To get to the top, you can rush like a comet, at the risk of burning your wings by going too fast. Or take your time, linger a little before getting the Grail. Léa Drucker chose his side, as if the saying “Good things come to those who wait for” had been written for her. Forgotten, the years of hardship, the young fifty-something beams. Everywhere, whether on stage, on the big or on the small screen…
The road was long, but it is all the more beautiful and, while success is finally here, his humility and his unfailing sense of derision allow him to draw inspiration from incredible strength relying on his such a special route.
Born on January 23, 1972 in Caen (Calvados), she grew up between Jacques, a professor of medicine specializing in epidemiology, and Martine, an English teacher who would become a gallery owner. A sweet childhood, but a little unusual because there were many moves, depending on his father’s prestigious positions, in France and abroad. “Between first grade and high school, on average, I changed schools every two years, she confides to Madame Figaro.I was an only child, the difficulty was making friends again. In the United States, I was the foreigner, in Paris, I was the provincial.” But rather than blaming her parents, she thinks that these successive uprootings allowed him to develop a extraordinary ability to adapt. Be positive, always be positive, to move forward and not let yourself be swallowed up by the bites of the past.
As a teenager, she was in sports studies figure skatingdreaming of Olympic medals. “I loved training, being on the ice very early in the morning, she continues in the magazine. But the competitions intensified, I was no longer at the level.” Lucid, already. She stopped the section in fourth grade, but still continues to enjoy moving to the sound of music today.
“I love dancing, it’s part of my life. I like to let my body choose its steps and surrender to the movement”, from his words to Psychologies Magazine. After leaving the ice, Léa turned to the stage when she discovered theater at the age of 15, in a Parisian high school. She has the sacred fire, develops a passion for texts and wants to become an actress. But his father, for whom studies are essential, tempers his ardor. After the baccalaureate, to reassure him, she enrolled in Communication at the University of Nanterre, but became a waitress in a pizzeria to secretly pay for theater lessons. She ends up passing the competitive examination for the Rue Blanche school. However, the beginnings are more than difficult
.
The young actress refuses to use the friendships of her famous unclesJean and Michel, in show business and want to stand on their own two feet. She has a series of disappointments during castings, struggles to pay her rent, but hangs on because she knows that one day she will get there.. She tells herself that some actresses get there quickly, very quickly, but that others need more time. “I don’t want to complainshe assures Release. These frustrations were a driving force to go after things and have the necessary energy when the roles arrived.”
For twenty years, she played small roles, held on, worked a lot in the theater and was patient when faced with missed appointments… To end up establishing itself from 2015. She is 45 years old and is finally taking off. A César for best actress, two years later, two Molières for best actress in the theater in 2016 and 2020: her patience is finally rewarded.
In his private life also, happiness ends up arriving, slowly, after years of relationships that don’t always make her very happy. The meeting with the filmmaker Julien Rambaldialready father of two children, Dino And Mia, opens new horizons for him. “It changed my perception of thingsshe explains to Gala. I became more optimistic about love and I allowed myself to experience what I had more or less forbidden myself. I was finally able to build.”
At the moment, she is filming a lot, all the time (we saw her in seven different films in 2022!) almost frantically because she does not want to miss any role, having waited so long for them. But she does it for herself, to satisfy her passion for cinema and not really for the sirens of fame or to fatten her bank account. “My parents are very socially anchoredshe analyzes in Release. Money has never been obsessive, I don’t have the instinct for ownership.” What she wants is to discover new worlds, to make people laugh, move or disturb.
In the latest film from the sultry director Catherine Breillat, released last September, she plays an activist lawyer who suddenly falls in love with her 17-year-old stepson. On screen, without any filter or artifice, unlike most actresses of her age, she is luminous and screaming the truth, in a character so far from her.
