Jean-Louis Rodrigue

Jean-Louis Rodrigue (born May 23, 1951) is an American movement director and acting coach in film and theater. He is internationally recognized as a senior teacher of the Alexander Technique and a pioneer in applying the Technique to character movement in film and theatre. Rodrigue’s most notable successes in film and theatre includes coaching Leonardo DiCaprio for his performance in "J. Edgar" (2011), Josh Brolin as George W. Bush in "W" (2008), Mary McDonnell for her Oscar nominated role as a paraplegic actress in "Passion Fish" (1992), and Pamela Gien’s award winning performance in her Off-Broadway and international tour of the play The Syringa Tree (2000).

Jean-Louis Rodrigue was born on 23 May 1951 in Casablanca, Morocco. He began his actor training in 1967 with Herbert Berghof at the HB Studio in New York. In 1970, William Ball awarded Jean-Louis a full scholarship to study in the Advanced Training Program at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. During his training and performing at ACT, Rodrigue discovered the Alexander Technique. He spent three more years training as an Alexander teacher with Frank Ottiwell and Giora Pinkas at the American Center for the Alexander Technique, San Francisco.

Rodrigue’s unique physical style of acting coaching and character movement choreography can be seen in many feature films. He coached Leonardo DiCaprio for his acclaimed performance in “J. Edgar” and was consultant to Ang Lee and screenwriter David Magee in the development of the tiger movement for “Life of Pi.” Rodrigue coached Scott Speedman in the award winning “Barney's Version,” “Citizen Gangster,” and the ABC series “Last Resort.” Other films include “W” with Josh Brolin, “Human Nature” with Patricia Arquette, “Passion Fish" with Mary MacDonnell, “The Affair of the Necklace” with Hilary Swank and cast, “The Cat's Meow” with Kirsten Dunst, “The Time Machine” with cast, “Seabiscuit” with Elizabeth Banks, and “Bee Season” with Juliette Binoche. He has worked with many actors and performers including Sir Ian McKellen, Paul Dano, Luke Kirby, Martha Argerich, Herb Alpert, Helena Bonham Carter, Keanu Reeves, Tate Donovan, Julia Sweeney, Jonathan Pryce, Simon Baker, Joely Richardson, Sally Kellerman, Courtney Thorne-Smith, and JoBeth Williams.

In theater, Rodrigue was awarded a Fellowship grant from the Montalvo Arts Center to develop and direct a play adaptation of Bernhard Schlink’s best selling novel “The Reader.” He has most recently worked with Chris Pine in “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Mark Taper Forum and with Rita Maffei and Larry Moss in an Italian production of Pamela Gien’s "The Syringa Tree” at the Teatro Stabile di Innovazione in Udine and at Il Piccolo Teatro di Milano, Italy. For her performance, Maffei won the Gold Medal from the President of the Italian Republic. Rodrigue has also worked with Gulu Monteiro on “The Bacchae” at the Getty Villa, the circus artists of Cirque du Soleil’s “KA” at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and he has collaborated with director Joanna Settle and Heather Raffo in her acclaimed play “Nine Parts of Desire” at the Geffen Playhouse. He has collaborated with Larry Moss for many years in film and theatre, and most notably on Daisy White’s “Sugar”, Pamela Gien’s Obie award winning play “The Syringa Tree” at Playhouse 91 in New York, and Bo Eason’s “Runt of the Litter” at the 37 Arts Theater, N.Y. He has coached actors working at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mark Taper Forum, the Geffen Playhouse, the Pasadena Playhouse, and on Broadway, as well as the artists of the Cirque du Soleil in "La Nouvelle Experience” in order to improve their performance and prevent injuries. He is currently a member of the faculties at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music, and the Howard Fine Acting Studio. Rodrigue has taught and collaborated with Larry Moss for many years.

Since 2008, Jean-Louis Rodrigue has conducted several high-profile workshops within the program of the Berlinale Talent Campus. He was directly involved in the development of a new hands-on training programs for emerging actors, the Talent Actors Stage, for which 15-20 international actors are selected annually. His workshops "Embodying the Character" and "Camera Close-up Acting" have become classics at the Berlinale Talent Campus every year.

Theater