The Alésien is enjoying his fertile period in a career spanning more than two decades: theater, television films, films, daily series, improvisation shows, he has a series of projects and roles, neglecting no genre. Without forgetting to transmit, creation of a festival in support. In his region of course.
“You never know what their name is.”
A few years ago, the magazine First published each week a small section thus titled, dedicated to an actor, or an actress, which everyone could submit immediately upon discovering their photo, as their presence systematically left an indelible mark on the film. But which no one could put a name to.
It is not an insult to Pascal Miralles to say that he fits into this category. You have seen him, as a lawyer or a police commissioner, as an architect or a prison guard, but you do not immediately identify him. This is how it is, a sort of dual-focus notoriety.
Born and raised in Alès
An observation to be qualified, however, as soon as we drop his name in the region. Because we are talking about a Gardois born in Alès, where he grew up (going to the Alphonse-Daudet college – where his vocation was born, read opposite – and the Jean-Baptiste Dumas high school), who began his apprenticeship in the profession as an actor at the Nîmes conservatory, before moving to the capital, and to Cours Florent in particular.
In other words, someone from here lives, works and flourishes, which was not necessarily possible at the beginning, in this 21e century just emerging, when the activity of the audiovisual sector in the former Languedoc-Roussillon was very far from experiencing the excitement that it enjoys today. This is also what the story of Pascal Miralles tells.
Classics and humor
“In 2003, I lost my dad, and I decided to return to the south. And I started working in Montpellier, at the Kawa Théâtre. With the play Mint tea or lemon tea, which I stage with my friend Christophe Pujol” he remembers while sipping a coffee on Place de la Canourgue, under the autumn sun in Montpellier.
The vocation born in college
What is a vocation? In the case of Pascal Miralles, it all started with participation in a theater workshop at his college in Alès. Followa Rendering for alla play by Boris Vian (now a little forgotten), in which he plays the main role, at high school. “My vocation comes from there, really. After that, I wanted to train and go to the conservatory.”
The rest, we now know.
After this start, there follows a show, La Maison du Bonheur, of four times 90 minutes with the Bao company, and there he is in orbit. “Afterwards, it’s true, I don’t know a soft stomach, I play a lot in the theater”. Classics (Antigone d’Anouilh, The king is dying of Ionesco, End of game Beckett’s Condemned property by Tennessee Williams), and “the humor, above all, I really liked”.
“We were born on humorous scenes” confirms his friend and accomplice for twenty years Christophe Pujol, originally from Carcassonne.“Since our beginnings, we have crossed paths, we have found each other. We have created plays together, and an improv troupe, with his brother. And we are having a blast! He wears many hats, with great comic power” he testifies.
First filming with “Candice Renoir”
Then came a first professional shoot for Pascal Miralles, a first real time in front of a camera: “It was in 2013, in an episode of the first season of Candice Renoir. I had a sentence to say!”
The television roles follow one another, one in the series The innocent of TF1, two others, different, in seasons 5 and 6 of Candice Renoir (“a lawyer, then a suspect!” »).
At the theater Saturday October 26 in the evening
If Pascal Miralles speaks of the Émergences festival, over whose destiny he presides, as his “baby”he can just as easily claim authorship of the play that he plays, that he wrote and that he directed.
Wonderfully titled We thought about calling the show Pinocchio Returns but ultimately we chose Charlottehe presents it, this Saturday, October 26 at the Palais des Congrès in La Grande-Motte, at 8:30 p.m. He shares the stage with the young actress Juliette Gillis, “a virtuoso” he maintains.
Then he discovered daily fiction with Such a big sunwhere, for two seasons, he played the role of police officer Valentin Humeau. “The dailies are educational, with directors with very different styles. You have to be concentrated, very rigorous, it goes quickly. But the conditions offered by France Télévisions are very good, both in terms of organization and by the family side of the teams” he appreciates.
In Sète or Saint-Laurent-d’Aigouze
In this niche, he will work for Tomorrow belongs to usor Here it all beginsin Sète or in Saint-Laurent-d’Aigouze in the Gard. “This is the big change in recent years, he notes. We are no longer obliged to go to Paris to practice our profession. With all these filmings, particularly for series, there are now studios and agents here. , schools, work All that’s missing is a script school, and one for costumes. A real ecosystem has been born, with a lot of benefits for the region.
His own agent, Jérôme Léguillier, based in… Sète, confirms: “Pascal, this love of a man and this admirable actor, had always worked independently. Without an agent, for twenty years! It was two different casting directors, with whom he sometimes did internships in Paris, who spoke to me about him. We’ve been together for eight months, he joined L’Agence singulière, I think it gives a boost to his career as far as the image profession is concerned.
“Not a complicated actor”
And to describe “a very positive and enthusiastic actor and man, not boring. He’s not a complicated actor. I don’t want to say that he’s not a complex actor, but in any case, he doesn’t bother his entourage with that.”
A youthful hero
“I play a small role in the next film directed by Pierre Richard. Pierre Richard, you know! The first film I saw at the cinema was The Goat, I was 9 years old, I loved it !” enthuses Pascal Miralles.
A film called The man who saw the bear who saw the manfilmed this October in Gruissan, in Aude, on the actor’s adopted land, “around his home. I met him before filming, he is an extraordinary man, with incredible liveliness and humor. I am very, very happy to be directed by him! “.
And Pascal Miralles works tirelessly. Always on the go, between theater and filming: “Three police roles already” he laughs. It lists: “In Pierre Richard’s film, in Maurice Barthélémy’s next film, All the blue of the sky, an adaptation of the best-seller by Mélissa Da Costa, and then in a TF1 series that I will be filming from November to MarchThe sky of Montmartre.”
Rich news
But Pascal Miralles’ news does not stop at this abundance of titles. We will soon see the Alésien in the Disney + series The missing from the station (on the missing from Perpignan station, released in early 2025), an episode of Panda, series – with Julien Doré, another regional member of the stage – also toured in the region, and “in which, for the first time, I play a blind man”or in My name is Mariannea film by Australian director Michael Bond.
“Pascal is really turned towards others, he helps, he is open. He can do anything, he has the ability to play, to teach, to produce, to set up a theater or a festival” breath, cheerful, Christophe Pujol.
The Emergences festival, “my baby”
A dit-il festival? “Oui, answers Pascal Miralles. The Emergences festival is my baby, which I carry with the Cercle Mozart, and which aims to highlight and support young talents from Occitania in the cultural and creative industries and theater.”
Calls for projects in multiple disciplines and short film competitions are or will be launched, before the big day of the first edition which will take place on May 17, 2025 at Kiasma, in Castelnau-le-Lez. Still in his region:“This is also what I want to say to these young people. We can do it, and we can do it here.”
