Raphaël Quenard
Quenard came up the slow way, through short films, television and the sort of supporting part that gets one scene and no close-up. The credits trace the ramp neatly: a physics teacher in Zombi Child in 2019, Mika in Mama Weed the year after, Jeff in Paris, 13th District, then Rudy in November.
Then 2023 arrived all at once. Six French films released that year carry his name: Yannick, Junkyard Dog, All Your Faces, Jeanne du Barry, Gold Brick and My Sole Desire. He took three nominations at the 49th Cesar Awards, including Best Actor for Yannick, and won Best Male Revelation for Junkyard Dog. Revelation is the right word for someone who had been on screen for four years without anybody quite naming him.
What he does is talk. Mirales in Junkyard Dog, Benjamin Delarme in All Your Faces, Max in Smoking Causes Coughing: the register is the fast, wheedling, half-charming monologue, delivered by men who are certain they are being reasonable and are audibly not. He plays self-regard as a nervous condition rather than a mood, and he is funniest when the camera refuses to cut away and let him off.
Since the breakthrough the parts have got heavier. Manu in And Their Children After Them and Kiki in Beating Hearts are straight drama, with The Ties That Bind Us behind them and two more films listed for 2026.
Movies (17)
- My Sole Desire (2023)
- The American Dream (2026)
- Jeanne du Barry (2023)
- Beating Hearts (2024)
- Final Cut (2022)
- Paris, 13th District (2021)
- Gold Brick (2023)
- November (2022)
- The Ties That Bind Us (2025)
- All Your Faces (2023)
- Zombi Child (2019)
- Junkyard Dog (2023)
- And Their Children After Them (2024)
- Smoking Causes Coughing (2022)
- Yannick (2023)
- Full Phil (2026)
- Mama Weed (2020)
TV (1)
Where to start with Raphaël Quenard
Begin with Junkyard Dog. It is the performance the Cesar voters singled out, and the clearest look at what he does with a man who never stops explaining himself.
Yannick is the harder sell and the better test, since it hands him the title and dares you to spend an entire film in his company. If that works on you, All Your Faces shows the quiet procedural gear and Smoking Causes Coughing drops him into absurdist comedy where the timing has to survive a very silly premise.
Working backwards, Paris, 13th District and November catch him in support before anyone was looking. And Their Children After Them is where the serious dramatic offers start landing, and Jeanne du Barry is period costume and the least characteristic thing on the list.