Roseanne Desmarais

Roseanne Desmarais
PerformerTRS
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Portrays:	Muscular Algae Harvester
Date of Birth:	June 04, 1975
Date of Death:	September 17, 2010
Age at Death:	35
Nationality:	CAN
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Official Site (archived)
IMDb profile

Roseanne Desmarais (née Blackburn, June 4, 1975 – September 17, 2010) was a Canadian bodybuilder, fitness model, and background performer. A resident of Kamloops, British Columbia, she competed at the national level in the Canadian Bodybuilding Federation (CBBF) and was also an amateur boxer, wrestler, and mixed martial artist. She appeared in Re-imagined Series' "The Eye of Jupiter" as an unnamed muscular algae harvester, one of several background acting roles she undertook in film and television productions shooting in British Columbia. She died at age 35 following a single-vehicle crash on the Trans-Canada Highway near Hope, British Columbia.

Career

Early life and athletic beginnings

Roseanne Blackburn grew up in a small rural community in British Columbia, where she was raised on a farm. She left school in grade ten to work with a carnival, and at nineteen had a daughter, Sarah Wade, while living in Terrace, British Columbia. She subsequently returned to school, completing grades 11 and 12 at Caledonia Secondary School in Terrace before relocating to Kamloops when her daughter was four years old. In Kamloops she became a licensed practical nurse and later operated Desmarais Personal Training.

Her athletic career began with boxing in 1995, the year after Sarah's birth, and her entry into bodybuilding came when personal trainer Wayne Henderson approached her at a gym where she was cutting weight for the Canadian boxing nationals and offered to train her without charge, recognizing her physique. At the gym she met Mike Desmarais, who became her training partner and, later, her husband; the couple married during the 2005 Mr. Olympia weekend in Las Vegas. At the 2006 Mr. Olympia weekend, the couple encountered trainer Dave Palumbo, who subsequently coached her remotely and whom she credited with a significant improvement in her competitive physique.

Bodybuilding

Desmarais began competing in bodybuilding in 2001 under her birth name Roseanne Blackburn, and her results improved steadily over the following years. She won the BC Provincial middleweight title in 2004, the BC Provincial overall title in 2005, and the Western Canadians middleweight class in April 2006. Her first appearance at the CBBF Canadian National Championships came in 2004, where she placed eighth in a field of nine, which she described at the time as a significant accomplishment. After beginning training under Palumbo, she won the amateur lightweight class and overall women's bodybuilding title at the 2007 Shawn Ray Colorado Pro/Am Classic (NPC) on June 1, 2007, then captured the BC Provincial middleweight title that July and the overall title at the FemSport North American Fitness and Strength Challenge in August. She placed fourth in the middleweight class at the 2008 North American Bodybuilding Championships, then achieved her best national result at the 2008 CBBF Canadian Nationals, placing third in the middleweight class. She competed at the 2009 Canadian Nationals as well, placing seventh in the lightweight class.

Her competitive career was interrupted by a serious spinal injury sustained during training and wrestling. She fractured the pars interarticularis of her L5 vertebra — with a bone fragment displaced toward the spinal cord — requiring surgery involving four screws, two plates, a replacement vertebral disc, and a hip bone graft. During recovery she also suffered three pulmonary embolisms and pneumonia. Despite this, she returned to the gym ten days after surgery and was back onstage within five months, winning the BC Provincial middleweight class at the Western Canadian Naturals — still wearing a back brace for three of those months.

Other athletic pursuits

Alongside bodybuilding, Desmarais was active across multiple combat and strength sports. In amateur boxing she compiled a record of six wins and four losses across ten bouts, with three wins by knockout, and won three Toughman competition titles: in November 2004 (by second-round knockout), in 2006, and on October 13, 2007 (by knockout in fifteen seconds). She had one MMA bout, losing to Lisa Ward by split decision over three rounds at MFC II on February 18, 2004. In wrestling she accumulated six gold medals and one silver, winning the 2007 Western Canadian Wrestling Championships and taking silver at the 2008 championships.

Fitness media and modeling

Desmarais undertook fitness photo work with several photographers, including Dan Ray of Muscular Development magazine and JP Erickson of AthleticWomen magazine. She was the cover model for issue 69 of Hard Fitness Online Magazine, published in October 2010 following her death, which included a pictorial and a biographical tribute written by her daughter Sarah Wade. She also appeared in a two-part video interview in issue 29 of the same publication, produced around the time of the 2007 Colorado Pro/Am, covering her training background and personal history. She appeared in three commercials — for Headhunters, Platinum Realty, and Supplément World — and her personal website, roseannedesmarais.com, featured her biography, competition record, and photo galleries. The site went offline following her death.

In a Q&A published in the December 2009–January 2010 issue of F.I.L.E.S. News — a British Columbia athletics, health, and nutrition publication — Desmarais stated that her goals for the industry included fitness modeling and acting, and that she envisioned "modeling and acting full time" in the future. Her profile on HardFitness.com similarly listed her future goals as including fitness modeling and work as a stunt double in film productions.

Background acting

Desmarais worked as a background performer in several film and television productions filming in British Columbia. Her acting credits, as listed in the F.I.L.E.S. News Q&A, include the feature films An Unfinished Life (starring Jennifer Lopez and Robert Redford), Firewall (with Harrison Ford), and Joy Ride; the Canadian mini-series Flies Texas; an early-day voice line on B Brothers Blues; and the feature Afghan Nights. She also appeared in three television commercials.

She appeared in the Re-imagined Series' "The Eye of Jupiter" as an unnamed muscular algae harvester. The episode's surface scenes depicting the algae harvest operation were filmed near Kamloops, British Columbia, where Desmarais was residing at the time of the 2006 production.

Personal life

Desmarais was born Roseanne Blackburn on June 4, 1975. She had one daughter, Sarah Wade, from a prior relationship, whom she raised as a single parent for several years after the family relocated to Kamloops. She is survived by her mother, Anita, of Pritchard, British Columbia; her brother, Daniel Blackburn; and her sisters, Marietta Blackburn and Saunya Lorimer.

Desmarais died on September 17, 2010, at approximately 3:45 a.m., when her vehicle left the Trans-Canada Highway near Hope, British Columbia, in a single-vehicle crash. The cause of the crash remained under investigation at the time of the coroner's confirmation, with toxicology tests pending. A Celebration of Life was held on September 27, 2010, at Schoening Funeral Chapel, 513 Seymour Street, Kamloops. Desmarais is interred at Chase Cemetery in Chase, British Columbia.

References

External Links

• Roseanne Blackburn Desmarais at FindAGrave.com
• YouTube Videos via AthleticWomen.com
• Clips4Sale Website