Born in Orléans, Laure Calamy had a passion for theatre since secondary school before going to the Conservatoire National de Paris where she met Olivier Py and Vincent Macaigne. The former would direct her from 2001 in Au monde comme n’y étant pas, then in Orlando ou l’impatience, and Les Parisiens. The latter would play opposite her in Un monde sans femmes (A World Without Women) before directing her in Ce qu’il restera de nous (What We'll Leave Behind). This theatre career spanning over 20 years would lead to a Molière Award in 2018 for her role in Le Jeu de l’amour et du hasard (The Game of Love and Chance), directed by Catherine Hiegel. The same year she was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ava by Léa Mysius. But she would have to wait until 2021 to finally clinch the César Award for Best Actress for her leading role in Caroline Vignal’s Antoinette dans les Cévennes (My Donkey, My Lover & I).

Laure Calamy’s career path was built over the long term by playing supporting roles and is characterised by her consistency. The actress who saw herself as a “circus lady” since her early childhood was then introduced to the general public in the series Call My Agent!, where she played Noémie, an assistant at a talent agency who’s secretly in love with her boss. Her career took off over the seasons, both for her as an actress and for her character Noémie, who earned her stripes in the ASK agency. Known for the wide range of emotions and characters she can portray, the actress takes it on herself to play with codes and to play around with assignments. She dabbles in improvisation with Vincent Macaigne as well as youth theatre, all while reasserting her unwillingness “to be limited by my body, by my body’s sex”.

At 45 years old, Laure Calamy found it hard to hide her emotion when she received the César Award for Best Actress in 2021 for her role in Caroline Vignal’s Antoinette dans les Cévennes (My Donkey, My Lover & I). In this comedy, a popular success in the summer of 2020, she plays a teacher in love with one of her student’s fathers, a married man who she nevertheless decides to follow on holidays with his family. During this trek, a nod to Stevenson’s Voyage avec un âne dans les Cévennes (Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes), she becomes friends with Patrick, a fickle and protective donkey. The screenplay for Antoinette dans les Cévennes immediately intrigued the actress, who saw in it many parallels of her own life, since her partner is a mountain guide based in the same region. Her interpretation of Antoinette, a fanciful and determined character, has since announced her as one of her generation’s unmissable actresses.