When French actor Lou de Laâge auditioned for Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino’s Prime Video series “Étoile,” she worried her English-language skills weren’t up to snuff. The creators disagreed, and she landed the part of Cheyenne Toussaint, a brash ballerina who crosses the pond from Paris to New York.
Though de Laâge previously starred in Mélanie Laurent’s “The Mad Women’s Ball,” her role on “Étoile” marks her breakout stateside. Here, she discusses the English lessons and dance training she underwent for the series and the performance that shaped her as an actor.
How did you learn to perform in a language that isn’t your own and to deliver the Palladinos’ fast-paced dialogue?
I was scared about that at first because I thought, How is it possible to have such a strong French accent like mine and be able to speak in a very American way with a very American tempo, rhythm, and humor? I had a very good dialogue coach named Kate Wilson, who is a teacher at Juilliard, and I just repeated and repeated and repeated. At some point, the tempo and the words became natural, and I could just have fun. That was my obsession: I wanted to be free with the dialogue.
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Though you have a dance double on “Étoile,” you also trained in ballet yourself. What was that process like?
I did ballet when I was a child and teenager; but I stopped, so I had to relearn everything. Normally, I would have had three months of preparation before the first shooting day. But because of the SAG and WGA strikes, I had nine months. I used those months to practice dance and to practice dialogue. From my point of view, it was: I’m lucky to have all this time, because I have so much to learn.
When I act, it’s only me. But when I dance, it’s my double, Constance Devernay-Laurence, so I have to watch her and steal everything I can from her. It’s her way of dancing that I need to learn. I had to take from the best, and she was better than me.
What have you learned from playing Cheyenne?
Everything was new, because it’s a new language and a new way to improve my process. When you are a beginner in something, you have to say to your ego, “OK, man, it’s not your time. Can you leave me? Because I don’t need you right now.” You’re not relaxed if you’re judging yourself all the time, so you have to learn to let it go.
What performance have you seen that’s shaped you as an actor?
Charlize Theron in “Monster.” I watched it when I was a child [even though] my mother didn’t want me to, because it was too strong for a little girl. So I watched it while hiding in my bed with a friend. I remember thinking, Oh, you can be such a beautiful woman and you can make these kinds of characters. [Acting] became more and more interesting for me, because I saw it as a way to travel through different worlds and different human beings.
What advice would you give your younger self?
Theater has been my obsession since I was a child. Now, I have done cinema and television; but at first, it was theater. So I think my only advice would be: Just believe [in yourself]—because if theater is what you love the most, you have to try it. If you don’t try, you will become frustrated. I didn’t want to become someone with frustrations and anger.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
