The versatile, pluridisciplinarian and multi-lingual French actress Amira Casar studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris and has appeared in more than seventy-five prestigious films and TV productions, as well as podcasts and radio plays.
Her films include the Quay brothers’ The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes, Anatomie de l’Enfer by Catherine Breillat, Thomas Gilou’s cult comedy trilogy La Vérité Si Je Mens!, for which she was nominated for a César award, Transylvania by Tony Gatlif (Official Selection Cannes Film Festival), Nuit de Chien by Werner Schroeter (Special Jury Prize at Venice Film Festival), Prenez Soin de Vous by the artist Sophie Calle (Venice Biennale, 2007), Bertrand Bonello’s Saint Laurent (Official Selection, Cannes, 2014). She has also worked with directors such as Carlos Saura, Anne Fontaine, Guy Maddin and Wolfgang Becker, in German. In 2017 she starred in Luca Guadagnino’s Oscar winning film: Call Me by Your Name.
Casar played the role of the Protestant spy Béatrice in the international series Versailles (2015). As surrealist artist Dora Maar in La Femme qui Pleure au Chapeau Rouge, she was named 'Best Actress' at the Festival de La Rochelle. She also appeared as Krystina in 40 for Channel 4 (2002), as a conductor and First Lady of France in the series Les sauvages (Canal +) by Rebecca Zlotowski in 2018.
Her stage roles have included Petra in The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Hedda in Hedda Gabler, Mindy in Aunt Dan and Lemon at the Almeida Theatre in London, as Ans in Les enfants de Saturne (Théâtre de l’Odéon), Goneril in Olivier Py’s production of King Lear (Festival d’Avignon, 2016). In 2018 as Olga in The Three Sisters directed by Simon Stone at the Théâtre de l’Odéon in Paris.
As for her musical work, in 2011 she performed at London’s Barbican Centre in the title role in Honegger’s oratorio Jeanne au Bûcher under Marin Alsop’s direction; in 2019 she was Medea in Cherubini’s Médée at the Salzburg Festival directed by Simon Stone and conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock (Wiener Philarmoniker); and in 2023 she starred as the Indian Queen in the opera by Purcell directed by Peter Sellars and conducted by Teodor Currentzis.
Amira Casar appeared in Soeurs d’armes (2018) by Caroline Fourest, Cigare au Miel (2021, Venice Film Festival) by Kamir Aïnouz, and Yaban by Tareq Daoud. In 2022 she starred with Chris Pine in the Hollywood film The Contractor by Tarek Saleh (Amazon Prime). In 2023 she played Edith Frank in the US series A Small Light (Disney+).
In 2015 Casar received the Académie Charles Cros Prize for recording Alice Munro’s Too Much Happiness and was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French government for her artistic achievements. In 2019 she was a jury member of the Semaine de la Critique, Festival de Cannes.
In 2023 she was patron of the prestigious poetry festival Le Printemps des Poètes and appeared in the film Visions by Yann Gozlan. She has just completed a TV series for Apple TV+ La Maison, playing one of the protagonists Perle Foster and will appear in Guillaume Nicloux’s film La Divine about Sarah Bernhardt, in 2024.
(photo: Richard Gianorio)
