Nanteuil, real name Denis Clerselier, was a French playwright and actor born around 1650 in the region of Meaux (maybe at Nanteuil-lès-Meaux hence his pseudonym) and died at an unknown date.
Short biography
His parents were Denis Clerselier, audiencier at the Grand Châtelet in Paris, and Jeanne Parafillar. His supposed uncle, the editor Claude Clerselier, published Descartes's works.
Nanteuil made his debut in 1667 and was a member of Nicolas de Neufville de Villeroy's troupe in Marseille. He performed in The Hague and Brussels between 1668 and 1672, as well as in Hanover from 1671 to 1673. He returned to France between 1682 and 1698 and played in Dijon, Bordeaux, Montauban, Strasbourg, Metz, Marseille, Lyon and Tours. In 1685, he had a theatre built in Angoulême.
His presence is still documented in Warsaw in 1699, then in Grenoble in 1702, after which his location is unknown.
Besides his acting qualities Nanteuil also wrote some plays, at times using crude vocabulary:
He is also attributed a lost play, La Prise de Brunswic.