Francis Leplay

Francis Leplay is a French actor, film director and novelist.

An alumnus of France's National Academy of Dramatic Arts and Sciences Po, Leplay began acting on television in episodes of the French detective series Julie Lescaut and Navarro. His first film role was in Laurence Ferreira Barbosa's J'ai horreur de l'amour (I Hate Love) in 1997.

His career took off in the 2000s, and he soon started acting in films by directors including Sofia Coppola, Noémie Lvovsky, Arnaud Desplechin, and Benoît Jacquot as well as in the television series Spiral.

Leplay has also acted in theater productions with directors Denis Podalydès and Lambert Wilson in venues including Lincoln Center, the Mossovet Theatre, and the Bouffes du Nord.

The Éditions du Seuil published two of his novels, 2006's Après le spectacle, a work of autofiction comparing intermittent acting work and romantic uncertainty, and 2009's Samuel et Alexandre, which follows two men staking out the bounds of their friendship.

In 2021, Leplay and French-American filmmaker Isidore Bethel co-directed the docufiction hybrid film Acts of Love, which premiered at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.