We are on the terrace of a Parisian café a few years ago. Laure Calamy is sitting at the table when an American woman, obviously very moved, approaches her: “Oh my god, are you Noémie? I love Call My Agent!” (the title of Ten percent in the United States, editor’s note), and the fan to invite her to her home in Miami. The actress does not know then what to answer, apart from a simple thank you. Around this unlikely couple, two ladies interrupt their conversation to launch into a concert of praise: “We’re just going to see your movie. You’re so great in Ten Percent…” That day, Laure Calamy learned the meaning of the word celebrity.
“I am lucid, I probably only have four or five years”
Since she became Noémie, in 2015, this pretty, sexy brunette with a snub nose and green eyes has not ceased to occupy the field. Last year, she was on the bill ofA woman of the world, by Cécile Ducrocq. These days, we see her in Full time, by Eric Gravel. Two feature films in which she embodies lonely women who struggle with the ills of our society. Films that echo our times and that make her, at 45, the French actress of the moment. A 100% exposure that does not prevent Laure from putting things into perspective and keeping a cool head: “I’m lucid, I probably only have four or five years: people quickly get tired of actors, and producers of old actresses”tempered, in September 2020, the actress in the columns of the Sunday newspaper.
Before that, Laure Calamy was a subscriber to the supporting roles of an authorizing cinema, and especially to the theater, where she started under the aegis of the playwright and director Olivier Py, who is full of praise: “She has this mixture of strength and fragility. It’s the mark of the greats”. Olivier Py, the author of The servant, a marathon piece of more than twenty hours that Laure saw when she was 20 and which acted on her like an explosion. Before the theatre, Laure discovered Pina Bausch’s dance and shows through her mother, a psychologist by profession.
She is a lively, intrepid kid, sometimes not hesitating to go to the punches. She grew up in the Orleans middle class, marked by a class consciousness that has not left her since: her doctor father worked “at the public hospital”she likes to specify in interviews. “Gamine, I was taken to the circus and I told my mother that I wanted to be a circus lady. A little later, in summer camp, I did a show with other children. Through the mask I wore, I observed people and I saw their expectation. I found the idea of responding to it completely brilliant”she remembers in TV Starin August 2021.
She is very sexy, but with a woman next door side
With her baccalaureate in hand, she went to Paris in the 90s, followed the Cours Florent, that of rue Blanche, then it was the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art. Laure Calamy chained the pieces and began to make a name for herself in the profession. At the same time, she is a free young girl who goes out to meet others and sometimes has adventures with total strangers. Those around her are worried but Laure, who has also practiced karate, Thai boxing and kung fu, wants to keep her freedom, in accordance with her feminist positions. Even if it means sometimes coming close to disaster: “When I was 23, 24, friends warned me about a theater director. He had a nice side, almost teddy. accompanied me in the car, stopped in a vacant lot. In the middle of nowhere! You can imagine the anguish! He came closer, hugged me, tried a kiss. I remember the pressure physics he exerted on me”. (TeleObsNovember 2018).
The rush to Laura
The young actress enjoys a reputation as a nice and professional girl in the profession, and through her friend Vincent Macaigne, she landed a role in 2012 in Ava, by Léa Mysius, which earned her a César nomination. She is then compared to Karine Viard for her popular side, to Romy Schneider for her ability to convey her various emotions: “She is very sexy, but with a woman next door side: she is not an inaccessible creature”summarizes quite perfectly Dominique Besnehard, the co-creator of Ten percent.
Quite logically, in 2020, Laure is offered the leading role in Antoinette in the Cevennes, which became a surprise hit at the box office. She becomes the new darling of the moment and imposes her style: that of a discredited woman, unhappy in love, who emancipates herself from men through sorority or the quest for herself, with a good dose of tenderness and laughter. And what had to happen happened. In 2021, Laure won the Caesar for best actress. Consecrated but nevertheless anxious, the actress expresses her concern shortly after in the columns of the Parisian : “I had the memory of Emmanuelle Devos saying that she had received fewer screenplays after her Cesar, probably because directors thought she was inaccessible”. Nothing to stress about because, we are convinced, Laure Calamy, this almost namesake of a famous cowgirl, is far from having toasted all her cartridges.
His love life in the Cévennes
As soon as she can, Laure leaves her Parisian apartment in the 10th arrondissement to find her companion, a Colombian guide who lives in the Cévennes, without running water or electricity. There, this nature lover goes hiking in the mountains like Antoinette… In addition, the sparkling quadra has decided to give up on motherhood. “I think we are doing humanity a service by not having children. There are too many people on this planet”she confessed in Paris Matchin November 2018.
Its commitments
Socially and politically engaged, Laure Calamy stands up against homophobia and is an activist with the Collectif 50/50, which promotes gender equality in cinema and audiovisual. She is an accomplished feminist, adept at inclusive writing and empowerment. His bedside book? King Kong Theorythe bible of badass women…
At the 2016 Cannes Film Festival
During the climb of the steps in Cannes in 2016, with the team of Stay upright, by Alain Guiraudie, Laure launched into a French cancan which ended in a panty accident that was as earthy as it was charming. Nothing serious, as nudity has never been a problem for her: “I have a relationship with nudity and the uninhibited body. Whatever they are, I find human bodies beautiful and inspiring most of the time. They give off an often magnificent force. In theater and cinema, I don’t have no problem showing me naked because I think you can express as many things with your body as with your mind”. Laura Calamy? An actress body and soul.
Nicolas Maury: friends in the series and in life
The chemistry between Laure Calamy alias Noémie and Nicolas Maury alias Hervé in Ten percent is not by chance. These two have been living a close friendship since 2015. On the set of the series, Laure and Nicolas gave each other a greedy reply and, between scenes, giggled. “There is a hysterical chemistry that operates between us”she analyzes. “Together, we are like two noisy and happy little animals”confided the actress, in September 2020, to the magazine She.
His career
2015-2020: TEN PER CENT (FRANCE SERIES 2)After the theater, she becomes Noémie, the loving assistant of her boss, in this series which reveals her to the general public.
2017: AVALéa Mylsius chooses her to embody the mother of a teenager who awakens to sensuality. A film spotted at Cannes which earned him a first nomination for the Césars.
2018: MADEMOISELLE DE JONCQUIERESA cruel marivaudage orchestrated by Emmanuel Mouret where she portrays an erudite aristocrat. She is very convincing.
2020: ANTOINETTE IN THE CEVENNESBucolic Vaudeville by Caroline Vignal, which reveals the generous nature of Laure. A Cesar of interpretation on arrival.
2020: CHIFFON BOY She finds her partner of Ten percent, Nicolas Maury, who directs her for her first film. She embodies a borderline director.
2020 : LOULOUTEBy Hubert Viel, chronicle of a family of Norman farmers seen through the eyes of a child. She plays a earthy woman from the 80s.
2019: ONLY THE BEASTSUnder the direction of Dominik Moll, a rather dark thriller in which Laure Calamy plays a woman who cheats on her husband with a depressed man.
2021: A WOMAN OF THE WORLDA prostitute wants to finance her son’s studies. By Cécile Ducrocq, a moving film carried by a sparkling Laure.
2022: FULL TIMEA single mother struggles to keep her job in a Parisian palace. A social thriller by Éric Gravel made for Laure Calamy who is once again stunning.
See also: This famous French actress confesses!
Renaud Leclercq