C'est La Vie (TV)



C'est La Vie (a French phrase for "Such is life", abbreviated by fans as "CLV") is a soap opera in which award-winning Francis Bonnefoy is one of the main stars. C'est La Vie follows the life of several up-and-coming twenty somethings and their struggle to understand loss, friendship, love, and what it truly means to be happy among tragic breakups and steamy love affairs. This show has been running since 2007.

Set in the fictional town of Golden Groves, Rhode Island, the story revolves around a pair of siblings named Donovan and Bridget Clark (played by Bonnefoy and [insert actress name here]). Having lived in France for fifteen years, they have returned to their childhood home to gain closure after their father's sudden death. Along the way they have met up with old acquaintances, formed new friendships, and fallen in and out of love. With a myriad of other colorful characters to interact with, the Clarks have to sort through their old lives so they can start anew in Golden Groves.

C'est La Vie has been nominated for twenty-five Daytime Emmy Awards, winning four of the seven in 2009, also winning Outstanding Drama series for the year. C'est La Vie won for Outstanding Drama Series, Lead Actor in a Drama Series, Supporting Actress In A Drama Series, and Costume Design For A Drama Series. It has also appeared in the top three spots of the Nielsen ratings in the daytime drama category since its creation in 2007.

Donovan ("Don", "Donny")
Donovan Clark (played by Francis Bonnefoy) is the eldest of the two Clark children, and is having the hardest time coping with his father's death as well as the many women in his life since he returned to Golden Groves. For the first year of CLV's production, Donovan had been dating Rosaline Grayson (see "Rosaline" below), who had known him from their childhoods. He ended up breaking up with her after it was discovered she was having an affair with him. Then he dated Andrea Maddox (see "Andrea" below), became engaged to her in the middle of Season 3, and at the end of Season 3 broke up with her because of continuous strain on their relationship. There are currently rumors going around that Donovan and a newer charcter, Celia Helquist (see "Celia" below), will be the new couple for the upcoming season. Neither Bonnefoy nor Camille Peralta i Marquès (Celia) have commented on the relationship of their characters since she was first introduced.

Bridget ("Bri")
Bridget Clark (played by [insert actress here]) is the younger of the Clark siblings, and has started to pick up her life and continue past her father's death, often struggling with her brother who has yet to truly get over their father's death. She has been steadily dating Nathan Fulton since Season 1 (see "Nathan" below), whom her brother despises. She still has remnants of her child crush on Colton Meyer, which causes her to doubt her relationship with Nathan. She despises Rosaline with a burning passion, not only because of what she did to her brother Donovan, but also because she toyed with Colton's heart and has become another stumbling block in her relationship with Colton. The Season 3 finale ended with her rushing to the hospital on foot to see Colton, who had alcohol poisoning, instead of staying for dinner at Nathan's house.

Rosaline ("Rosa")
Rosalina Grayson (played by [insert actress here]) was a main character in the first season of CLV. She was the daughter of wealthy businessman Solomon Grayson, who had also died previous to the show's timeline and left the whole company to her. When it turned out late into Season 1 that Rosaline was sleeping with Donovan behind Colton Meyer's back (see "Colton" below), both men denounced her at a welcoming party for Mr. and Mrs. Helquist, Colton doing so publically. Both Colton and Donovan left the party shortly after, telling her that it was over. She left Golden Grove for Hawaii, only to return to Golden Groves (and to Colton) in the middle of the third season. Colton reunited with her for a tryst of several months, only to have her break up with him at the end of Season 3 for revenge. She has since returned to Hawaii.

Colton ("Cole")
Colton Meyer (played by [insert actor here]) is a quiet, sweet man that Bridget had a crush on at a young age, until the Clarks left for France. He is a large investor in the stock market, taking frequent trips to New York City. For eight years he had been dating Rosaline, until Rosaline confessed at a welcoming party that she had been sleeping with Donovan behind his back. Outraged, he broke up with her and left the party, and in the span of a few months became an alcoholic. After enrolling in a program to combat his alcoholism, and completing the program, Colton swore he would never touch alcohol again, until Rosaline showed up in Golden Groves again. They had a fling for several months before Rosaline left him, to exact her revenge for his actions the night of the party. Later that night he returned to the bar, and began to show signs of his alcoholism again. The cliffhanger for Season 3 ended with Colton in the emergency room from alcohol poisoning, with Bridget watching as the doctors tried to save his life.

