“Cat’s Eyes” after “Here it all begins”: who is Claire Romain, the interpreter of the fiery Alexia?

By her own admission, she “struggled to hang on to the series”. “The funny thing is that I passed the casting for almost all the characters before arriving at Alexia”smiles Claire Romain. After a stint in the kitchens ofHere it all beginsthe bubbly redhead plays the youngest of the Chamade sisters in the adaptation of Cat’s Eyes on TF1. Born ten years after the broadcast of the cartoon inspired by the manga, she confesses to having grown up with another trio. “I loved Clover Totally Spiesshe was in her bubble”she says, imitating the phone ringtone of the favorite female spies of the 2000s.

It's on the set of the film Six Brothers, in Italy, that she recorded her audition video. It was also there that she learned she had gotten the role. “When I announced that I was selected, my Italian colleagues told me: 'Cat’s Eyeslike the manga? Cat's eyes ?' Even internationally, it was known. I didn't realize how bad it could have been. It really rocked a generation.”says the 29-year-old actress. She talks about this project “very ambitious” like a “big challenge” with “a lot of pressure”.

“Alexia is a bit of an airhead and a hothead. She is perhaps the most mischievous of the three. She is rebellious, full of vitality. Her specialty is parkour”she explains. So to best embody this “little ball of fire”Claire Romain relied on the valuable advice of Simon Nogueira, world champion in the discipline. “I quickly realized that hanging on the Bercy bridge was not the same as training”she tells us. The stunt adjusters of Team Cauderlier and their understudies – “warriors” – coached her “to have the same energy throughout the scene”. Williams Belle, one of the founders of the Yamakasi, was his climbing teacher.

“They were all very patient, but anyway they didn’t have much choice because we had everything to learn”adds Claire Romain, laughing. Cat’s Eyes allows him to check a lot of boxes on his wish list. “I think it's the dream of any actress to mix action, humor and romance. The range of acting is very rich. I have always said that I would really like to make an action film, a film period or a film in which I have to play a psychopath”enthuses the native of Val-d'Oise. Her father enrolled her in her first acting class at age 6, thinking it might “free her” of his great shyness. “He’s a plumber, so nothing to do with it! My big sister is 18 months older than me, I didn’t speak”she confesses. On stage, she learns “let go” and metamorphoses.

From Cédric Klapisch to “Here it all begins”

“My mother is a costume designer and my stepfather is a stagehand. I grew up in this environment but it was never a vocation”she assures. When little, Claire Romain imagined herself rather “Dolphin breeder on her personal island”. “I think I was a little hyperactive – I still am a little bit – but my dad was like, 'Stop acting!' It's funny because I live on it now”she slips. In 2003, she starred in her first film thanks to her mother who worked on Me César, 10 ½ years old, 1m39 by Richard Berry. But it still doesn’t click. “It’s more the coincidence of life” which led her to be an actress, she believes. While she was studying film set making in Barcelona, ​​she was cast for an advertisement for a major jeweler directed by Cédric Klapisch.

“I couldn't go to the second audition as I was living in Spain so he asked me to play François Civil's girlfriend in In body“a feature film set in the world of dance released in 2021. One of the film's producers then introduces her to his agent whom she “love with love” Today. At the same time, the latter calls him to tell him about a daily soap opera for TF1. Claire Romain knows nothing aboutHere it all begins but goes to an audition for the role of Ambre Martin. “Five days later, I found myself in Saint-Laurent-d’Aigouze”the town of Gard which hosts the fictitious cooking school of the first channel, the Institut Auguste Armand. She stayed there for two years.

Far from the sets, it is not in the kitchen but with a brush in hand that the actress spends most of her time. A passion inherited from his mother. “Painting is just as important as acting. It's really an outlet. I paint on the ground in a somewhat meditative way. I do abstract expressionism, I really paint with my emotions, without specific purpose”specifies the one who even exhibited in Brooklyn. No wonder she took refuge in her studio at the end of filming “intense” of Cat’s Eyes.

Knowing that the series will be broadcast internationally on Prime Video increases its desires for elsewhere. She has already asked the production to rely on her linguistic talents for a possible season 2. Equally comfortable in French, English and Spanish, Claire Romain even shot a film in Italian without speak a word. In the future, she could see herself in a musical “to the La La Land by Damien Chazelle” et “do not close any door” to a return to Here it all begins.

• Read also

  “Cat’s Eyes” on November 11 on TF1: listen to the credits sung by a former candidate for “The Voice”

Tears come instantly when we talk about his companion Thomas Da Costa, met on the set of the TF1 soap opera. “It’s tired, I only slept a few hours”she pleads before insisting that yes, the former candidate of “Dancing with the Stars” is indeed her best support. “Fortunately it’s there. It’s my little pillar, it’s the cement”she insists. A broad smile returns to light up his face as he talks about what awaits him in the coming months. “I have a lot of projects at the moment. It’s so cool, we’re not going to complain!”she enthuses, referring to a series with Isabelle Adjani and Thibault de Montalembert in which she plays a lawyer. “That’s also why we do this job, we live several lives in one.”