Acting on Experience

​Monique Parent is an American actress known for smoldering love scenes and intensely charismatic characters. She began her professional acting career in 1991, spending  years honing her craft by studying at the Beverly Hills Playhouse as well as numerous live theatre productions. Monique has worked in a wide variety of genres, sci-fi , horror, indie drama and comedy, appearing nude and simulated scenes depicting intimacy in well over 130 films.

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After 30 years in the film business, Monique is currently working on an instructional book for directors and actors on the intricacies of working in a nude environment on set titled Nudity on Film. She has picked up a few tips and tricks in the makeup and hair department as well and shares what she has learned on her YouTube channel  which at writing, has  a quarter million followers.

She is trained in mental health first aid, Bystander Intervention, Sensitivity and is certified in Sexual Harassment Prevention Compliance. She is a feminist, progressive, #MeToo and #TimesUp advocate. Miss Parent spoke on an AFI panel about shooting intimate scenes at the Dallas Film Festival, and was awarded the Southern California Motion Picture Council's "Golden Halo" award in 2016 for achievements in acting. 

She is member of SAG-AFTRA and is one of the founding members of ICAFT.org 

No matter the tone or topic of your film or television episode, the story is the star. If a scene tells a story involving nudity or depictions of intimacy, a coordinator (or sometimes called an intimacy director in theater) is there to work with the director and actors to choreograph the movements and emotions fitting the scene characters and tone of the show. The showrunner's, writer's, director's and actor's creative vision can be realized by providing tools and techniques to perform the action of the scenes in a safe and respectful environment. Having an Intimacy Coordinator on set and collaborating in pre-production is vital to facilitate the ideal execution of visual and emotional storytelling and prevents sexual harassment. 

This is the post #METOO period in Hollywood. It is more critical now than ever to ensure actors in your production feels safe and fully and enthusiastically consent to the actions they are asked to perform. We are also here for the sake of the production in the pursuit of great art, while keeping a shooting schedule and being protected against legal liability.  

Filming intimate (simulated sex) scenes has in the past been an unregulated, largely improvised awkward experience. We know how bad it was because we lived it and we are here to take the industry forward away from the old outdated practices. Making sure the actors have a clear, choreographed direction and have given an enthusiastic verbal agreement to perform the actions in advance and that they adhere to the direction is imperative. 

We are a liaison between the director and actors to create the best possible scene while protecting them against a myriad of potential issues that can and do present themselves while shooting nudity and simulated sex. We created our technique to guard the safety of the actors and make sure they are comfortable and free to let their walls down and focus on the performance. 

Taken from Intimacy Coordinators Alliance in Film and Television website

ICAFT.org