Alexis Michalik

Alexis Michalik (born 13 December 1982) is a French-British actor, scriptwriter and director. He adapted Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet into his play R & J and he has written and staged his own plays, including Le Porteur d'histoire, Le Cercle des illusionnistes, Edmond and Intra Muros. He has acted in a number of films, including Sagan by Diane Kurys and Le Chant du loup by Abel Lanzac and he has acted in a number of TV series, mini-series, and TV films, including the series Kaboul Kitchen by Allan Mauduit and Jean-Patrick Benes. He has received various Molière awards for his plays.

Education He is the son of a Polish father, an artist, and a British mother. He was raised in the quartier des Abbesses in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. He also holds dual French and British citizenship. He studied at the collège Jules-Ferry, and at the conservatoire in the 19th arrondissement, and he passed the entrance examination for the Conservatoire national d'art dramatique.

Career Theatre director and scriptwriter His first stage role was as Roméo in 2001, in the play Juliette et Roméo directed by Irina Brook at the théâtre de Chaillot.

In 2003, he was admitted to the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (CNSAD) in Paris. However, he gave up his place to stage his first show, Une folle journée, an adaptation of Mariage de Figaro by Beaumarchais. He created the show in 2005 at the Festival d'Avignon Off in the théâtre des Corps Saints, playing the role of the Count. Michalik used the name of his source material to name his theatre company, Los Figaros.

In 2006, he created La Mégère à peu près apprivoisée at Théâtre La Luna (Buffon), a musical comedy adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, in which he played the role of Petruchio. He met Arthur Jugnot, who produced the play in Avignon in 2007 et 2008, at the théâtre des Béliers, then in 2009 at the Vingtième Théâtre and then in 2010 at Le Splendid. The adaption was then put on television on the show Paris Première. During this show, he met Dominique Besnehard, the show's host, who would later produce two of Michalik's first short films.

In 2008, he created R&J, an adaptation of Roméo et Juliette by Shakespeare for three actors. In this production, he played various roles, including Romeo. The play was done in the théâtre des Béliers in Avignon, and then at the Ciné 13 Théâtre and at Studio des Champs-Elysées.

In 2010, he adapted and directed the second act of Carmen by Bizet, in a show titled Carmen Rock & Soul Opéra. The show, which was put on at the Festival des Mises en capsules, starred the singer Julie Zenatti in the title role and Christophe Mali (Tryo) playing Don José, and 20 other actors, singers, dancers and musicians. The show as done at Ciné 13 Théâtre.

Then Benjamin Bellecour, co-director of Ciné 13 Théâtre, invited Michalik to write and direct Michalik's first play, Le Porteur d'histoire. The play was done in a shortened form at the Festival Faits d'Hiver. In July 2011, the play was done in its current form at Théâtre des Béliers . The play came back to Avignon in 2012 and also was done in Paris at Théâtre 13 Jardin, where it was received well by the public and critics. His play was done again at the Studio des Champs-Élysées in February 2013 and at Théâtre des Béliers in 2017.

In January 2014, he wrote his second play, Le Cercle des illusionnistes, which was produced at the théâtre de La Pépinière in Paris. The play blends fictional elements with the biography o Robert-Houdin and filmmaker Georges Méliès. It was performed in 2014 and it was also performed at the Théâtre des Béliers parisiens.

Le Porteur d'histoire and Le cercle des illusionnistes were both nominated for the Molières 2014 award in the categories of Meilleur Spectacle de Théâtre Privé, Meilleur Auteur Francophone Vivant, and Meilleur Metteur en Scène de Théâtre Privé. Le cercle des illusionnistes was also nominated for Molière de la révélation féminine (by Jeanne Arènes ) and Molière de la Création Visuelle (by Marion Rebmann, Olivier Roset, and Pascal Sautelet).

Alexis Michalik won two Molière awards in 2014 : Auteur et Metteur en scène. Jeanne Arènes was also recognized.

In 2016, he created Edmond at Théâtre du Palais-Royal, a play that explored that challenging creation of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand. The dramaturg was played by the comedian Guillaume Sentou. In the 2017 Molière awards, Edmond got seven nominations : Molière du Théâtre privé, Molière de la Comédie, Molière du Comédien dans un second rôle, Molière de la Révélation masculine, Molière de l'auteur francophone vivant, Molière du Metteur en scène d'un spectacle de Théâtre privé and Molière de la Création visuelle. The play is still performed today in 2025

In 2017, he created Intra Muros at Théâtre 13, a play that was part of a theatre course in a prison; it examined the history of various characters. The play's lead actors included Jeanne Arènes, Bernard Blancan, Alice de Lencquesaing, Paul Jeanson and Faycal Safi.The music and soundtrack were done on stage by Raphaël Charpentier.

Television and film acting Michalik appeared in the television series Diane, femme flic on TF1 between 2002 and 2004, playing the role of lieutenant Sam. He then had roles in a number of TV films, series and sagas, including Petits meurtres en famille and Terre de lumière on France 2. He acted in the films Sagan by Diane Kurys, L'Autre Dumas by Safy Nebbou, L'Âge de raison by Yann Samuell, Des gens qui s'embrassent by Danièle Thompson, La Banda de Picasso by Fernando Colomo, and 24 jours, la vérité sur l'affaire Ilan Halimi by Alexandre Arcady...

Since 2012, he has played the role of Damien in the series Kaboul Kitchen on Canal+. In 2015, he was part of the Anglophone cast of Versailles, for Canal+.

Director and screenwriter In 2013, Michalik did his first short film, Au Sol, which drew on the blog Rue89. The film, which was released in September 2014 on France 2, garnered 30 selections and 15 festival prizes.