Nathan ("Nate")
Nathan Fulton (played by [insert actor here]) is a brash, stubborn man who is a real estate agent, and in line for a large inheritance. He moved to Golden Groves two years ago. He is currently dating Bridget Clark. Her brother Donovan despises Nathan, being quoted as saying to Andrea that "if God were to grant me one wish, it would be to smite that bastard [Nathan]" in Season 2. The reason for this is because Nathan gloated to Donovan about sleeping with Bridget on their third date, not realizing Donovan was her brother. Since then they have both been openly hostile towards each other, getting into a fistfight at the end of Season 1. Nathan has since tried to get Bridget onto his side, claiming that Donovan was the one who threw the first punch (even though in reality he punched first, when no one had come outside because of the commotion). He is not a big fan of Colton because Bridget keeps spending time with Colton instead of him. It was found at the end of Season 2 that Nathan has a half-sister from a divorce, who is actually first in line for his inheritance, though the identity of this mystery half-sister was not revealed.

Andrea ("Ann")
Andrea Maddox (played by [insert actor here]) is a spunky older woman (in her late twenties compared to most of the cast). She and her fraternal twin sister Lydia (see "Lydia" below) are heiresses to the Maddox Estate near the fictional Millhurst, England. Andrea came to Golden Groves at the beginning of Season 1 disguising herself as an extended tourist, due to her British accent. However it was soon discovered by the end of Season 1 that she was actually an heiress. She continued to stay in Golden Groves, however, because she liked the tranquility she found in Golden Groves (and as was hinted at the end of the season, she fell in love with Donovan and wanted to stay by him). She ended up dating Donovan toward the end of Season 2, shortly before her sister Lydia arrived in Golden Groves, who also fell in love with Donovan. By the middle of Season 3 Donovan proposed to her, but the constant romantic pressure from Lydia on Donovan and Andrea's neglect of Donovan to deal with Lydia's life issues proved to be too much, and Donovan broke off the engagement.

Lydia ("Liddy")
Lydia Maddox (played by [insert actress here]) is the youngest Maddox twin. She has been extremely jealous of her sister Andrea since they were young, claiming in Season 2 that "[she] always had the best grades, the best talents, the best men". Lydia fell in love with Donovan's charm the first time they met, and was going to ask him on a date when she learned of Donovan and Andrea's relationship through Bridget, which made her resent her sister even more for stealing yet another man from her. Since then she has done nothing but try and break up the couple, starting with spreading rumors about her sister to Bridget, moving on to faking an addiction to heroin to keep her sister away from Donovan, even going so far as to try and seduce Donovan at their own birthday party while Lydia was engaged to Donovan, and distracted with the other guests. She succeeded when Donovan broke off the engagement, and consoled her sister, urging her to go back to England for a vacation, while Lydia would remain at Golden Groves, to which her sister Andrea agreed. Lydia hinted to a friend over the phone that the vacation should be more permanent, asking the mystery male to seduce her sister while she was over in London so that she would be free to chase Donovan. This character has not yet been introduced and a subplot may develop with Andrea and this man.

Celia ("Cece")
Celia Helquist (played by Camille Peralta i Marquès) is the eldest daughter of Jonathon and Madison Helquist, who moved there at the beginning of Season 1. However their daughter was not introduced until the tail end of the third season. At age seventeen she is one of the only two characters (the other being Xander, see "Alexander" below) to be below the age of twenty-three. The only member of the cast she has met is Donovan; she had skipped school and ended up hiding out in Donovan's back yard, without realizing he was there. They had a small talk in which Donovan reprimanded her for skipping school, but told her he could stay for another hour until school officially ended so that she wouldn't get in trouble. He made her promise not to skip school any more and then drove her to her bus stop so that she could pretend she had been at school the whole time. It has been rumored by fans and by magazines such as Soap Opera Digest that Celia will be Donovan's new love interest for the upcoming season.

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Alexander ("Xander")

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Alexander Parker (played by [insert actor here]), also known as "Xander", is a highschooler that goes to Celia's school. He is nineteen and a senior. He is known to be somewhat of a delinquent, frequently skipping class with his other friends to skateboard and smoke. He has a huge crush on Celia, but she does not seem to like him in return. Xander has only asked her out once, for homecoming, whom Celia promptly rejected and skipped school for the rest of the day. He has been trying to be friends with her since.