
Maka Kotto
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.
Acting (32 movies)

A Silent Love
2004

Zim and Co
2005

Looking for Alexander
2004

The Middle Passage
2000

How to Conquer America in One Night
2004

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
1995

On Your Head
2001

On the Verge of a Fever
2004

Blanc d'ébène
1991

Marche à l'ombre
1984

Which Way Africa?
2024

Victor Schœlcher, l'abolition
1998

How to Make Love to a Negro Without Getting Tired
1989

Lumumba
2000

A Sunday in Kigali
2006

Love on the Quiet
1985

Make It Mine
1986

The Haven
1997

Monsieur Naphtali
1999

Beaumarchais the Scoundrel
1996

One 4 All
1999

Arrêt sur image
1987

Périgord noir
1989

Trapped by a Dream
1993

Lulu, roi de France
1995

La Goutte d'or
1990

Night Taxi
1993

Bitter Sugar
1998

Wanted: Strong Woman
2019

Black
1987

La dérive douce d’un enfant de Petit-Goâve
2009

Maintenant ou jamais
1997
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