The famous actor Johan Leisen died at the age of 73 On the Flemish VRT website. He began his career in theater in Belgium and the Netherlands, then went on to film and the small screen, appearing in more than 130 films and television programs.
Born in 1950 in Hasselt, Belgium, Johan Leysen began his career in 1978 starring in the mini-series In His Apartment on the life of Belgian Baroque painter Peter Powell Rubens (Rubens, Schilder in Diplomacy). Three Flemish feature films later (including In Alle Stilte in 1978), he crossed the border and distinguished himself in France in director Marion Hensel’s first film: On Earth as in Heaven (1981).
From Godard to Malick
1981 was also a turning point in his (young) career, since it was from that moment that Johan Leysen split between Belgium and France, where the audience can see him in an episode of Enquêtes du Commissioner Maigret (with Jean Richard in the title role) or the last five minutes before seeing him , in theaters, credited to Jean-Luc Godard’s Hail Mary (1985).
This was followed by an adaptation of Claude d’Anna’s Macbeth (in which he impersonated Banquo), André Delvaux’s L’Oeuvre au noir and Gérard Corbiau’s Le Maître de musique (1988), a film director he would find. In 2000, in Dances of Kings.
Meanwhile, Johan Leysen left French cinema for almost four years (1988-1992) in favor of Belgium, where he made many films, television films and series. His return to France was with Radu Mihaileanu, who first cast him in Betrayal (1992) and found him again six years later in Train de vie.
In addition to slowing down her work, she also starred in Patrice Chereau’s La Reine Margot (1993), Enki Bilal’s Tykho Moon (1996), Raúl Ruiz’s Les Ames forts (2000), as well as two major productions: Le Pacte. des loups by Christoph Gans (2001) and La Sirène rouge by Olivier Megaton (2002).
After leaving the big screen for several series (including Boulevard du Palais or Clara Sheller in France) and the morning in Belgium), Johan Leysen returned in 2006 opposite Christophe Lambert in Vatanen’s Le Lièvre, then faced a young Deborah François and a troubled past that resurfaced in Alain Roust’s L’Eté Indien (2007).

Eclectic, as comfortable in productions for the general public as auteur and intimate films, Johan Leysen also directed François Ozon in the film Jeune & Jolie, and even for Terrence Malick in the masterpiece “The Secret Life”, which was released in 2019. He played the role of Simone Delballe in the Belgian TV series Pandora with Anne Cozens and Joan Blanc in 2022.
“I consider my job a profession. I am a craftsman, not an artist. I am a happy man and I love doing my job. There is nothing more to say.” said this monster of the cinema, who leaves behind a long career rich in more than 130 roles.
Source: Allocine

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