# Denis Podalydès

Denis Podalydès (French:; born 22 April 1963) is a French actor, scriptwriter, and theatre director of Greek descent. Podalydès has appeared in more than 140 films and television shows since 1989. He starred in The Officers' Ward, which was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Podalydès has been nominated for four César Awards: Best Supporting Actor for Summer Things, The Conquest, and Sorry Angel, and Best Original Screenplay for Granny's Funeral. He is the younger brother of filmmaker Bruno Podalydès, with whom he frequently collaborates.

## Career

He is a former student of the Paris Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, and became a pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française in 1997, and then a sociétaire in 2000, now considered as one of their major actors. He became the 505th sociétaire on 1st January 2000. Before joining that company he had appeared in Sophonisbe by Corneille (1988), L'Épreuve and Les Sincères by Marivaux (1989), La Double Inconstance by Marivaux and Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo (1990), Le Misanthrope by Molière, and Bérénice by Racine (1992), Les Fausses Confidences by Marivaux (1992), and Anatol by Arthur Schnitzler in 1995.

## Director

From 2006, he began directing for the stage, with several classics: Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, then in 2008 Fantasio by Alfred de Musset. In 2011, with Emmanuel Bourdieu and Éric Ruf, staged Le Cas Jekyll by Christine Montalbetti In 2012, he directed the opera Don Pasquale by Gaetano Donizetti at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. In February 2013, he directed L'Homme qui se hait, by Emmanuel Bourdieu at the Théâtre national de Chaillot.
In the world of opera, Podalydès directed the 2017 production of Rossini's Le Comte Ory at the Opéra Comique, Paris, and Falstaff at the Opéra de Lille conducted by Antonello Allemandi in May 2023.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1989 | Xenia | Matthieu | Patrice Vivancos | |
| 1991 | Mayrig | Tehlirian | Henri Verneuil | |
| 1992 | Versailles Rive-Gauche | Arnaud | Bruno Podalydès | Short |
| 1992 | Mes fiançailles avec Hilda | David | Eric Bitoun | Short |
| 1994 | Something Fishy | Martin | Tonie Marshall | |
| 1994 | Voilà | Father | Bruno Podalydès | Short |
| 1995 | Inner City | Human Resources director | Jean-François Richet | |
| 1995 | Soigneurs dehors! | Clément | Pascal Deux | Short |
| 1995 | La mal-aimée | The young father | Bertrand Arthuys | TV movie |
| 1996 | La Belle Verte | Papapote | Coline Serreau | |
| 1996 | L'échappée belle | Sanchez | Étienne Dhaene | |
| 1996 | Le journal du séducteur | Accompanying male nurse | Danièle Dubroux | |
| 1996 | My Sex Life... or How I Got into an Argument | Jean-Jacques | Arnaud Desplechin | |
| 1996 | Je suis ton châtiment | | Guillaume Bréaud | Short |
| 1996 | Le fou de la tour | Daniel | Luc Béraud | TV movie |
| 1997 | La divine poursuite | Marc | Michel Deville | |
| 1997 | Un point c'est tout | The man | Linda Arzouni | Short |
| 1998 | En plein coeur | Martorel | Pierre Jolivet | |
| 1998 | The Perfect Guy | Julien | Olivier Ducastel & Jacques Martineau | Étoiles d'Or - Best Male Newcomer |