An actress was born, it took her time, but today, she has become essential in the world of cinema. However, she is always surprised by what happens to her and fully embraces this girlish side which allows her to never feel jaded and to maintain the freshness which has driven her forward since her beginnings. During the César after show last February, she met Brad Pitt
who said to him: “I am a fan. I like the Office.” (I’m a fan, I love The Office, in vf). She then understands that the star saw her in the series The Legends Office. “I asked him to take a photo because I told myself that people would never believe me”, she joked on the set of Click by telling the anecdote. It seems like Léa is measuring her luck without making a big deal out of it. Because she knows that patience and length of time are more than strength or rage…
A gold family
©RINDOFF-COLIN / BESTIMAGE
For the Druckers, success is almost an art of living. Jacques, Léa Drucker his father, was an international professor of medicine and his mother Martine is a recognized gallery owner. His uncle Jean, who died in 2003, was the president of M6. His cousin Marie is a television presenter and his uncle Michel is a monster of the small screen. But Léa claims to have never benefited from her surname during her career, quite the contrary. “I was a little ashamed of having a famous name before having done anything”, she explained to Figaro. Today, she has managed to make a name for herself and, in the years to come, she will undoubtedly be the one who bears the Drucker surname the highest!
Édouard Baer, his savior
©RINDOFF-GUIREC / BESTIMAGE
The start of Léa Drucker’s career was not easy, far from it. For years, she went through castings without success, only landing small, minor roles. When she is ready to abandon the entertainment industry, she meets Édouard Baer and, taking her courage in both hands, asks him if he doesn’t have a job for her. Then a host on Radio Nova, the actor hired her as a columnist and restored her confidence. Always very close to the troublemaker, with whom she loves to dine, she will appear in two of his films and four of his plays.
Late mother
©RACHID BELLAK / BESTIMAGE
For a long time, the actress was convinced that she would never have children. But when she met filmmaker Julien Rambaldi, everything changed. Already the father of a boy and a girl, her new companion upset her certainties, she who thought she did not have the maternal instinct. She eventually decided to take the plunge and, on July 11, 2014, at the age of 42, she gave birth to a little girl, named Martha. A revelation. “This idea I had, that I wouldn’t be responsible enough, turned out to be completely wrong. I loved it, I love being a mother”, she explained to Madame Figaro.
An American childhood
Throughout her childhood, the future actress moved many times, following her father who held prestigious positions in France, but also in the United States. She lived for several years in Boston and Washington where she developed a passion for skating (she even attended high school sports before giving up the ice). She maintains an excellent level of English which could open the doors to international productions to give a further boost to her career. In 2022, she also landed the role of a scientist in War of the Worldsa French-American television series, alongside Gabriel Byrne and Elizabeth McGovern.
His career
1991: THE MONEY
©Prod DB / KCS PRESSE
First appearance at the age of 19 in this film with a screenplay written by Catherine Breillat, which she will return to thirty years later. A trial run with no future…
2006: THE MAN OF HER LIFE
Zabou Breitman offers her the leading female role, alongside Charles Berling and Bernard Campan. A nuanced character thanks to which she obtains a Crystal Globe.
2010: THE BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD
She plays for the first time under the direction of her companion, Julien Rambaldi, in this film adapted from a café-theatre play. She will make two other films with him.
2015 : THE OFFICE OF LEGENDS
In the Canal + series, she plays the role of a DGSE psychologist who takes on more and more importance in the lives of the agents. A strong and striking role for a show that has become cult.
2019: UP TO THE GUARD
Thanks to this role of a mother who fights for her children against a violent ex-husband, she obtained recognition by winning the César for best actress. It becomes bankable.
2022: INCREDIBLE BUT TRUE
After mainstream films, she turned to the auteur cinema of Quentin Dupieux and this zany comedy where she played Alain Chabat’s wife.
2022: FIRE COLORS
A role of a strong woman who takes control of her destiny in this fresco adapted from the novel by Pierre Lemaitre, alongside Benoît Poelvoorde and Clovis Cornillac.
2023: LAST SUMMER
Presented at Cannes 2023, this film about a forty-year-old in love with her 17-year-old stepson, by Catherine Breillat, received a very good critical reception.
2023: UNDER CONTROL
In this miniseries on Arte, she is a Minister of Foreign Affairs who rushes to advance her ideas. An audience success!
2023: MARS EXPRESS
In this animated film which takes place in 2200, she is the voice of Aline Ruby, a detective who investigates the planet Mars. A gem where she shares the bill with Mathieu Amalric.
Bruno Godard