New Delhi, 11 March: Actor Laurent Lafitte has agreed to be Master of Ceremonies throughout the 69th Festival de Cannes being held from 11 to 22 May under the presidency of Australian director George Miller.

The actor and comedian will host the Opening Ceremony on 11 May and the prize giving during the Closing Ceremony on 22 May.

A pensionnaire of the Comédie-Française since 2012, Laurent Lafitte began his career in the 1990s. After a triumphant one-man-show entitled "Laurent Lafitte, comme son nom l'indique", he embarked on a career in film and theatre. In 2011, he was Master of Ceremony for the 25 Nuit des Molières.

He has excelled in a range of registers from comedy (The Other Side of the Tracks, 16 ans... ou presque, Papa ou maman, etc.), to drama and arthouse film (Little White Lies, Bright Days Ahead, Tristesse Club, Boomerang). 

Having appeared in Love Punch in 2013 alongside Pierce Brosnan and Emma Thompson, he has just finished filming Elle by Dutch director Paul Verhoeven and is currently working on Albert Dupontel’s latest film Au revoir là-haut. Lafitte will also star with Uma Thurman in the cast of Marjane Satrapi’s next film – an adaptation of novel by Romain Puértolas: "The Extraordinary Journey of the Fakir who got Trapped in an IKEA Wardrobe".

Laurent Lafitte succeeds Lambert Wilson who emceed in Cannes in 2014 and 2015. The ceremonies are produced and broadcast on free-to-air Canal+.