My Story
Born near Paris into a multicultural family and raised in the Loire Valley, Laurent Winkler
studied and earned a degree in English and French as a Foreign Language at the University of
Angers. During his studies, he also trained as a stage and street theatre actor, focusing
primarily on the Stanislavsky system and Lecoq techniques.
At the beginning of the millennium, he relocated to Budapest to collaborate with Hungarian
artists. There, he worked as a French teacher as well, instructing a wide range of
learners—first at the French School, then at the French Institute. He gradually specialized in
pronunciation training, refining his methods through ongoing education and hands-on
experimentation.
In 2012, he returned to acting and also began working as a French accent coach, primarily
for international film and TV productions. He developed his own method, tailored
specifically to the demands of the screen industry, and adapted it to meet the needs of both
actors and production teams. His work spans U.S., Canadian, British, French, Spanish, and
Hungarian productions, where he prepares actors, supports them on set, and collaborates
closely with directors, showrunners, scriptwriters, and producers. His approach is always
bespoke—whether establishing a coherent accent policy for an entire series (as with X
Company for CBC), preparing a foreign actress to reduce her accent in order to portray a
French character (e.g., Bea Palya as Naguine Reinhardt, in Django by Étienne Comar), or
respectfully continuing on set the work initiated by a colleague abroad.
His experience includes all types of productions, from independent art-house films to major
international series produced for companies such as Disney+, Paramount+, Netflix, BBC,
Amazon Prime, and Peacock.
Building on his own on-screen acting experience in several languages he speaks fluently
(French, English, German, Hungarian), and others he learned for specific roles (such as
Russian), Laurent constantly explores the most effective teaching techniques for his clients.
He adapts his coaching to each actor’s personal learning style and the unique demands of
each project, always with the aim of achieving the most authentic and compelling
performances on camera.
After more than 10 years of on-set experience, he now also offers his expertise online to
individuals preparing for French-speaking roles—or for characters with a French
accent—regardless of their prior knowledge of the French language.