Sharon Leigh Bruneau (born February 1, 1964) is a Fitness Celebrity, Model, Actress, Motivational Speaker and retired professional Canadian Bodybuilder/Fitness Competitor.

Early Life and Education

Bruneau, a Metis Native (people of mixed French and Indigenous ancestry) was born in the small mining town of Timmins, Ontario Canada. Few Indigenous Canadian women are involved in sport and even fewer in female bodybuilding, which makes Sharon even more proud of her accomplishments.

Sharon is the youngest of 3 children, her 2 older brothers Darcy and Donnie are twins. Her father, Donny Bruneau,was a lumberjack then worked as a coal miner then, later became a long-haul trucker for many years up to his retirement. Donny was also an extremely talented classic country singer and instrumentalist. Mother, Elizabeth Rose Bruneau, (preferred to go by Betty), the greatest home maker and Mentor says Sharon. She was very close to both parents.

Bruneau's family relocated to the big city of Toronto, Ontario when she was 6 years old. While attending the second grade at John English Public Institute, 8-year-old Sharon wrote a book (including her own illustrations) titled "Poor Skunk No Valentine" of which won her an award and the school librarian had published for her. 

Sharon was a talented artist, always on the track teams and, always popular in school. Sharon's class mates voted her class president while she was in grade 6.

Sharon attended East York Collegiate Institute where she continued with the track team, art and was an E.Y.C.I. cheerleader. 

Career

Sharon began her career as a fashion model in Toronto, at which she was successful with her 5'9" thin frame and exotic good looks but, Sharon didn't appreciate all the "tall & skinny" jokes and missed being athletically active so she became a member at her local gym and began working out with weights. Didn't take long for her to achieve a somewhat toned build and eventually she was rejected at model agencies and "cattle calls" for being too "muscular".

Bruneau the decided to give up modeling and dedicated her time to pursue bodybuilding. Wasn't long after that, Sharon was inspired to enter the world of competitive bodybuilding after being inspired by a fitness magazine with the first Ms. Olympia (Rachel McLish) gracing the cover. Thus began Sharon's driving goal to compete on the Ms. Olympia stage and to be on the cover of Muscle & Fitness like her idol, Rachel.

After 3 years of climbing up the amateur ranks in Canada, Bruneau eventually made it to Los Angeles, California and competed at the coveted 1991 North American Championships where she her weight class then the "Overall" out of 150 women and earned her IFBB Pro Card which enabled Sharon to enter the world-famous Ms. Internationals and later, the coveted Super Bowl of bodybuilding ~ Joe Weider's Ms. Olympia and was not long until Sharon was under contract with Weider Health & Fitness. 

Traveling the world as a motivational speaker, guest performer and international fitness model ~ Sharon achieved her goal and was living the dream.

Sharon's competitive pro bodybuilding career only spanned three years when she decided to enter the inaugural Ms. Fitness Olympia in 1995 then announced her retirement in order to pursue her next goal of working in film and television. To this day Bruneau is one of bodybuilding's most recognizable personalities and appeared on the covers of countless bodybuilding/fitness magazines and hundreds of features including such giants as Muscle & Fitness and FLEX. 

Contest History:

• 1987 Southern Alberta - 1st (HW)

• 1987 Alberta Championships - 2nd (MW)

• 1988 Western Canadian - 2nd (HW)

• 1990 Canadian Nationals - 2nd (HW)

• 1991 IFBB North American Championships - 1st (HW)

• 1991 IFBB North American Championships - Overall Winner

• 1992 Ms. International - 4th

• 1992 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 11th

• 1993 Ms. International - 7th

• 1993 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 10th

• 1994 Ms. International - 6th

• 1994 IFBB Ms. Olympia - 16th

• 1995 Fitness Olympia - 11th

Film & Television

After retiring from competition, Bruneau trimmed her physique to that of a fitness model stature and continued to shoot with the top photographers on many covers and continues work as a motivational speaker, TV host, actor and stunts. You can view Sharon's Film/TV resume on IMDB.com.

Bruneau worked on music videos for April Wine and the grunge group, Garbage.

Producers that booked Sharon to co-host the James Cagney Auction for PAX TV (2000) decided to hire her on as Executive Assistant for their division at 20th Century FOX where she would quickly climb to Senior Vice President of the Branding division and Supervise film and television locations.

Garbage Video

Awards and Honors

Bruneau was inducted into the Muscle Beach Bodybuilding Hall of Fame at the world-famous Muscle Beach in Venice, California