Salim Kéchiouche

Salim Kechiouche is a young French actor. He was born in Lyon (France), on April 2, 1979.

While only 15 years old, he is first discovered by French actor/director Gaël Morel. Morel gave him his first role in a feature film in the movie À Toute Vitesse (Full Speed). This movie was released in 1996. Since then, Salim Kechiouche has played in most of Morel's works including Premières Neiges in 1999, Le Clan (Three Dancing Slaves) in 2004 and, more recently in Après Lui. For his first movies, while still a teenager, making movies is more or less just a game. His experiences with Gaël Morel will gradually develop his passion for acting and will push him to make it a career. This is how he decides to enter theater school that he will complete by 2002.

Over the years, he also worked under other directors such as François Ozon, and with other new French directors.

In 2003, he plays Karim in Gigolo, directed by German director Bastian Schweitzer, with Amanda Lear who plays a star of the past having an affair with Karim, a gigolo trying to get his life back on track, trapped into a spiral of self-destruction in the artificial jet-set world in Paris. This film was nominated in official competition for the Golden Bear Award in the Best Short Film category at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.

Although he has played a few gay or bisexual characters since he started his acting career, his portfolio of roles now encompass a wide spectrum of characters in short and feature films, plays and TV series. Among his movies, he was particularly noticed in Grande École playing Mécir and also in his role of Hicham in the movie Le Clan, released as "Three Dancing Slaves" in the U.S. Both movies were released in 2004. On stage, in Paris, he also played the role of Giuseppe Pelosi, the killer and lover of Pier Paolo Pasolini in "Vie et Mort de Pier Paolo Pasolini" written by Michel Azama.

He was once a boxing athlete and champion. He was kick boxing champion in France in 1998 and also vice-champion in thai boxing in 1999 and in 2002. His boxing talents were used on a few occasions in some of his films where he played a boxing athlete, notably in Les Amants Criminels, Archives De Nuit, Le Clan, Nos Retrouvailles and when playing himself in the Cinematon experiment.

Some artists - painters and photographs - have shown interest and inspiration in exploiting his look and his physiognomy since the beginning of his career. Among these artists, Pierre et Gilles, for photographs and paintings related to the movie Les Amants Criminels, released as "Criminal Lovers" in the U.S. and for the play "Vie et Mort de Pier Paolo Pasolini" in 2003. We can also name Youssef Nabil in 2005 as well as Michel Giliberti - a French painter and author - in 2006 who exploited the dark side of his physiognomy through a dozen of paintings.

Salim Kechiouche now lives in Paris sharing his time between cinema and theater.

Filmography

Feature Films

• À Toute Vitesse, released as "Full Speed" in the U.S., by Gaël Morel, 1996, playing Jamel
• Premières Neiges, by Gaël Morel, 1999, playing Kacem
• Les Amants Criminels, released as "Criminal Lovers" in the U.S., by François Ozon, 1999, playing Saïd
• Grande École, released as "Grande École" in the U.S., by Robert Salis, 2004, playing Mécir
• Le Clan, released as "Three Dancing Slaves" in the U.S., by Gaël Morel, 2004, playing Hicham
• L'Année Suivante, by Isabelle Czajka, 2007, playing Nayib
• Nos Retrouvailles, by David Oelhoffen, 2006, playing Karim, in post-production, to be released in 2007
• Après Lui, by Gaël Morel, 2006, playing Salim, in post-production, to be released in 2007

Short Films

• Couscous Pour Tout Le Monde by Vincent Pesci, 2004, playing Luc
• Pas Sans Moi by Sandra Dalle, experimental short, 2004, playing Golden Boy
• Gigolo (color version)/Archives De Nuit (black and white version) by Bastian Schweitzer, 2005, competing for the Golden Berlin Bear Award in the Best Short Film category at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival, playing Karim
• Temps Morts or A Summer Afternoon by Éléonore Weber, 2005, playing Saïd
• Cinematon by Gérard Courant, participated in the "Cinematon" experiment - #2,102 in the collection, 2005, playing himself
• Yasmina by Vincent Pesci, 2006, playing Sofiane
• Er-radja, Le Retour by Pascal Faure, 2006, documentary with the actor going back to his roots in Algeria

TV Series

• « La Promesse de l'Ours », episode of « Malone », by Franck Apprederis, 2003
• « En Quarantaine », episode of Le Grand Patron, by Christian Bonnet, 2004, playing Sami
• « Balle Perdue », episode n°147 of Préjudices on France 2, by Frédéric Berthe, 2006
• « La Grande Inondation », docudrama in French and English, by Bruno Victor-Pugebet, 2006, playing Malik

Plays

• Radio play for Radio France Lyon: A l'Ombre d'Ambre, 2001, directed by Edmonde Franchi
• Radio play for Radio France Lyon: Le Piqueur de Macadam by François Thomazeau, 2002, directed by Edmonde Franchi
• Radio play for France Culture: Lumières - Une Tuerie by Julien Collet, 2002
• Les Derniers Jours de l'Humanité by Karl Kraus, directed by Salvadora Parras, 2002
• Vie et Mort de Pier Paolo Pasolini by Michel Azama, directed by Jean Menaud, May-June 2003, Paris, playing Giuseppe Pelosi
• Le Centième Nom by Michel Giliberti, directed by Stéphane Aucante, November 2005-February 2006, playing Jihed
• Les Grecs by Jean-Marie Besset, directed by Gilbert Désveaux, April-July 2006, Paris, playing Osman
• Un Petit Pull Over Angora by Daniel Saint Hamont, directed by David Haddad, October-December 2006, Paris, playing Mohammed Habibi
• Rupture Entre Amis by Frédéric Rondot, directed by Frédéric Rondot, May-June 2007, Paris, playing Karim

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