Léonie Simaga

Acting

Léonie Simaga

Born 1977-11-30 · Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France

Léonie Simaga, born in 1978 in Marseille, is a French actress and director, member of the Comédie-Française from 2010 to 2015. Her father and mother met in Rennes during their studies. She, from Brittany, is preparing to teach French. He, from Mali, is an agricultural engineer. His Breton grandfather, Jean-Baptiste Le Gall, died during the liberation of Brest in 1944, was decorated with the Legion of Honor. After her baccalaureate obtained at the House of Education of the Legion of Honor, she entered hypokhâgne, then khâgne in Parisian high schools and then obtained her diploma from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris4 (class of 20025). She also holds a degree in history. She studied theater at the Asnières Studio-theater, then at the National Higher Conservatory of Dramatic Art from 2002 to 2005. She played at the Comédie-Française in Esther by Racine, then in 2004, in Papa must eat by Marie NDiaye . She was hired as a resident in 2005. She notably performed the role of the Infanta in Corneille's Le Cid during the 2005-2006 season, and in 2007 played the role of Chimène in the same play, alternating with the role of Lucietta in Goldoni's play Il campiello. She became a member of the Comédie-Française on January 1, 2010. Léonie Simaga also directs several productions for the Comédie-Française such as, in 2007, Pour un oui ou pour un non by Nathalie Sarraute and, in 2014, Othello by William Shakespeare. She left the Comédie-Française at the end of 2015.

Acting credits

Guru poster
6.1

Matt, a charismatic coach, captivates crowds until he spirals into a disturbing downward spiral.

Guru

2026

Jeune Femme poster
5.8

Broke, with nothing but her cat to her name and doors closing in her face, Paula is back in Paris after a long absence. As she meets different people along the way, there is one thing she knows for sure: she's determined to make a new start and she'll do it with style and panache.

Jeune Femme

2017

Little Tickles poster
7.4

Odette is a 8-yr-old girl who loves to dance and draw. Once she has become an adult, Odette realizes she was abused, and immerses herself body and soul in her career as a dancer while trying to deal with her past.

Little Tickles

2018

L'Amour Médecin suivi de Le Sicilien ou l'Amour Peintre poster
NR

Sganarelle is obstinate. He categorically refuses to allow Clitandre to marry his daughter Lucinda. To get around this obstacle, she develops a stratagem, with the help of Lisette, her maid. She feigned illness, forcing her father to call in doctors who proved incompetent. The servant then proposes an outstanding doctor, who is none other than Clitandre in disguise... This comedy-ballet in three acts, written to music by Jean-Baptiste Lully, was the first play that Molière's troupe staged as the king's troupe, in 1665. It was followed by another short play: The Sicilian or Love Painter. Cover: On the left, Clitandre, in the centre Lucinde, on the right Sganarelle.

L'Amour Médecin suivi de Le Sicilien ou l'Amour Peintre

2006

L'Orientalisme poster
10.0

Orientalism is a literary and artistic movement born in Western Europe in the 18th century. Through its scale and popularity, throughout the 19th century, it marked the interest and curiosity of artists and writers for the countries of the West (the Maghreb) or the Levant (the Middle East). Orientalism was born from the fascination of the Ottoman Empire and followed its slow disintegration and the progression of European colonizations. This exotic trend is associated with all the artistic movements of the 19th century, academic, romantic, realistic or even impressionist. It is present in architecture, music, painting, literature, poetry... Picturesque aesthetics, confusing styles, civilizations and eras, orientalism has created numerous clichés and clichés that we still find today in literature or cinema.

L'Orientalisme

2019

The Peace and Love Process poster
5.1

Marie and Simon, a couple with two children, are deeply in love despite constant fights in their paired life. To save their marriage, they come up with a chart of Ten Rules to seek love and peace.

The Peace and Love Process

2023

All About Actresses poster
5.9

A director wants to make a documentary about actresses, all actresses: the popular ones, the unknown ones, the intellectuals, the comedians, the forgotten ones... Filming everything, with or without their consent, the director gets caught up in the game and lets herself be devoured by these women, who are as fragile as they are manipulative.

