Alban Ivanov

Alban Ivanov is a French comedian, actor and improviser, born on 10 September 1984 in Narbonne. Of Russian origin, he was trained in theatrical improvisation by Alain Degois in the company Declic Theatre; he quickly left school to launch himself into comedy. He made his artistic debut in 1997 with the Ligue d'improvisation des Yvelines in Fontenay-le-Fleury. He then joined the troupe Trait d'Union in 2002, performed in the duo Not mo Moliere by Djemel Barek in 2005, then in Famille de stars in 2006 and L'Avare de Moliere in 2008.

In 2008, he became the hero of a humorous mini-series on France 4, Dur dur d'etre le fils de... His performances were quickly noticed by Jamel Debbouze, who from 2009 entrusted him with the weekly hosting of the open stage of the Jamel Comedy Club. In 2011, he signed for a first role in cinema in Les Mythos, and in 2012 he performed his very first one-man-show, titled Alban Ivanov et les autres. He achieved success in 2015 with his one-man-show Element perturbateur. The same year, he participated in La Petite Histoire de France, created by Jamel Debbouze, playing Francois d'Arc, cousin of Jeanne d'Arc.

His first important role was in Patients (2017) by Grand Corps Malade, followed by other successes such as Le Sens de la fete (2017) and Le Grand Bain (2018) by Gilles Lellouche. In 2019, he was chosen to be the French voice of Pumbaa for the film Le Roi lion, with his friend Jamel Debbouze voicing Timon. In 2021, he appeared in the action comedy Le Dernier Mercenaire with Jean-Claude Van Damme on Netflix. In 2024, Jamel Debbouze and Alban Ivanov reunited to dub the characters of Le Roi Lion in the live-action film Mufasa: Le Roi lion.