| 1998 | Dieu seul me voit | Albert | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 1998 | La mort du Chinois | Gérard | Jean-Louis Benoît | |
| 1998 | À Venise | Pierre | Emmanuel Bourdieu | Short |
| 1998 | L'hypothèse rivale | | Normand Bergeron | Short |
| 1999 | Rien sur Robert | Martin | Pascal Bonitzer | |
| 1999 | Children of the Century | Sainte-Beuve | Diane Kurys | |
| 1999 | La voleuse de Saint-Lubin | The lawyer | Claire Devers | |
| 2000 | À l'attaque! | Yvan | Robert Guédiguian | |
| 2000 | Les frères Soeur | Jacques Soeur | Frédéric Jardin | |
| 2000 | Comedy of Innocence | Pierre | Raúl Ruiz | |
| 2000 | Les Misérables | Scaufflaire | Josée Dayan | TV Mini-Seroes |
| 2001 | Liberté-Oléron | Jacques Monot | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2001 | Mortel Transfert | Inspector Chapireau | Jean-Jacques Beineix | |
| 2001 | The Officers' Ward | Henri | François Dupeyron | |
| 2001 | Malraux, tu m'étonnes! | Titus | Michèle Rosier | |
| 2001 | Candidature | Jean Dupuis | Emmanuel Bourdieu | Short |
| 2001 | Zaïde, un petit air de vengeance | Thomas Meils | Josée Dayan | TV movie |
| 2002 | Safe Conduct | Jean Aurenche | Bertrand Tavernier | |
| 2002 | Summer Things | Jérôme | Michel Blanc | Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2002 | Un monde presque paisible | Charles | Michel Deville | |
| 2003 | Vert paradis | Lucas | Emmanuel Bourdieu | |
| 2003 | Une affaire qui roule | Claude Carle | Eric Veniard | |
| 2003 | It's Easier for a Camel... | Philippe | Valeria Bruni Tedeschi | |
| 2003 | The Mystery of the Yellow Room | Joseph Rouletabille | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2004 | Vipère au poing | The narrator | Philippe de Broca | |
| 2004 | Le pont des Arts | Guigui | Eugène Green | |
| 2004 | Welcome to Switzerland | Thierry | Léa Fazer | |
| 2005 | Caché | Yvon | Michael Haneke | |
| 2005 | Palais royal! | Titi | Valérie Lemercier | |
| 2005 | Grey Souls | Aimé Lafaille | Yves Angelo | |
| 2005 | The Perfume of the Lady in Black | Joseph Rouletabille | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2006 | Un an | Louis-Philippe | Laurent Boulanger | |
| 2006 | The Da Vinci Code | Flight Controller | Ron Howard | |
| 2006 | Le temps des porte-plumes | Falmin | Daniel Duval | |
| 2006 | Que sont-ils devenus? | The matador | Bruno Podalydès | Short |
| 2006 | Sartre, l'âge des passions | Jean-Paul Sartre | Claude Goretta | TV movie |
| 2006 | Le Grand Charles | Claude Mauriac | Bernard Stora | TV Mini-Series |
| 2007 | Max & Co | Martin | Samuel & Frédéric Guillaume | |
| 2007 | La Vie d'artiste | Bertrand | Marc Fitoussi | |
| 2007 | To Each His Own Cinema | The manager | Claude Lelouch | |
| 2007 | Le quatrième morceau de la femme coupée en trois | Dominique | Laure Marsac | |
| 2007 | Crassus | The narrator | Olivier Treiner | Short |
| 2007 | Le pendu | Legoff | Claire Devers | TV movie |
| 2008 | Sagan | Guy Schoeller | Diane Kurys | |
| 2008 | Coupable | Louis | Laetitia Masson | |
| 2008 | Intrusions | Alexis Taget | Emmanuel Bourdieu | |
| 2008 | Quiet Chaos | Thierry | Antonello Grimaldi | |
| 2008 | La Journée de la jupe | Chief Labouret | Jean-Paul Lilienfeld | |
| 2008 | Coluche: l'histoire d'un mec | Jacques Attali | Antoine de Caunes | |
