Benjamin Lavernhe dreamed of becoming a journalist. Following university studies in information sciences and communication, alongside which he attended night comedy classes at the École Florent, he decided to become an actor. He joined the Classe libre, following courses taught by Jean-Pierre Garnier, Loïc Corbery, Paul Desveaux and Magali Léris. In 2008, he enrolled in the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique de Paris and worked with Mario Gonzalez, Yann-Joël Collin, Dominique Valadié, Alain Françon and Olivier Py. In 2011, it was Olivier Py who entrusted him with the role of Benvolio in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet at the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe.

Benjamin Lavernhe’s debuted at the Comédie-Française, in 2012, as Lycante in Corneille’s La Place Royale under the direction of Anne-Laure Liégeois. Since then, he has continued to demonstrate the scope of his range as a performer, whether it is Pierre, a cross-dresser in L’Interlope (cabaret) written and directed by Serge Bagdassarian or Second lieutenant Vladimir Karlovitch Rode in Chekhov’s Three Sisters by Alain Françon, he is able to imbibe each of his characters with disconcerting accuracy. In 2017, Denis Podalydès entrusted him with the title role in Les Fourberies de Scapin, an emblematic role in Molière’s repertoire. He carried off this challenge with aplomb winning over the theatre audience, the critics, as well as those who attended live broadcasts of the play in cinemas.

Directors continue to reveal Benjamin Lavernhe’s talent in performing classical roles. Alain Françon directed him in Goldoni’s The Villegiatura Trilogy; Dan Jemmett in Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Jean-Pierre Vincent in Molière’s Dom Juan; Robert Carsen in Shakespeare’s Tempest; Stéphane Braunschweig in Racine’s Britannicus; Maëlle Poésy in Chekhov’s The Bear; Denis Podalydès in Victor Hugo’s Lucrezia Borgia; Clément Hervieu-Léger in Molière’s Misanthrope; Muriel Mayette-Holtz in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Giorgio Barberio Corsetti in Labiche’s An Italian Straw Hat (Un chapeau de paille d’Italie); Anne Kessler in Arthur Schnitzler’s La Ronde; Michael Marmarinos in Racine’s Phèdre and Claude Stratz in Molière’s Imaginary Invalid.

Benjamin Lavernhe has also acted in films, such as Radiostars by Romain Lévy (2012); Going Away (Un beau dimanche) by Nicole Garcia (2014); and in The Sense of Wonder (Le Goût des merveilles) by Éric Besnard (2015). In 2016, he was billed as a star in two films: Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey and Éric Capitaine's Love is Dead (Rupture pour tous). In 2017, Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache cast him as Pierre, the Husband in C’est la Vie (Le Sens de la fête). Philippe Monnier directed him in La Cagnotte and later in Les Méchantes, broadcast on France 2 Television in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

During the 2018/2019 season, Benjamin Lavernhe will be playing in Euripides’ Electre / Oreste by Ivo van Hove, Les Serge (Gainsbourg Point Barre) written and directed by Stéphane Varupenne and Sébastien Pouderoux, the rerun of Molière’s Les Fourberies de Scapin by Denis Podalydès and Molière’s Le Misanthrope by Clément Hervieu-Léger.