Paré's father was an actor and drama teacher who toured with a theatre company, and her mother acted in amateur productions; her uncle Paul was a comedian with the sketch comedy troupe Radio Free Vestibule.[7] Paré watched her father at rehearsals as a child and became interested in acting while helping him learn his lines for a production of The Tempest.[8]
Her relatives include great-grandfather Al Paré and great-great-uncles Noah and Henry Timmins.[9] 18th-century Irish dramatist, fiction writer, essayist and actress Elizabeth Griffith is also Paré's ancestor through her son, politician Richard Griffith.[10]
Paré landed a small role in the television film Bonanno: A Godfather's Story during her final year in high school, which convinced her to pursue acting as a career.[12] She also had small roles in an episode of the horror television series Big Wolf on Campus and the French film En Vacances (1999). She dropped out of the fine arts program at Montreal's Dawson College and pursued acting for two years.[4] At one point, she worked as a photographer's assistant on automotive photo shoots.[13]
After Paré auditioned for a bit part for the independent film Stardom (2000), director Denys Arcand chose her to star in the film.[4] She played a naive ice hockey player propelled to international stardom as a supermodel. The comedic satire closed the 2000 Cannes Film Festival with mixed reviews from critics.[14] Paré became the Canadian film industry's "it girl" following the film's release.[15] She was also voted one of the 25 Most Beautiful People of 2012, by People,[16] one of only a few Canadian citizens to have ever been granted this designation.
Paré shot the CBS pilot Protect and Serve in 2007,[20] co-starred in the independent French-Canadian romantic comedyJusqu'à toi,[21] and had a small role in The Trotsky (2008), a comedy filmed in Montreal.[22]
Paré played a groupie in the comedy film Hot Tub Time Machine (2010).[25] That year, she also appeared in the Canadian comedy Peepers, about pleasures in voyeurism. Peepers competed in the Just for Laughs film festival in Montreal in July 2010.[26]
Also in 2010, Paré joined the cast of the AMC television series Mad Men, playing Don Draper's second wife, Megan Calvet.[27] 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 "Zou Bisou Bisou".[28][29] Her recording of the song was subsequently released as a download and on vinyl.[30]
In 2011, Paré appeared in Beholder. The short film, directed by Nisha Ganatra, premiered as part of the ITVS/PBS series FutureStates.[31] She also starred in The Mountie (also known as The Way of the West, and filmed under the working title of Red Coat Justice in 2009),[15] a western about the North-West Mounted Police, filmed in a remote location outside of Whitehorse, Yukon,[32] and in the comedic short Sorry, Rabbi, directed by Mark Slutsky.[33]
In 2017, Paré was added to the main cast of the CBS television series SEAL Team as Amanda Ellis, the team's CIA liaison.[37] The series was renewed for a fourth season in 2020.[38]
Personal life
Paré married writer and producer Joseph M. Smith in 2007. They divorced in 2010.[39]
In 2013 she was dating musician John Kastner.[40][41][42] On March 19, 2015, she gave birth to a son, Blues Anthony Paré Kastner.[43]
She was in a relationship with Jacob Housten from 2019 until 2021.[44]
Paré is Catholic.[45] She identifies as a feminist, telling Fashion magazine, "Of course I'm a feminist... If you're not for the equal treatment of men and women, then you're a fascist."[46]