Denis Lavant (born 17 June 1961) is a French actor. He is known for his distinctive face and the physically demanding aspects of the roles he plays, which often involve slapstick, acrobatics, or dance, as well as for his long-standing association with director Leos Carax. Lavant has played the lead role in all but two of Carax's films, including Les amants du Pont-Neuf (1991) and Holy Motors (2012). Lavant is also known for his roles in Claire Denis' Beau Travail (1999) and Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely (2007).
Life and career Lavant was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, in France. At 13, he took courses in pantomime and the circus, fascinated by Marcel Marceau. He trained at the Paris Conservatoire under Jacques Lassalle, and began his professional career in 1982 in theatre, acting in Shakespeare's Hamlet and The Merchant of Venice. In 1982 he appeared in the television film L'Ombre sur la plage, before playing the minor part of Montparnasse in Robert Hossein's Les Misérables, which was entered into the 13th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize. He appeared in several further minor roles before making his breakthrough in 1984 as the lead in Boy Meets Girl, playing a depressed, aspiring filmmaker who falls in love with a suicidal young woman. The film marked the feature-film debut of Leos Carax, with whose work Lavant has been associated ever since.
In 1986, Lavant and Carax worked together again on the thriller Mauvais Sang and again in 1991 on Carax's third film, Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. In both Mauvais Sang and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf, Lavant starred opposite Juliette Binoche. In 1998, Lavant appeared in the Jonathan Glazer-directed video for the UNKLE song "Rabbit in Your Headlights", and in 1999, he played one of the lead roles in Beau Travail, directed by Claire Denis. In 2007, he appeared in Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely, in which he portrayed a Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Lavant, who does not speak English, took an intensive language course in preparation and learned his lines phonetically. His longtime associate Leos Carax appears in a supporting role as the main character's talent agent.
In 2008, Lavant and Carax re-united for the anthology film Tokyo!, which marked their first work together since Lovers on the Bridge and Carax's first major directing work in nearly a decade. Carax's segment for the film, called "Merde," starred Lavant as a violent monster who lives in the sewers of Tokyo and speaks in a gibberish language, venturing out occasionally to attack passersby.
In 2012, he starred in Leos Carax' film Holy Motors where he plays a "chameleonic actor on assignment, ferried around Paris in a white limousine and changing en route from beggar-woman to satyr to assassin to victim." The film was an entrant at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2016, he starred in a 30-second clip directed by Yorgos Lanthimos to accompany the song "Identikit" by Radiohead.
In 2026, he starred in John Skoog's movie Redoubt (Värn) as the real-life farmer Karl-Göran Persson, a farmer teetering on the edge of madness who, at the peak of the Cold War, starts fortifying his house to build a fortress meant to protect himself and his neighbours, which causes a conflict with the people in the village.
Filmography Year Title Role Director Notes1982 L'ombre sur la plage Mathieu Luc Béraud TV movie Les Misérables Montparnasse Robert Hossein1983 Entre Nous Soldier Diane Kurys The Wounded Man Wanderer Patrice Chéreau Paris ficelle Joe Laurence Ferreira Barbosa Short Au-delà de minuit Voice Pierre Barletta Short1984 Viva la vie Caviar delivery man Claude Lelouch Boy Meets Girl Alex Leos Carax1985 Partir, revenir Simon Lerner's patient Claude Lelouch (2) Hôtel du siècle The statue Jean Kerchbron TV series (1 Episode)1986 Cinéma 16 Jean-Pierre François Dupont-Midi TV series (1 Episode) Mauvais Sang Alex Leos Carax (2) 1987 L'étendu Gilles Marchand Short1988 Les enquêtes du commissaire Maigret P'tit Louis Jean Kerchbron (2) TV series (1 Episode)1989 Un tour de manège Berville Pierre Pradinas Mona et moi Pierre Patrick Grandperret 1991 Les Amants du Pont-Neuf Alex Leos Carax (3) Nominated - European Film Award for Best Actor C'est merveilleux Solange Martin Short1992 Drôle d'immeuble Simon Pradinas Short1993 De force avec d'autres Denis Simon Reggiani Fuis la nuit Patrick Brunie Short1994 La partie d'échecs Max Yves Hanchar Short1995 L'ennemi Higra Hervé Renoh Short Visiblement je vous aime Denis Jean-Michel Carré 1997 Wild Animals Emil Kim Ki-duk 1998 Don Juan Pierrot Jacques Weber Le monde à l'envers Yann Rolando Colla Cantique de la racaille The hitchhiker Vincent Ravalec "Rabbit in Your Headlights" Man Jonathan Glazer Music Video1999 Beau travail Galoup Claire Denis Tuvalu Anton Veit Helmer Málaga International Week of Fantastic Cinema - Best Actor2000 Deep in the Woods Stéphane Lionel Delplanque La