Olivier Chantreau: 3 things to know about the French comedian

The journey of a man destined to be an actor. Olivier Chantreau, born in the 1980s in Paris, was raised by his parents with his older brother. Between a father from Lyon who does a series of jobs and a designer-editor mother, the young Parisian is already thinking of standing out from his entourage.

From his childhood, Olivier Chantreau told Planet that he was attracted “by literature and culture”. An artistic vocation that he cultivates in his heart. “It had been dormant in me for 8-9 years and then it was complicated to say it and to affirm it”. At school, he likes to stand out among the students. “I had this propensity to enjoy entertaining those around me at school. Not that I was a bad student, but rather turbulent”.

Driven by the “taste of words at school” and fascinated by the desire to go towards the unknown, Olivier Chantreau seeks to emancipate himself from this entourage foreign to the artistic world. After an economic and social baccalaureate obtained as a free candidate, as he recounts in the Cadavre exquis podcast, the Parisian gives himself the means to follow his vocation. It was then that he decided to enroll in Cours Florent.

The amateur actor continued his apprenticeship from Paris to Sydney in Australia where he took drama lessons. On his return, Olivier Chantreau is approached by an agent who will cast him in several castings. The beginning of a career punctuated by notable fictions that will reveal him to the public.

In 2009, Olivier Chantreau made his television debut in Plus belle la vie where he landed a small role on France 3. Then the actor obtained the recurring role of Bruno Bontzolakis in Cœur Océan, the soap opera for teenagers on France 2. C It was at the cinema that he would meet another Olivier during his career.

Spectators discover the actor in his first big screen role in Les Lyonnais by Olivier Marchal, released in 2011. “Meeting him was wonderful”, recalls Oliver Chantreau for Planet. He played Serge Suttel, one of the members of the famous gang who made the headlines in the 1970s. “A historical fresco” for the actor, marked by the sets and costumes of the time.

In the detective genre, Olivier Chantreau joined in 2014, season 5 of the Engrenages series, broadcast on Canal . One of his best roles on television. “When I was able to do this series, I loved living it”, tells us the actor, soon to appear in the moving TV movie The Colossus with Feet of Clay, with Éric Cantona on TF1. Recently, he was back in the movies with Alex Lutz in A Romantic Comedy. The opportunity to come back to two famous women who gave him the reply in a completely different register.

The French actor reveals to us that his artistic vocation was born “by encounters, by women [that he] was able to love and who were linked to this environment”. Like the actress Emmanuelle Devos in Moka, directed by Frédéric Mermoud, with whom he played his lover.

Olivier Chantreau also met Emma Thompson, in Joel Hopkins’ Crook’s Duets. A beautiful memory for the actor and (again) lover of the English star on the screen. “She was so kind. She is bilingual, so she speaks French, she put me at ease,” he told our colleague Jordan Meynard for Cadavre exquis. “It was really fabulous the way she reached out to me. I can’t thank her enough for being so simple and welcoming. She really is a sublime actress.”