Yvan Ponton
Yvan Ponton (born October 22, 1945) is a Canadian actor, commentator and TV host from Farnham, Quebec. He is best known to English speakers for playing Jean-Guy Drouin in Slap Shot (1977).
Ponton started acting in the early 1970s on the TV series Mont-Joye and later appeared in Quebec shows such as Ent'Cadieux, Diva, Jasmine and Zap. His breakout film role was Slap Shot, and he played Jacques Mercier in Lance et Compte, which ran from 1987–1989 and again from 2002–2006. He also coached the Quebec Nationals and later worked as a commentator. In Lance et Compte: La Reconquete, he was the coach of the Montreal Canadiens.
In the Les Boys films, he plays Jean-Charles, a gay lawyer and garage-hockey player. A TV series based on the film aired on Radio-Canada in 2007. He played the villain in Scanners II: The New Order (1991) and had a recurring role as RCMP Inspector André Cormier on North of 60 in the 1990s. Ponton has been the host and chief referee of Ligue Nationale d'Improvisation on Télé-Québec since 1977, and he hosted the quiz Ultimatum on TVA in the early 2000s. He also hosts 30 Images/Seconde on RDS, reviewing top sports plays, and has been the play-by-play tennis commentator on RDS since 1993, covering the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Ponton taught dramatic arts for 15 years.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:10 (CET).