| 2008 | Figaro | Figaro | Jacques Weber | TV movie |
| 2008 | Un crime très populaire | André Malraux | Didier Grousset | TV movie |
| 2008 | Chez Maupassant | Count of Sallure | Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2008 | Hard | Himself | Cathy Verney | TV series (3 episodes) |
| 2009 | 8 fois debout | Mathieu | Xabi Molia | |
| 2009 | Park Benches | Aimé Mermot | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2009 | Eleanor's Secret | Dad | Dominique Monféry | |
| 2009 | Neuilly Yo Mama! | Stanislas de Chazelle | Gabriel Julien-Laferrière | |
| 2009 | Une affaire d'état | Louis Flandin | Eric Valette | |
| 2009 | Rien de personnel | Gilles Bergerol | Mathias Gokalp | |
| 2010 | Une exécution ordinaire | The concierge | Marc Dugain | |
| 2010 | Tandis qu'en bas des hommes en armes | Montaigne | Samuel Rondière | Short |
| 2010 | L'illusion comique | Matamore | Mathieu Amalric | TV movie |
| 2010 | George et Fanchette | Agricol Thiercellin | Jean-Daniel Verhaeghe | TV movie |
| 2011 | The Conquest | Nicolas Sarkozy | Xavier Durringer | Nominated - César Award for Best Actor |
| 2011 | The First Man | Professor Bernard | Gianni Amelio | |
| 2011 | Omar Killed Me | Pierre-Emmanuel Vaugrenard | Roschdy Zem | |
| 2011 | La clé des champs | The narrator | Claude Nuridsany & Marie Pérennou | |
| 2011 | Le grand restaurant II | The rejected transvestite | Gérard Pullicino | TV movie |
| 2011 | Pasteur, l'homme qui a vu | The narrator | Alain Brunard | TV movie |
| 2011 | Drumont, histoire d'un antisémite français | Édouard Drumont | Emmanuel Bourdieu | TV movie |
| 2012 | In a Rush | The publisher | Louis-Do de Lencquesaing | |
| 2012 | Camille Rewinds | Alphonse Da Costa | Noémie Lvovsky | |
| 2012 | Granny's Funeral | Armand Lebrecq | Bruno Podalydès | Nominated - César Award for Best Original Screenplay |
| 2012 | Du vent dans mes mollets | Michel Gladstein | Carine Tardieu | |
| 2012 | You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet | Antoine d'Anthac | Alain Resnais | |
| 2012 | Ça ne peut pas continuer comme ça! | Barry | Dominique Cabrera | TV movie |
| 2013 | For a Woman | Maurice | Diane Kurys | |
| 2013 | The Conquerors | Gilead | Xabi Molia | |
| 2013 | The Big Bad Wolf | Doctor Stanislas de Lastic | Nicolas & Bruno | |
| 2013 | Love Is the Perfect Crime | Richard | Arnaud & Jean-Marie Larrieu | |
| 2013 | Meurtre en trois actes | Philippe Laclanche | Claude Mouriéras | TV movie |
| 2014 | Libre et assoupi | Richard | Benjamin Guedj | |
| 2014 | Un village presque parfait | Henri | Stéphane Meunier | |
| 2014 | La forêt | Arkadi | Arnaud Desplechin | TV movie |
| 2014 | Marie Curie, une femme sur le front | The narrator | Alain Brunard | TV movie |
| 2014 | Casting(s) | Himself | Pierre Niney | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2015 | The Sweet Escape | Rémi | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2016 | Chocolat | Louis Lumière | Roschdy Zem | |
| 2016 | The Jews | Talmudist #2 | Yvan Attal | |
| 2016 | La Mécanique de l'ombre | Clément | Thomas Kruithof | |
| 2016 | Le passe-muraille | Émile Dutilleul | Dante Desarthe | TV movie |
| 2016 | Dans la tête d'un juré | The narrator | Emmanuel Bourdieu | TV movie |
