Janette's story begins roughly a thousand years ago in Paris. Very little is known about Janette's early life except that she was of noble blood and was sold into prostitution, possibly by her husband. While in the brothel, Janette befriended a English prostitute named Anna. When Anna became pregnant and was beaten by their master, Daviau, Janette tended her friend's wounds and offered to earn enough for both of them so that Anna wouldn't be put out. Daviau laughed at Janette's offer and forced her out of the room before killing her friend.

Shortly after this, Janette was attacked by two soldiers. She managed to flee to the safety of a group of nuns but the priest turned her back over to the men with a warning not to rape her in front of the sisters. One of the men pulled Janette into an alleyway and hit her in the stomach. As he started to rape her, she bit him and ran. When she turned around to see if he was following her, the man was dead, killed by a stanger in a long black cloak. Later, the stranger, Lucien LaCroix, came to the brothel and offered Janette a way out of her life of pain and prostitution. She excepted his offer and LaCroix made her a vampire. One of her first actions upon being reborn was to kill Daviau in revenge for what he had done to her and to her friend.

Little is know about the next two hundred years of Janette's life, but it is fairly safe to assume that she spent them traveling with LaCroix and learning about her new powers. In 1228, Janette met a young and disillusioned crusader, Nicholas de Brabant, in Paris. She seduced him and turned him over to LaCroix, who brought him over.

Janette and Nick were lovers off and on for years. During the sixteenth century, they lived together as man and wife for over ninety years but Janette wasn't used to such strong lasting love and left him. In present day Toronto, she owned a nightclub, the Raven, that served as a safehaven for the vampire community. She also offered shelter to the local prostitutes, in memory of her old life. During this time, she became close to Nick once more and the old fire between them was slowly being rekindled when Janette abruptly sold the club to LaCroix and left town.

It was a radically different Janette that returned to Toronto in "Human Factor." Janette revealed that she had left the city and moved to Montreal when she became infected by Nick's doubts about the vampire lifestyle. While in Toronto, Janette was caught in a fire and was rescued by a fireman named Robert. She fell in love with him because he reminded her of Nick and they somehow managed to become lovers. When Robert was shot months later while trying to uncover an arson ring, Janette tried bring him across to save his life only to find that she was now a mortal.

During the exchange the men shot Janette and Nick and set the house on fire. Nick freed , Robert's son, Patrick and his aunt but Janette was dying of her wounds. Janette said no when Nick offered to bring her back across but as she went limp in his arms his fangs were glistening.

The next night, Nick was called to a homicide and discovered that the two victims were the men who had shot Janette. Both of them had two neat fang hole marking their necks. Later that night, he returned home to find that Janette had returned the DaVinci while he was out. Her final fate remains a mystery.

A native of Montreal, Quebec, Duchene obtained a B.A. with distinction from McGill University after a stint as a student missionary in her father's church mission. She began her college career studying economics and political science, but was seduced into the world of drama when she played her first-ever role in a university production of Stephen Sondheim's "A Funny Thing Happened to Me On the Way to the Forum."

Duchene made her feature film debut as Denise in Yves Simoneau's critically acclaimed "Perfectly Normal," and has also starred in "Press One to Connect" while she was attending Norman Jewison's Centre for Advanced Film Studies. Other film projects include appearances in Carlo Liconti's "Vita Cane" and Richard J. Lewis' soon-to-be-released "Whale Music."

On the small screen, Duchene has co-starred with Jimmy Smits in Ken Olin's movie-of-the- week, "The Broken Cord," and has made numerous guest starring appearances as the guest lead in such shows as "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues," "Counterstrike," "Street Legal," "ENG," "Matrix," "Top Cop," "Beyond Reality," "Secret Service" and "My Secret Identity."

Duchene's first love, however, is the theatre. She has appeared in Toronto as Monique in the Crow's Theatre presentation of "Triptych," as Lucille in the Equity Showcase production of "Danton's Death," as Betty in the Buddies in Bad Times production of "The Sound of Music," as Lucy Seward in the Playbill Productions presentation of "Dracula" and as Agnes in the Village Playhouse production of "Agnes of God."

Deborah currently lives in Toronto and describes herself as a perpetual student and rollerblading novice who is also an avid music lover and aspiring writer.

Movies

Perfectly Normal (1990)
Press One to Connect (1989)
Vita Cane (1991)
Whale Music (1994)

TV Movies

Broken Cord, The (1992)
Women of Windsor, The (1992)

TV Shows

Beyond Reality (1992)
Counterstrike: Peacemaker (1993)
E.N.G. (1994)
Forever Knight (1992-1995)
Matrix: False Witness (1993)
My Secret Identity (1994)
Secret Service (1993)
Street Legal: (2 unknown episodes)
Top Cops (1991-93)

Stage Performances

A Funny Thing Happened
On The Way to the Forum (1981)
Agnes of God
Canadian Gothic (1985)
Dracula (1989)
Hello From Bertha (1985)
Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander
The Playboy of the Western World (1984)
Triptych (1992) (Crow's Theatre)