Early life

Paré was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the daughter of Anthony Paré, the head of the education department at McGill University, and Louise Mercier, a conference interpreter. She grew up in the Montreal neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and has three brothers.[1] Paré is bilingual, speaking both English and French.[1] Her family is Catholic.[2]

Paré's parents were both actors; her father was a drama teacher and toured with a theatre company. Her mother acted in amateur productions. Paré would watch her father at rehearsals as a child, and became interested in acting herself when helping him learn his lines for The Tempest.[3] She attended Villa Maria, a private Catholic girl's high school in Montreal. Paré studied drama at TheatreWorks, and appeared in over half a dozen amateur theatre productions as a teenager, including roles as Maid Marian in Robin Hood and Lucy in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.[4]

In 2010, Paré began a role as Megan Calvet, Don Draper's second wife and Sterling Cooper Draper Price copywriter, on the television series Mad Men.[20] Paré's character had a prominent role in the Season 5 opener of Mad Men, in which she danced and sang a version of the 1960 Gillian Hills hit[21] "Zou Bisou Bisou".[22] Her recording of the song was subsequently released as a download and on vinyl.[23]

In 2011, Paré appeared in '"Beholder", alongside Elaine Hendrix, Michael McMillian, and Rupak Ginn. The short film, directed by Nisha Ganatra, premiered as part of the ITVS/PBS series, FutureStates.[24] She starred in The Mountie, a western about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, filmed in a remote location outside of Whitehorse, Yukon.[25] Paré also starred in the comedic short, "Sorry, Rabbi", directed by Mark Slutsky.