Olivier Marchal started taking acting lessons when he still was a
police officer. He began his career in television, appearing in
supporting parts or writing scripts for detective TV series. In 1989
when
Yves Rénier resurrected his TV series
Commissaire Moulin (1976) he became his partner as
scriptwriter, series supervisor and sometimes actor. In 2000 he starred
as Commandant Pierre Rivière in his own TV series
Police district (2000), written by
novelist
Hugues Pagan, himself also a former police officer.