All About Actresses

2009

Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light poster
6.2

The artistic career of American actress Mia Farrow has been that of a passionate and committed woman who became the embodiment of a special kind of femininity, halfway between innocence and madness.

Mia Farrow: Shadows and Light

2025

Alice and the Mayor poster
6.2

The mayor of Lyon, Paul Théraneau, is in a delicate position. After 30 years in politics, he is running out of ideas and is faced with a feeling of existential emptiness. To overcome this, Paul hires a young and brilliant philosopher, Alice Heimann. Then follows a dialogue between two diametrically opposed personalities who will turn their certainties upside down.

Alice and the Mayor

2019

Mon pote poster
6.0

The story of a friendship between Victor, owner of a magazine, and Bruno, a car thief.

Mon pote

2010

No artwork available
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Ça va bien se passer

Maisonneuve - A School of the World poster
5.0

Over a dozen students at this school in Quebec were radicalised. To tackle the issue, a pilot project was launched to heal divides within the student body. It's a hybrid cultural model, made up of the many cultures of its students.

Maisonneuve - A School of the World

2020

The Green Perfume poster
5.3

In the middle of a performance at la Comédie-Française, an actor dies on stage, poisoned. Martin, member of the troupe and friend of the victim, becomes the center of everyone’s attention. Suspected by the police, he’s also chased by a mysterious organization, Le Parfum vert, that seems to have ordered the murder.

The Green Perfume

2022

Respire poster
5.2

No synopsis available yet.

Respire

2023

Closed Circuit poster
6.0

Hired to oversee the security of a superstore, Pierre soon discovers a dark secret and becomes a threat to the system he helped create.

Closed Circuit

2013

Newark USA: Far from the American Dream poster
6.5

The story of the city of Newark, in the state of New Jersey, USA; unlikely capital of the struggle for civil rights in the legendary sixties of the convulsive twentieth century, told through the eyes of writers Philip Roth and Amiri Baraka, who were born and grew up there, in the ominous shadow of the immense New York.

Newark USA: Far from the American Dream

2023

Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening poster
7.9

How did a poor little black girl from Missouri become the Queen of Paris, before joining the French Resistance and finally creating her dream family “The Rainbow Tribe”, adopting twelve children from four corners of the world? This is the fabulous story of the first black superstar, Josephine Baker.

Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening

2018

Save Our School poster
5.5

A delightful and ebullient comedy on Paris’ first suburban “green school”.

Save Our School

2022

Les Justicières de Saint Flour poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Les Justicières de Saint Flour

2026

Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus, with Kiss as Deep as My Love poster
8.0

Victim of a terrible plot, Captain Dreyfus was sentenced in December 1894 to deportation for high treason. His wife Lucie made a pact with him: to live, whatever the cost, while awaiting rehabilitation. During five years, the Dreyfus spouses exchanged hundreds of letters. They became a weapon of survival for Alfred. This film is the story of the correspondence of a man and a woman who unwittingly became the unsung heroes of the case that bears their name.

Alfred and Lucie Dreyfus, with Kiss as Deep as My Love

2022

A Bit Before Midnight poster
NR

As he is about to separate from his partner, with whom he lives in Eastern France, 49-year-old Léo learns of the death of his biological father whom he never knew. Before traveling to Italy to deal with the inheritance, he spends a few days in Paris to take stock of his life. Between conversations with his activist daughter and encounters with ghosts from his past, he begins to question his very existence, and, above all, his relationships with women.

A Bit Before Midnight

2026

Just Love! poster
6.3

Silvia’s father grants her permission to meet Dorante, the man she’s promised to in marriage, by pretending to be her servant Lisette, who in turn will play the role of her mistress.

Just Love!

2013

Maïco : Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, la révoltée poster
NR

Communist, resistance fighter, deportee, Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier is one of the great heroines of the 20th century. Nicknamed Maïco, she became a photojournalist and embraced the class struggle at the same time as she fell in love with one of the figures of the Popular Front, Paul Vaillant-Couturier. During World War II, she joined the Resistance and later gave decisive testimony at Nuremberg.

Maïco : Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier, la révoltée

2024

Summer of revolution poster
7.0

No synopsis available yet.

Summer of revolution

2022