| 2017 | The Teacher | François Foucault | Olivier Ayache-Vidal | |
| 2017 | Marie-Francine | Emmanuel Doublet | Valérie Lemercier | |
| 2017 | Mr. & Mrs. Adelman | The shrink | Nicolas Bedos | |
| 2017 | See You Up There | The minister | Albert Dupontel | voice |
| 2017 | Paris etc | Jacques Bernaud | Zabou Breitman | TV series (5 episodes) |
| 2018 | Bécassine | Adalbert Proey-Minans | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2018 | Sorry Angel | Mathieu | Christophe Honoré | Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2018 | Neuilly sa mère, sa mère! | Stanislas de Chazelle | Gabriel Julien-Laferrière | |
| 2019 | La Belle Époque | François | Nicolas Bedos | |
| 2019 | An Officer and a Spy | Maître Demange | Roman Polanski | |
| 2019 | Toute ressemblance | Julien Demaistre | Michel Denisot | |
| 2020 | Delete History | Bertrand Pitorin | Benoît Delépine Gustave Kervern | |
| 2020 | French Tech | | Bruno Podalydès | |
| 2021 | Presidents | Coach | Anne Fontaine | |
| 2021 | Bloody Oranges | Le ténor du Barreau | Jean-Christophe Meurisse | |
| 2021 | Anaïs in Love | Daniel Moreau-Babin | Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet | |
| 2021 | Deception | Philip | Arnaud Desplechin | |
| 2022 | Rise | Henri Gautier | Cédric Klapisch | |
| 2022 | Le Monde d'hier | Franck L'Herbier | Diastème | |
| 2022 | Irma Vep | Police Prefect | Olivier Assayas | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2022 | La Grande Magie | Charles Moufflet | Noémie Lvovsky | |
| 2022 | Classico | Président OM | Nathanaël Guedj and Adrien Piquet-Gauthier | |
| 2022 | Julia(s) | Victor Massenet | Olivier Treiner | |
| 2023 | All Your Faces | Paul | Jeanne Herry | |
| 2023 | L'établi | Junot | Mathias Gokalp | |
| 2023 | Homecoming | Marc | Catherine Corsini | |
| 2023 | Bernadette | Bernard Niquet | Léa Domenach | |
| 2023 | Making of | Simon | Cédric Kahn | |
| 2024 | La Petite Vadrouille | Albin | Bruno Podalydès | |
| TBA | Maigret in Society | Jules Maigret | Pascal Bonitzer | Filming |

## Theater

He was a Sociétaire of the Comédie-Française from 1997 to 2000.
| Year | Title | Author | Director | Notes |
| 1988 | Sophonisbe | Pierre Corneille | Brigitte Jaques-Wajeman | |
| 1988 | Scènes du répertoire | Georg Büchner | Jean-Pierre Vincent | |
| 1989 | L'Épreuve & Les Sincères | Pierre de Marivaux | Jean-Pierre Miquel | |
| 1990 | Ruy Blas | Victor Hugo | Nicolas Lormeau | |
| 1990 | Double Inconstancy | Pierre de Marivaux | Claudia Morin | |
| 1992 | Berenice | Jean Racine | Christian Rist | |
| 1992 | La Veuve | Pierre Corneille | Christian Rist | |
| 1992 | Dîner de textes | Jacques Bonnaffé | Jacques Bonnaffé | |
| 1992 | The Misanthrope | Molière | Christian Rist | |
| 1993 | Les Fausses Confidences | Pierre de Marivaux | Christian Rist | |
| 1994 | Les Originaux | Voltaire | Christian Rist & Denis Podalydès | |
| 1995 | Anatol | Arthur Schnitzler | Louis-Do de Lencquesaing | |
| 1996 | André le Magnifique | Isabelle Candelier, Michel Vuillermoz, ... | Isabelle Candelier, Michel Vuillermoz, ... | |
| 1997 | Arcadia | Tom Stoppard | Philippe Adrien | |
| 1997 | Histoire du soldat | Igor Stravinsky | Michel Plasson | |
| 1997 | Scapin the Schemer | Molière | Jean-Louis Benoît | |
