Léonard, Salomé’s childhood best friend, with whom she grew up in a home, arrives this Thursday, July 13 in “Here everything begins” and already promises to mark the series. Thomas Vilan, his interpreter, introduces us to this new solar character.
New character alert in Here it all begins: viewers of the TF1 soap opera will meet Léonard Sebbah (Thomas Vilan) this evening, one of the two childhood friends with whom Salomé (Aurélie Pons) recently decided to reconnect.
Léonard, as well as Maya (Alexandra Favalli), who will for her part make her first screen appearance on July 17, will be invited by Salomé to join the summer internship that she is about to lead at the institute. . But how will the reunion between the Master’s student and her dear brothers and sisters take place, whom she had promised herself never to abandon but to whom she did not give any news once she left far from the home where they have grown ?
Thomas Vilan, met a few days ago on the set of Here it all begins, tells us more about the very “solar” character of Leonardo, who should quickly find a place in the institute and in the hearts of viewers. And tells us in a few words about his career as an actor and his relationship to cooking.
AlloCiné: Can you introduce us to Léonard in a few words, whom we will discover on screen this Thursday, July 13 in Here it all begins?
Thomas Villan : It’s simple: Leonardo is benevolence incarnate. He is very sunny, he wants everyone around him to be happy, as happy as he is anyway. He’s a very interesting character to play, a bit like a ray of sunshine, who wants to give his light to others. He is deeply kind, he expects nothing in return. It really is pure kindness, and it feels good. Especially in the anxiety-provoking global context that we are currently experiencing.
Would you say that he resembles you in certain respects?
Yes, he looks like me in a lot of ways. Afterwards, I don’t think I’ve known him long enough to know if he has the same nuances as me. Because, obviously, we are not a single energy. And I’m very curious to see what he’s hiding from us.
In the home where they grew up together, Salomé and Maya have become her family at heart, right?
Absolutely. Leonardo is very attached to Maya and Salomé. Of course, afterwards, he will create links with other characters, but Salomé, Maya and Léonard have this past in common. Salomé and Maya are a bit like landmarks for him, “safe places”, that is to say people with whom he feels deeply at ease, with whom he can be himself.
When he finds Salomé, he immediately regains the energy he had with her years earlier at home. He has no resentment in him, he is just very happy to find her. It’s a very cool friendship, and Aurélie welcomed us very well on the set. Our energy on set was quite natural. We didn’t pretend to discover each other, it was a real meeting between Aurélie, Alexandra and me.
What is Leonardo’s relationship to cooking? Is he naturally gifted or does he still have things to learn?
Léonard has a passion for cooking which was born at the same time as that of Salomé, it started when they were at home, when they cooked together. Salomé is a little older than Léonard and Maya, so I think she had a little more rigour, a little more perspective on what she was doing. While Leonardo saw it more as a hobby at the time.
When Salome talks to him about the summer camp, she doesn’t know if he has continued to cook since she left home. But she quickly realizes that he trains every day and that cooking is really what he wants to do in life. Leonardo therefore accepts with great pleasure Salomé’s proposal to join the summer camp.
Screenshot/TF1
Because she’s going to convince him that it’s a good springboard to then join the institute?
Leonard is 17 when he arrives in the series. In a few months, he knows he will have to leave home and he is in a dynamic where he thinks about what he will do next. And this proposal from Salomé comes at the right time. He therefore lets himself be carried away and he will gradually realize that all the stars are aligning so that he can perhaps join the institute at the start of the school year, indeed. But can he afford the summer internship and training at the institute?
What can you say about what awaits him this summer? Will he work to reconcile Salome and Maya?
When Salomé left home, she kinda promised them to always take care of them, but she didn’t keep her promise. When he finds Salome, Leonardo is just deeply happy to find her, he has moved on. While Maya, she is a bit on a justified reserve, because of the lack she felt. Especially since when you grow up in a home, you probably already have a lot of wounds related to abandonment. So to be left behind by her dear sister, it must hurt and we can understand Maya, I think.
Given that Leonardo does not like conflicts at all, he will obviously give everything so that Maya and Salomé find themselves as before. But will he achieve it?
And during the Institute’s summer course, we’ll discover that Leonardo really has a talent for cooking, that it’s quite easy for him. And, with Maya, they will work and give their all to be able to build a future. It’s a bit of fear of uncertainty that awaits them in the next episodes.
Like most of the characters in Here it all begins, does Leonardo hide secrets, gray areas or a troubled past that we will discover over time?
Of course. What’s really cool about this character is that he’s genuinely benevolent, but he also has a past. He also has suitcases to drag, he also has injuries. One does not come out of the death of one’s very young parents totally unscathed. I can’t wait to find out how the authors are going to show this wound, these more intimate emotions.
In any case, we already feel that he is very invested in his emotions. When he’s happy, he’s really happy. When he’s stressed, he’s really stressed. Which leads one to think that when he’s sad, he’ll be really sad. I’m very curious to see what we can do with this facet of the character.
Screenshot/TF1
What was your background before joining Here it all begins?
I was born near Marseille, in La Ciotat. I lived 18 years there. It really is a little paradise on Earth. I then went to Paris to do the Cours Florent, I stayed there for three years, and when I finished my training as an actor, it was the Covid. Great, best time to get out of a school (laughs). So, for two years, I chained small projects on the right, on the left, and thanks to Here everything begins, I landed my first real role on television.
Do you understand the feedback from viewers on your character?
I’m not really scared because I think I have the shoulders to deal with well-founded criticism. If people have a critical opinion, even negative, on my way of playing, of positioning myself, it will be very interesting to work on certain things, because in any case it is the public who are always right in all cases.
And afterwards, what could destabilize me a little more would be to see comments that would be akin to gratuitous nastiness towards the character, because very often very happy people bother, and people who are comfortable with whom they are bothering, and that’s a bit of a shame.
When you represent a minority, you really have to do it from the heart. And it’s a pleasure to be able to project a positive image of homosexuality on screen. So if there are unfounded criticisms, too bad, I’m ready to deal with them. Because the representation on the screen is very important.
Was cooking your thing before playing in the series? What is your level in real life?
I think I’m not the worst. And at the same time, I’m not the best, because there are some who are not bad at all within the cast.
I’m a vegetarian, so I watch what I eat and above all don’t miss anything to really keep my energy up. This is what led me to discover different foods, flavors and compositions. I dabble a little in the kitchen. I don’t do crazy stuff either, because I don’t have an oven, for example. I don’t make super elaborate dishes, but I have a good food plan and I like to cook.