois candidate with 40% of the vote. With the election of the Parti Québécois on September 4, 2012, Kotto became Minister of Culture and Communications. Kotto was re-elected in the 2014 Quebec election with a smaller margin, but the Parti Québécois government of Pauline Marois was defeated and Kotto became a member of the Official Opposition caucus. He was defeated in the 2018 election. Kotto is the husband of former Longueuil mayor and Bloc Québécois caucus colleague Caroline St-Hilaire, and is the father of four children. Source: Article "Maka Kotto" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Movie Credits
A Silent Love
2004-10-15
Through an Internet service, a Montreal professor arranges for himself a Mexican bride. But both hus
Zim and Co
2005-08-17
Because of a motorcycle accident, a young man from the poor outskirts of Paris must find a steady jo
Looking for Alexander
2004-10-29
Disturbing and violent memories haunt a man after he emerges from a lengthy coma.
The Middle Passage
2000-09-09
A realistic look at the horrors of the slave trade, told entirely through the voice of a dead Africa
How to Conquer America in One Night
2004-09-10
A young Haitian (Michel Mpambara) who loves America visits his uncle (Maka Kotto) in Montreal.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
1995-05-28
A Greek-Irish sailor becomes friends with a 10-year-old sampan girl while his freighter is docked in
On Your Head
2001-10-19
Nothing gets by Simone, even though she's blind. An adorable, incredibly precocious ten-year-old gir
On the Verge of a Fever
2004-09-15
Blanc d'ébène
1991-01-02
The year is 1943 and the place is Balandou, a small village in Guinea. The plot revolves around Adju
Marche à l'ombre
1984-10-17
Two friends, one a musician the other constantly depressed wander around Greece and France till they
Concours de danse à Piriac
2006-07-29
Which Way Africa?
2024-02-16
Forest dwellers pound drums upholding rituals while urbanites cry "Progress!" More plunder the land'
Victor Schœlcher, l'abolition
1998-01-01
The struggle of Victor Schœlcher for the abolition of slavery in the French colonies.
Journey to Ouaga
2001-01-01
Lionel, a young Frenchman, who has just arrived in Cotonou, Benin, loses his car, airplane ticket an
How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired
1989-02-24
A warm summer in Montreal. Two black men, Man and Bouba, share an apartment. Man is an ambitious aut
Lumumba
2000-05-13
The true story of the rise to power and brutal assassination of the formerly vilified and later rede
A Sunday in Kigali
2006-03-03
In April 1994, the middle-aged Canadian journalist Bernard Valcourt is making a documentary in Kigal
Love on the Quiet
1985-02-27
A lawyer hires a call girl after learning his wife has invited her lover to move in; the husband and
Make It Mine
1986-09-10
Loïc, a chestnut seller, has a mistress who wants a baby. Not daring to admit to her that he had the
The Haven
1997-01-01
Police detective Jacques Laniel's life becomes a nightmare the day drive-by shootists gun down his p
Monsieur Naphtali
1999-08-04
Monsieur Naphtali is a good-natured but somewhat feeble older man turned away from the rest home whe
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel
1996-03-20
Beaumarchais the Scoundrel is a biopic film based on the life of the French playwright, financier an
Arrêt sur image
1987-01-01
Drama about a white young woman who finds a wounded black man in her house.
One 4 All
1999-12-29
Olivia, Irina and Masha are improving their acting skills. They no longer believe in Prince Charming
Périgord noir
1989-06-21
The recolonization of Africa, this time by the very blacks who had to flee it as exiles during the t
La Goutte d'or
1990-09-11
Idris is a young shepherd in the desert of Tunesia. One day a jeep drives by and a woman takes a pic
Trapped by a Dream
1993-01-13
Elle (Isabelle Gélinas) wants to make a film about African wildlife. Adrien (Eric Métayer) is obsess
Night Taxi
1993-12-01
It is only a few years into the future, but the face of France has changed drastically, due to its t
Lulu, roi de France
1995-12-21
Lucien Hastier, known as "Lulu", is a locksmith in La Courneuve and a communist activist. He had nev
Bitter Sugar
1998-01-02
Sucre Amer tells the story of a unique court case in which an event from the past is judged by a cou
Wanted: Strong Woman
2019-08-06
Nadege lacks the confidence to get what she wants from life... until the day she discovers a new pas
Black
1987-03-30
The hopes and woes of a theater company in Africa.
La dérive douce d’un enfant de Petit-Goâve
2009-11-22
Maintenant ou jamais
1997-02-03