Karine Vanasse is one of Canada’s most beloved actresses and now she can add voice work to her  extensive film and television resume.

The French-Canadian actress lends her voice to the new animated family film, Felix and The Treasure of Morgäa. The movie centers around twelve-year-old Felix. He believes that his father, who went missing at sea two years ago, is still alive. So Felix sets off to find him, accompanied by Tom, a retired sailor; Squawk, a thieving one-legged parrot; and Rover, a cat who acts like a dog. Their journey leads them to Darkshadow Island. There, they find a secret underground city ruled over by the tyrannical Morgäa, keeper of an incredible treasure.

Vanesse is the voice of Morgäa and says she has never had so much fun in her life. Given the opportunity to voice a character who is seen as the villain was something she never thought she would ever get the chance to do. But when offered the role she leaped at it.

The movie is co-written and directed by Nicola Lemay who originally conceived the project as a graphic novel. He then pitched it to the Canadian based 10th Ave Productions as an animated film.

Felix and The Treasure of Morgäa premiered this past February as the opening film of the Montreal International Children’s Film Festival. After that, it got a commercial release in both English and French.

In advance of the film’s release, children’s author Édith Bourget published a novelization of the film.

The film received two Prix Iris nominations at the 23rd Quebec Cinema Awards in 2021, for Best First Film and the Public Prize.

Our Bonnie Laufer spoke with Karine Vanasse about how she found her villainous side to play Morgäa. They also talked about what’s coming up next and what she misses most about working on her hit TV series, Cardinal.