What is the best thing that I love about my work?
I’m an author and actress and I work on the subjects I’m interested in. I create my own one woman shows and talk with humor about what I think is really important: open our eyes to what’s going on right now on this planet, in an ecological but also social and political way.
I also work on other projects (scenarios and a book), in which I’m guided by the same goals.

What is my idea of happiness?
My idea of happiness is that it can be a little more shared by everyone… Because too many people are suffering more and more and it’s happening right now in France.
We should go on fighting for our rights, because they are destroyed by the Macron oligarchy, dismantling labor code and public services, smashing lower classes, killing the earth in the name of profit…

What is my greatest fear?
That they succeed in their project and that people don’t really object… In France we are at a moment somewhere in-between Don’t look up and films from Ken Loach!
But the current social movement could be a good sign.

What is the trait that I most deplore in myself?
When I’m too depressed by the state of things to act… But what makes me stand up is that I deeply feel that it’s not only about my own evolution and happiness, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Which living persons in my profession do i most admire?
Artists who have the courage to talk about what’s going on, in their own way (humoristic or not) : Ken Loach for all his films, Adam McKay for The other guy, The Big Short and Don’t look up, Steven Soderbergh for Erin Brokovich, Hayao Miyazaki for all his films, Andrew Stanton for Wall-E, Adam Price for Borgen, Eric Benzekri for Baron Noir, Robert and Michelle King for The Good Fight, Armando Iannucci for Veep, Jean-Pascal Zadi for En place…

I’m just deploring the fact that there aren’t many women and not many French neither in this list… The first ones can revenge by having sometimes the first roles and little by little we are making progress, the second ones are facing a form of censure in France. Because of the way the shows are financed, the decisions are made by a white and bourgeois oligarchy, who doesn’t really want to talk about ecological and political problems, because they live in a closed world where it obviously doesn’t exist…

What is my greatest extravagance?
To think I still can succeed in creating my own series on these subjects… I already have shot a Pilot (in which Bruno Solo, a famous French actor, played a small role) and am working on it…

On what occasion would I lie?
Only when it would be necessary to protect myself or the people I love. Otherwise, it works better for me to show me as I am! Even if it keeps away certain people, it brings back to me the best ones for me, both in life and work!

What is the thing that I dislike the most in my work?
What I said before: the difficulty of achieving political ecological artistic projects in France now…

When and where was I the happiest, in my work?
On stage, when there was a connection with the audience …
In the process of writing a script, when I could feel the story was taking shape…

If I could, what would I change about myself?
Sometimes I wish I hadn’t crisis of melancholy and angriness… But considering the state of the world head-on, means I cannot avoid these moments… I’m just working on accepting them… and converting them then into my work!

What is my greatest achievement in work?
To have written and played in 3 one woman shows (the last one is currently on stage) and to have written and directed 1 theater play about subjects I think are important and have an audience for it…

Where would I most like to live?
In a house that has sufficient terrain to cultivate a forest garden on it…

What is my most treasured possession?
My life? I’m not “a material girl”! 😉 I would say the life path I browsed is my most treasured possession, all difficulties and great joys together!

What is my most marked characteristic?
My authenticity, my tenacity, and my concern about what is happening on earth…

What is my most inspirational location, in my city?
I like to take a walk in a place in a lagoon from where you can see the sea and birds coming and flying…

What is my favorite place to eat and drink, in my city?
When the weather is fine, I like to have a drink on the terraces at the port…

What books influenced my life and how?
La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes by Gaetan Soucy for the liberty you can take by writing in accordance with the subject, Foundation by Isaac Asimov for the reflection on humanity’s trajectory, A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf for the reflection on femininity and literature and freedom, Les Années by Annie Ernaux for the way she mixes History and personal history…

You Only Die Once. What music would I listen on my last day?
So, this is the part when you place “the almost James Bond’s titles”, hum?
To be serious, I would say a happy one.

Who is my hero or heroine in fiction?
Erin Brokovich (in fiction but it’s a real human being so in life too!), Hypatia in Agora by Alejandro Amenabar, Paul Kerjean in Mille milliards de dollars by Henri Verneuil, …

Who are my heroes and heroines in real life?
Vandana Shiva, François Ruffin (a French journalist and deputy), Mona Chollet (a Swiss journalist who wrote a lot about feminism in his different aspects), Kate Winslet for facing the cinema industries by assuming and imposing her wrinkles and imperfections, …

Which movie would i recommend to see once in a lifetime?
It’s too difficult to pick just one! I already gave indications in my list of persons I admire… 😉

What role play stories in my life and work?
An integral part! Books, films, theater plays influenced me, and I also tell stories through my work, inspired by or talking about what I live, see and read about the current society…

What do the words ‘You are the storyteller of your own life’ to me?
We are in charge with our own choices and should make them in accordance with our own coherence, we can create our personal shaped job by cultivating freedom of mind… However, our choices are also often the reflection of a certain society (it’s good to be conscious of it) and most of all they must manage with (or fight against or bypass) the way it works, i.e., capitalism, liberalism… not that elementary, my dear Watson!

Who is my greatest fan, sponsor, partner in crime?
I luckily met some great people who at different steps of my journey helped me…
At this moment, I can say I wouldn’t have created and persisted in diffusing my new one woman show without the help and encouragement of my stage director Jessie Troja, because the last years were (and still are) hard with covid, tougher conditions for independent creation, etc.
I also have very close and precious friends and members of family whose presence all along the way are helpful and, of course, my companion and our daughter who enlightens life with her look on things and on what I do! (and this is the part like a thank you speech at an awards ceremony!)

What project, in 2023, am I looking forward to work on?
I’m looking forward to replaying my new one woman show and to succeed in diffusing it, in order to have more dates! I’m developing other projects too… I hope they’ll concretize themselves… And I’m open to surprising offers that can come to me, as it already happened before!

Where can you see me or my work in 2023?
You can see me on stage in my new one woman show Bataille (“Battle”) in Paris, in Le Bourvil Theater on 13th of April, 11th of May, 8th of June and 6th of July and other dates are being programmed at different places… to be continued!
> Reservations here.

What do the words “Passion Never Retires” mean to me?
It means I can’t stop doing what I do because it animates me deeply… even if it’s sometimes hard to stay on course!

Which creative professionals should Peter invite to tell their story?

Aude Boissaye, because she’s a great photographer, she works with usual supports but also know how to work with the old and impressive technique of collodion…

Maureen, because she’s a wonderful stylist who also elaborates natural tainting for her original creations…

Caroline Mercier, because she’s an excellent dancer, singer and comedian and is searching in all these areas with joy and kindness…

How can you contact me?
Via my website: www.charlottenormand.com
And my facebook page: www.facebook.com/PageCharlotteNormand