Pierre Louis-Calixte ・ Comédie-Française

Pierre Louis-Calixte was trained at the École-Théâtre de la Belle de Mai ran by Jean-Christian Grinevald, and made his debut as part of the Carcara Company, which was run by Hélène Ninérola. There he was most prominent in Dissident, il va sans dire by Michel Vinaver; Un riche, trois pauvres by Louis Calaferte; Berlin fin du monde and Papa Mama by Lothar Trolle; and in L’Opéra du dragon and Les Voyages du Dieu Bonheur by Heiner Müller. In 2001, he played the title role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth directed by Sylvain Maurice. He interpreted Pinocchio in Carlo Collodi’s eponymous work under the direction of Nicolas Fleury at the CDN Poitou-Charentes, run by Claire Lasne-Darcueil, who directed him in Chekhov’s The Wood Demon (L'Homme des bois) in 2002, and later in Molière’s Dom Juan. Pierre Louis-Calixte also worked with Joël Jouanneau, first in 2001 on Jacques Serena’s Gouaches at the Théâtre ouvert, and then in 2003 on Dickie after Shakespeare’s Richard III at the Théâtre de Sartrouville. That same year he made Cairn by Enzo Cormann, directed by Claudia Stavisky at the Théâtre des Célestins.

Pierre Louis-Calixte has been pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française since September 2006. He had made his debut as Cléante in Molière’s Tartuffe staged by Marcel Bozonnet. He was subsequently appointed the 524th sociétaire in January 2013. He has been lauded for his interpretation of Mercutio in Éric Ruf’s staging of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in 2015; of Arlequin in Marivaux’s Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard directed by Galin Stoev in 2011; of Le Bret in Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac and Jeppo in Victor Hugo’s Lucrezia Borgia, both directed by Denis Podalydès; of La Flèche in Catherine Hiegel’s version of Molière’s The Miser (L’Avare) in 2009, and of Alcibiade in Plato’s Banquet by Jacques Vincey in 2010. Pierre Louis-Calixte has worked with numerous directors, such as Jean-Pierre Vincent in Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry, La Dame aux jambes d’azur by Labiche and Dom Juan or the Feast with the Statue (Dom Juan ou le festin de pierre) by Molière; Jacques Lassalle in Figaro Gets a Divorce (Figaro divorce) by Ödön von Horvàth; and Arnaud Desplechin in The Father (Père) by Strindberg. As part of the contemporary repertoire, Pierre Louis-Calixte most notably played Louis in Juste la fin du monde by Jean-Luc Lagarce as directed by Michel Raskine, Dick in L’Ordinaire written and directed by Michel Vinaver, the Doctor in La Maladie de la famille M. written and directed by Fausto Paravidino, Thompson in Edward Bond’s The Sea (La Mer) directed by Alain Françon, and as the Guard in Jean Genet’s Deathwatch (Haute Surveillance) as envisioned by Cédric Gourmelon. Pascal Rambert wrote for him the role of the Devil in the play Une vie, which he directed it for the stage. At the Festival d’Avignon in July 2015, he was part of the cast of The Damned (Les Damnés), an adaptation of Visconti’s screenplay by director Ivo van Hove. The show was taken over by the Salle Richelieu.

The filmography of Pierre Louis-Calixte includes That Old Dream that Moves (Ce Vieux rêve qui bouge) by Alain Guiraudie in 2001 and Time has Come (Voici venu le temps) in 2005; The Refuge (Le Refuge) by François Ozon in 2010; and Bad Girl (Mauvaise Fille) by Patrick Mille in 2012.

During the 2018/2019 season, Pierre Louis-Calixte will be playing in Jack London’s Construire un feu by Marc Lainé and in the rerun of Visconti’s The Damned by Ivo van Hove.