This article compares two portraits of actors in modern French literature. Violette Leduc and Hervé Guibert transform the body of the actor into a surface reflecting their literary method. By depicting Jean Marais as a creature similar to the Beast in Jean Cocteau’s film, Leduc emphasizes the ethical value of physical beauty. Musing on the numerous fights in his relationship with Isabelle Adjani, Hervé Guibert advocates being genuine in literature, elaborating on Michel Foucault’s concept of parrhesia as defined by the philosopher in his last writings. Both writers focus on famous actors to insist on the ethical stakes of a writing technique that engages the body, just like actors become a character in front of the camera.