| 1997 | A Month in the Country | Ivan Turgenev | Andreï Smirnoff | |
| 1998 | Le Legs | Pierre de Marivaux | Jean-Pierre Miquel | |
| 1999 | Chat en poche | Georges Feydeau | Muriel Mayette-Holtz | |
| 1999-2000 | The Government Inspector | Nikolai Gogol | Jean-Louis Benoît | Molière Award for Best Newcomer |
| 2000 | The Misanthrope | Molière | Jean-Pierre Miquel | |
| 2000 | Tout mon possible | Emmanuel Bourdieu | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2001 | L'Âne et le Ruisseau | Alfred de Musset | Nicolas Lormeau | |
| 2001 | Monsieur de Pourceaugnac | Molière | Philippe Adrien | |
| 2002 | Ruy Blas | Victor Hugo | Brigitte Jaques-Wajeman | |
| 2002 | Présences | Kateb Yacine | Marcel Bozonnet | |
| 2002 | Je crois? | Emmanuel Bourdieu | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2002 | Lenz & Leonce and Lena | Georg Büchner | Matthias Langhoff | |
| 2003-2004 | The Forest | Alexander Ostrovsky | Pyotr Fomenko | |
| 2004 | Platonov | Anton Chekhov | Jacques Lassalle | |
| 2004 | The Bacchae | Euripides | André Wilms | |
| 2005 | The Liar | Pierre Corneille | Jean-Louis Benoît | |
| 2005 | Oedipus Rex | Sophocles | Benno Besson | |
| 2007 | Kafka's Soup | Mark Crick | Brice Cauvin | |
| 2007 | Le Mental de l’équipe | Emmanuel Bourdieu | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2007-2008 | Il campiello | Carlo Goldoni | Jacques Lassalle | |
| 2007-2008 | The Italian Straw Hat | Eugène Marin Labiche & Marc-Michel | Jean-Baptiste Sastre | |
| 2008 | Fantasio | Alfred de Musset | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2008 | Cyrano de Bergerac | Edmond Rostand | Denys Podalydès | Molière Award for Best Director |
| 2008 | Figaro Gets a Divorce | Ödön von Horváth | Jacques Lassalle | |
| 2009 | L'Illusion Comique | Pierre Corneille | Galin Stoev | |
| 2009-2010 | La Grande Magie | Eduardo De Filippo | Dan Jemmett | |
| 2009-2012 | The Miser | Molière | Catherine Hiegel | |
| 2010-2011 | Richard II | William Shakespeare | Jean-Baptiste Sastre | |
| 2010-2011 | Le Cas Jekyll | Christine Montalbetti | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2011 | Le Babil des classes dangereuses | Valère Novarina | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2011-2012 | Ce que j'appelle oubli | Laurent Mauvignier | Denis Podalydès | |
| 2012 | La Place royale | Pierre Corneille | Anne-Laure Liégeois | |
| 2012-2013 | Rituals of Signs and Transformations | Saadallah Wannous | Sulayman Al-Bassam | |
| 2013 | Hamlet | William Shakespeare | Dan Jemmett | |
| 2013-2014 | The Imaginary Invalid | Molière | Claude Stratz | |
| 2014 | Betrayal | Harold Pinter | Frédéric Bélier-Garcia | |
| 2014-2015 | Répétition | Pascal Rambert | Pascal Rambert | |
| 2016 | Tartuffe | Molière | Galin Stoev | |
| 2016 | The Damned | Luchino Visconti | Ivo van Hove | Nominated - Molière Award for Best Actor |
| 2016 | The Last Days of Mankind | Karl Kraus | David Lescot | |
| 2017 | Bajazet | Jean Racine | Éric Ruf | |
| 2017 | Une vie | Pascal Rambert | Pascal Rambert | |
| 2019 | Twelfth Night | William Shakespeare | Thomas Ostermeier | Nominated - Molière Award for Best Actor |
| 2019 | Electra-Oresteia | Euripides | Ivo van Hove | |
| 2019 | Fanny and Alexander | Ingmar Bergman | Julie Deliquet | |