squale The joker Fabrice Genestal 2001 Married/Unmarried Love Noli Sofor The driver Guldem Durmaz Short Affaire Libinski Anatoli Libinski Delphine Jaquet, Philippe Lacôte Short2002 Sous-commandant Père Noël Christophe Vindis Short La merveilleuse odyssée de l'idiot Toboggan Voice Vincent Ravalec (2) 2004 Luminal Ryu Andrea Vecchiato A Very Long Engagement Six-Soux Jean-Pierre Jeunet Le soldat inconnu vivant Voice Joël Calmettes TV movie Low Street Old Man Tom Petch Short2005 Camping sauvage Blaise Christophe Ali, Nicolas Bonilauri 2006 Elegant Daniel Wiroth Short2007 Le passeur Philippe Lacôte (2) Short Mister Lonely Charlie Chaplin Harmony Korine Capitaine Achab Captain Ahab Philippe Ramos Iyi Seneler Londra Gerard Berkun Oya 2008 Tokyo! Merde Leos Carax (4) Comment Albert vit bouger les montagnes Harold Vasselin2009 Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie André Custe Eric Woreth TV series (1 Episode) Les Williams Alban Mench Short Tamanrasset Philippe Merzak Allouache TV movie The Temptation of St. Tony Count Dionysos Korzybski Veiko Õunpuu Les cow-boys n'ont pas peur de mourir Voice Anne-Laure Daffis, Léo Marchand Short Obsession(s) Marc Douelec Frédéric Tellier TV movie2010 Via Denis Leonore Mercier Short Je, François Villon, voleur, assassin, poète Bezon Serge Meynard TV movie Tandis qu'en bas des hommes en armes Vilard Samuel Rondière Short HH, Hitler à Hollywood Himself Frédéric Sojcher Io sono con te Sapiente Guido Chiesa Enterrez nos chiens Lucas Frédéric Serve 2011 Atlantika Jack Igor Voloshin Short My Little Princess Ernst Eva Ionesco Les amours perdues Vincent Samanou Acheche Sahlstrøm Short Hop-o'-My-Thumb The Ogre Marina de Van Waster Philippe Prouff, Virginie Nallet Short2012 L'oeil de l'astronome Kepler Stan Neumann Holy Motors Mr. Oscar/ The Banker / The Beggar / The Motion Capture Actor / Monsieur Merde / The Father / The Accordionist / The Killer / The Killed / The Dying / The Man at Home Leos Carax (5) Chicago International Film Festival - Best ActorToronto Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorIndiewire Critics' Poll - Best PerformanceInternational Cinephile Society Awards - Best ActorNominated - César Award for Best ActorNominated - Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorNominated - Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated - Italian Online Movie Award for Best ActorNominated - Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best ActorNominated - Lumière Award for Best ActorNominated - National Society of Film Critics Award for Best ActorNominated - New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best ActorNominated - Online Film Critics Society Award for Best ActorNominated - Village Voice Film Poll - Best ActorNominated - International Online Cinema Awards - Best Actor L'étoile du jour Elliot Sophie Blondy 2013 Barricade: le film Short Fatigués d'être beaux The duke Anne-Laure Daffis (2), Léo Marchand (2) Short Marussia The tramp Eva Pervolovici Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas The theologist Arnaud des Pallières Les grandes marées Marc Mathias Pardo Short Méandres Voice Elodie Bouedec, Florence Miailhe, Mathilde Philippon-Aginski Short Je sens plus la vitesse Joanne Delachair Short Jiminy Otto Hoffmann Arthur Môlard Short2014 Dassault, l'homme au pardessus Marcel Dassault Olivier Guignard TV movie Journey to the West Dragon Tsai Ming-liang Liberté, égalité, cheveux lissés The white man Elefterios Zakaropoulos Short Agafay Olivier Nikolcic Short Iron Ivan Eugene de Paris Gleb Orlov Le mystère des jonquilles Sam Jean-Pierre Mocky Pitchipoï Pierre Schulmann Charles Najman Fracas Kévin Noguès Short2015 Graziella Antoine Mehdi Charef Eva no duerme Koenig Pablo Agüero Phasme Jean Maéva Ranaivojaona Short History's Future Lottery Ticket Seller Fiona Tan Me and Kaminski Karl-Ludwig Wolfgang Becker 21 Nights with Pattie André Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu Full House The Hangman Quentin Bocksberger Short 2016 Boris Without Béatrice (Boris sans Béatrice) The Unknown Denis Côté Louis-Ferdinand Céline, deux clowns dans la catastrophe Louis-Ferdinand Céline Emmanuel Bourdieu2018 À nos pères Monsieur Loyal Franchin Don The MountainJack Rick Alverson The Emperor of Paris Maillard Jean-François Richet The Night Eats the World Alfred Dominique Rocher2020 Night of the Kings (La Nuit des rois) Silence Philippe Lacôte Gagarine Gérard Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh 2022 Human Flowers of Flesh Galoup Helena Wittmann 2024 It's Not Me Leos Carax (6) 2025 L'Étranger Salamano François Ozon2026Redoubt (Värn)Karl-Göran PerssonJohn Skoog2026In the NightManMikai KarlMusic Video by Beck
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External links
«Cache-cache avec la mort» de Mikhail Volokhov. Mise en scène de Bernard Sobel. Avec Denis Lavant et Hugues Quester. CACHE-CACHE AVEC LA MORT / PARIS! PARIS! / LE CALVAIRE DE TCHIKATILO (Coffret VOLOKHOV : de théâtre contemporain russe - VO Russe - Sous-titres : français – anglais – DVD)