Alexandre Astier (born 16 June 1974) is a French writer, director,

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, scriptwriter,

humorist A humorist is an intellectual who uses humor, or wit, in writing or public speaking. A raconteur is one who tells anecdotes in a skillful and amusing way. Henri Bergson writes that a humorist's work grows from viewing the morals of society ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. Astier is most known as the creator, director, writer, editor, composer, and lead actor of the French television series '' Kaamelott'', in which he also plays

King Arthur According to legends, King Arthur (; ; ; ) was a king of Great Britain, Britain. He is a folk hero and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain. In Wales, Welsh sources, Arthur is portrayed as a le ...

Life and career

Alexandre Astier was born in

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

on June 16, 1974, to Joëlle Sevilla and Lionnel Astier, both actors and producers mostly in

's theatre scene. Alexandre Astier studied music at the conservatory and at the American School of Modern Music of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He also studied acting and screenwriting. Four of Astier's seven children have featured in ''Kaamelott'', and both his parents are main characters in the series. His daughters Ariane and Jeanne Astier play respectively Mehben and Mehgan, the daughters of Karadoc and Maevanwi (in the episodes Pupi and Exiles). His son Neil (who also appears as Karadoc and Mevanwi's son in Pupi) plays young Arthur in the season Book V, and in the final scene of Book VI. His son Ethan plays Arthur's dream heir in Book V. Moreover, the mother of his first five children, Anne-Gaëlle Daval, is head of the costume designs on ''Kaamelott'' and the short film '' Dies Irae''. In 2012, he plays

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

in his humorous show "Que ma joie demeure !" at the theater. In 2014, his comic show "L'Exoconférence" begins at the theater in September. Passionate of technologies, he confirms in 2018 on twitter, that Kaamelott's film adaptation has been written with a bepo keyboard on a

raspberry pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...

, running Wordgrinder text-editor software. He also owns a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

Ardèche Ardèche (; , ; ) is a Departments of France, department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Southeastern France. It is named after the river Ardèche (river), Ardèche and had a population of 328,278 as of 2019.songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

of the short movies ''Soyons sport'' and ''Un soupçon fondé sur quelque chose de gras''. In 2002 he was the director of ''Dies Irae'', a 14-minute short movie that is also the first draft of the ''Kaamelott'' TV show. In 2006, he featured in '' Hey Good Looking!'', a French movie by Lisa Azuelos. The same year, he appeared in ''

Asterix at the Olympic Games ''Asterix at the Olympic Games'' is the 12th comic book album in the Asterix series. Serialized in Pilote issues 434–455 in 1968 (to coincide with the Mexico City Olympics), it was translated into English in 1972 (to coincide with the Muni ...

'' by Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann, and in ''Home Sweet Home'' by Didier Le Pêcheur. In 2009, he played the role of the ex-husband of

Sophie Marceau Sophie Marceau (; born Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu, 17 November 1966) is a French actress. As a teenager, she achieved popularity with her debut films ''La Boum'' (1980) and ''La Boum 2'' (1982), receiving a César Award for Most Promising Act ...

in '' LOL (Laughing Out Loud)'', another comedy by Lisa Azuelos. In 2012, he presented his first feature film as a director, '' David et Madame Hansen'', in which he played the main protagonist alongside

Isabelle Adjani Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. ...

. In 2014, he was the co-director and the screenwriter of '' Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods''. In 2015, he appeared in the film '' All Three of Us'', directed by Kheiron. In 2018, he wrote an original screenplay for a new Asterix movie: Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion. Like Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods, he co-directed it with Louis Clichy. In 2025, he plays the role of a drunken shrink in the second season of '' Bref.'' He had already appeared as a cameo in the first season.

Kaamelott

Alexandre Astier became famous as the writer, director and actor in the TV show he produced. '' Kaamelott'' is inspired by the story of

and the

Knights of the Round Table The Knights of the Round Table (, , ) are the legendary knights of the fellowship of King Arthur that first appeared in the Matter of Britain literature in the mid-12th century. The Knights are a chivalric order dedicated to ensuring the peace ...

. This humorous series is broadcast on the French channel M6. The episodes lasted three and a half minutes until 2007. Then, the format changed to seven minutes and finally reached fifty-five minutes per episode in the last season Book VI. He also composes the music of the series. He has the ambition to extend the TV show to the cinema as a

trilogy A trilogy is a set of three distinct works that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games. Three-part works that are considered components of ...

, but not before 2012, since Alexandre Astier plans to work as a director on another movie before launching Kaamelott on the big screen. In June 2010, invited on the set of the show "J'irai LOLer sur vos tombes", he unveiled his project to publish a series of graphic novels titled ''Kaamelott Resistance'' as a transition between the TV format and the future cinema films.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web series

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astier, Alexandre 1974 births Living people Mass media people from Lyon French male television actors French television directors French male film actors French film directors French male screenwriters French screenwriters 20th-century French dramatists and playwrights 21st-century French dramatists and playwrights 20th-century French male writers French people of Spanish descent 21st-century French male writers Officiers of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres French humorists French male comedians Comedians from Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes