The main mime academy of the world is there, so most people who want to learn mime go there to study with the most renowned mime teachers.

Might have something to do with it...

Also, Marcel Marceau, hands down the most famous pioneer of mime, was a Parisian. Pretty sure he founded the academy, too.

He also helped french jewish children escape nazi occupation by escorting them over the Alps. He taught them mime along the way to help them manage their anxiety while also staying silent to avoid detection.

And then he went back into occupied France to escort more children to safety. And he did that multiple times.

In medieval Europe, early forms of mime such as mummer plays and later dumbshows evolved. In early nineteenth-century Paris, Jean-Gaspard Deburau solidified the many attributes that have come to be known in modern times—the silent figure in whiteface.