He became a German teacher before becoming an assistant to stage director Patrice Chéreau, then Jacques Rosner [fr], director of the Centre dramatique national Nord-Pas-de-Calais [fr] and the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique.

In 1975, Grinevald founded his theatre company, Théâtre Kobold, and produced and directed numerous shows.

He directed the likes of Annie Girardot,[2] Claude Piéplu,[3] Didier Brice [fr], Karin Viard,[4] and Denis Lavant.

[5] He founded and directed the Théâtre-Marie-Stuart in Paris from 1977 to 1981 and put in great effort to make theatre a big business.

He also taught in Quebec, Germany, China, and Poland, and he founded his own school, La Belle de Mai.