Image Credits: Getty Images (left) | ‘Solo,’ Music Box Films (top) | ‘Sauvage,’ Pyramide International (middle) | ‘Knife + Heart,’ Kinology (bottom)

Dubbed a “hero of French queer cinema,” actor Félix Maritaud is always one to watch, turning in fantastic work in stories that often put LGBTQ+ themes and characters front and center.

His latest is the Québécois drag drama Solo from filmmaker Sophie Dupuis, which earned glowing reviews of the film festival circuit over the past year, and now begins a theatrical rollout in the U.S. courtesy of Music Box Films.

Solo is the story of Simon (Boy Erased‘s Théodore Pellerin), a rising star of Quebec’s drag scene whose life hits a major speed bump with the return of his long-estranged mother (Anne-Marie Cadieux), who he’s not seen in 15 years.

Meanwhile, Simon begins a fiery affair with a fellow queen, Olivier (Maritaud), and the two put on a hell of a show together. But Olivier is a charismatic charmer with a jealous streak, which threatens to tear both of them down.

Even in a supporting role, Maritaud delivers a stunning performance that you can’t take your eyes off. And, honestly, that’s par for the course for this exciting 31-year-old star.

Surprisingly, Maritaud never had any formal acting training. A Former art student, he was prerparing tot ake a full-time gardening job when he was spotted out at a bar and asked to audition for a movie.

That movie? BPM (Beats Per Minute), director Robin Campillo’s breathtaking, heart-wrenching tale of the ACT UP organization’s AIDS activism efforts in Paris in the 1990s. It premiered at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in 2017 where it won the Grand Prix award (essentially the second highest honor at the fest), and went on to win Best Film at the César Awards (which are basically the French Oscars).

Not a bad start to Maritaud’s career, no?

In the seven years since, the actor’s continued to impress in projects that have become favorites of queer cinephiles everywhere.

He bared it all for 2018’s gripping erotic drama Sauvage, playing a male sex worker battling drug addiction. That same year, he played an adult film star in in the neon-hued queer slasher Knife + Heart. He also appeared in gay coming-of-age tale I Am Jonas, provocative filmmaker Gasper Noé’s experimental Lux Æterna, and You Won’t Be Alone, the witchy folk horror debut of queer writer-director Goran Stolevski.

It’s like Maritaud couldn’t stop making acclaimed international queer films if he tried!

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And while Maritaud does proudly identify as queer, he’s been pretty outspoken about the fact that he doesn’t only want to be typecast in queer roles, or LGBTQ+ projects.

“Being queer for me is like drinking a coffee every morning, it’s my life, my identity,” he told web magazine Pairs a few years back. “I don’t want to be in a box just doing LGBTQ+ movies. It will be boring for me and boring for others.”

The actor shared a similar sentiment in a 2019 interview with Attitude—only, this time, he didn’t mince words:

“I don’t care about being gay. Sucking d*ck is not something [important] in life,” Martiaud cracked. “The problem is, in France, they can’t imagine you otherwise.” (Sounds like something a lot of queer American actors have said about Hollywood!)

“I don’t want to be a gay character all my life [because] I’m gay already. If the movie is good, I don’t care if they’re straight, gay or bisexual,” he continued. “The people who put something on [my sexuality], we are not on the same level. I’m on another level, so they can either follow or go f*ck themselves.”

Ah, yes, the French sure do have a rather direct way of speaking.

But, you know what? We love to see Maritaud sticking up for himself. Actually, we just love seeing Martiaud in general because—if you haven’t already noticed—he’s incredibly handsome.

Below, check out a quick rundown of where you can see watcj some of Félix Maritaud’s best and most notable queer roles right now, and then scroll down further for some of our favorite shots from his Instagram.

Here’s where you can watch Félix Maritaud’s queer films right now:

  • BPM (Beats PEr Minute) – dir. Robin Campillo (2017): Streaming on Crackle, Dekkoo, FuboTV, Hoopla, Kanopy, Plex, Pluto TV, TUbi, and Vudu.
  • Sauvage – dir. Camille Vidal-Naquet (2018): Streaming on Kanopy, Tubi, and Vudu.
  • Knife + Heart – dir. Yann Gonzalez (2018): Streaming on AMC+, Freevee, Kanopy, Shudder, Tubi, and available for digital rental via Amazon Prime Video.
  • I Am Jonas – dir. Christophe Charrier (2018): Available for digital rental via Amazon Prime Video.
  • Lux Æterna – dir. Gaspar Noé (2020): Streaming on AMC+, Freevee, Shudder, Tubi, and available for digital rental via Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube TV.
  • You Won’t Be Alone – dir. Goran Stolevski (2022): Streaming via Starz, and available for digital rental via Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Google Play, and YouTube TV.
  • Solo – dir. Sophie Dupuis (2024): Now playing in select theaters—more info here.

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