In 2014, he did his second short film, Pim-Poum le petit Panda for the Talents Cannes Adami. This musical comedy was co-written with Benjamin Bellecour.

In January 2019, he directed his first full-length film, an adaptation of his play Edmond.

He took on a musical comedy for the first time in 2021 by directing a stage production of The Producers at the Théâtre de Paris; at the time of its premiere Michalik had six of his productions on stage in Paris concurrently. The show received five nominations for the French Trophées de la comédie musicale, winning the best production.

Filmography Actor Year Title Role Director Notes 2001 Julie Lescaut Victor Vincent Monnet TV Series (1 Episode) 2002 La bande du drugstore The communist François Armanet 2003 Far West Jean-Didier Pascal-Alex Vincent Short 2003–2008 Diane, femme flic Sam Marc Angelo, Dominique Tabuteau... TV Series (12 Episodes) 2004 Big Kiss Taras Billy Zane Haute coiffure Silvio Marc Rivière TV Movie Femmes de loi Franck Montero Denis Malleval TV Series (1 Episode) 2005 ER Michel Timbaud Christopher Chulack TV Series (1 Episode) 2006 Monsieur Sorlin architecte Journalist Jacques Strang Short Les amants de la dent blanche Théophile Raymond Vouillamoz TV Movie Inconnue de la départementale Patrice Didier Bivel TV Movie Petits meurtres en famille Richard Edwin Baily TV Mini-Series 2007 Monsieur Max Jean Marais Gabriel Aghion TV Movie Sauveur Giordano Patrick Pierre Joassin TV Series (1 Episode) 2008 Sagan Denis Westhoff Diane Kurys L'ex de ma fille Bastien Christiane Spiero TV Movie Un crime très populaire Antoine Didier Grousset TV Movie Terre de lumière Arnaud Stéphane Kurc TV Mini-Series Nicolas Le Floch Lambert / Yves de Langremont Edwin Baily TV Series (1 Episode) 2010 Dumas Jean-Baptiste Béraud Safy Nebbou With Love... from the Age of Reason Margaret's assistant Yann Samuell En colo Jordan Pascal-Alex Vincent Short Le temps de la balle Thomas Hervé Jakubowicz Short 2011 La fin du silence Luc Roland Edzard 2012 La banda Picasso Barón Fernando Colomo 2012–2017 Kaboul Kitchen Damien Frédéric Berthe, Frédéric Balekdjian... TV Series (18 Episodes) 2013 Des gens qui s'embrassent Daniel Touré Danièle Thompson Petrouchka Raphael Melodie Grumberg Short Louis la brocante The usurper Michel Favart TV Series (1 Episode) Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie Jules Lavigne Eric Woreth TV Series (1 Episode) 2014 24 Days Lieutenant Joubert Alexandre Arcady Kamikaze Sasha Álex Pina Danbé, la tête haute Thomas Bourlem Guerdjou TV Movie La Trouvaille de Juliette Pierrot Jérôme Navarro TV Movie Resistance Vélin Miguel Courtois & David Delrieux TV Mini-Series 2015 Dad in Training Guillaume Cyril Gelblat Stomach Leo Javier Kühn Short À ses enfants la patrie reconnaissante Gaston Stéphane Landowski Short 2015–2017 Versailles Louis de Rohan Christoph Schrewe, Daniel Roby... TV Series (9 Episodes) 2016 Ares National Defense Framework Jean-Patrick Benes Toril Cyril Lucas Laurent Teyssier 2017 Mes trésors Guillaume Pascal Bourdiaux 2018 Edmond Georges Feydeau Alexis Michalik Little Tickles Sonia's father Andréa Bescond & Eric Métayer At Eternity's Gate Artist at the Café du Tambourin Julian Schnabel L'échappée Surgeon Laetitia Martinoni Short 2019 The Wolf's Call Second SNLE-B2R Antonin Baudry 2020 Tolo Tolo Alexandre Lemaître Checco Zalone A Mermaid in Paris Victor Mathias Malzieu 10 jours sans maman Thierry Di Caprio Ludovic Bernard Venise N'Existe Pas Charles Ana Girardot Short 2026 Twenty Twenty Six Eric Van Dupuytrens John Morton BBC Two TV series

Filmmaker Year Title Notes 2014 Au sol ShortMilwaukee Film Festival – Audience AwardCleveland International Film Festival – Best International Short FilmTirana International Film Festival – Best First Short FilmNominated – Leeds International Film Festival – Best New DirectorNominated – Odense International Film Festival – Best International Film Pim-Poum le petit panda Short 2016 Friday Night Short 2018 Edmond Nominated – Globe de Cristal Award for Best Comedy

Theater Year Title Author Notes 2009–2010 The Taming of the Shrew William Shakespeare 2010 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 2012–2014 Le Porteur d'histoire Alexis Michalik Molière Award for Best Director in a Private TheatreMolière Award for Best Living Francophone PlaywrightNominated – Molière Award for Best Show in a Private Theatre 2014 Le Cercle des illusionnistes Molière Award for Best Director in a Private TheatreMolière Award for Best Living Francophone PlaywrightNominated – Molière Award for Best Show in a Private TheatreNominated – Molière Award for Best Visual Creation 2016 Edmond Molière Award for Best Show in a Private TheatreMolière Award for Best Director in a Private TheatreMolière Award for Best Living Francophone PlaywrightNominated – Molière Award for Best ComedyNominated – Molière Award for Best Visual Creation 2017 Intra Muros 2020 Une histoire d'amour Molière Award for Best Director in a Private TheatreNominated – Molière Award for Best Show in a Private TheatreNominated – Molière Award for Best Living Francophone Playwright 2021 The Producers Mel Brooks 2024 Passeport Alexis Michalik