Philippe Katerine

Philippe Blanchard, known as Philippe Katerine or simply Katerine, is a French singer-songwriter, actor, director, cartoonist, writer, and visual artist, born on 8 December 1968 in Thouars, Deux-Sèvres.

At the beginning of his career, his style was sometimes assimilated to the easy listening movement, with music featuring bossa nova accents, often morbid or anxious lyrics tinged with humour, and sometimes interspersed with audio collages. He also turned to rock, flirting with electronic music without ever ceasing to be part of offbeat French chanson. In 2005, the track Louxor, j'adore, from the album Robots après tout, achieved popular success and made him known to the general public, thanks to its catchy gimmick: « Et je coupe le son..., et je remets le son ! » (And I turn off the sound..., and I turn the sound back on!).

In 2010, he gained recognition as an actor playing Boris Vian in Joann Sfar's biopic Gainsbourg (vie héroïque). The following year, he was propelled into the lead role of an offbeat comedy, Je suis un no man's land by Thierry Jousse. In 2015, he reiterated by playing the role of a head of state in Gaz de France by Benoît Forgeard.

In parallel, he became especially known for his quirky supporting roles in French comedies: La Tour de contrôle infernale by Éric Judor (2016), Hibou by Ramzy Bedia (2016), C'est quoi cette famille ?! by Gabriel Julien-Laferrière (2016), Le Petit Spirou by Nicolas Bary, Le Grand Bain by Gilles Lellouche (2018), and Le monde est à toi by Romain Gavras (2018).

In 2019, he received the César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Le Grand Bain, then, in 2020, he was crowned Male Performer of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique.

In 2024, he performed his songs Nu and Louxor, j'adore during the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, appearing almost naked on stage. His performance sparked controversy.