Michel Baron, the child of theatrical parents, had been orphaned at the age of 12 and joined the company of children known as the Petits Comédiens du Dauphin.

He had in 1670 joined the company of Molière, the master treating him like a son.

He later became a member of the company at the Hôtel de Bourgogne and subsequently of the newly formed Comédie-Française.

He has created many of the leading roles in Jean Racine's tragedies, besides those in two of his own comedies, L'Homme à bonnes fortunes (1686; “The Don Juan”) and La Coquette et la fausse prude (1687; “The Flirt and the False Prude”).

He retires in 1691 as the undisputed master of the French stage.