Famous Screenwriters from France
- Sophie Marceau, renowned for her beauty and acting prowess, was born on November 17th, 1966 in Paris, France. Her journey into the world of fame commenced at the tender age of fourteen when she was chosen to play the lead role in the teenage movie La Boum. This movie, which turned out to be a massive success, instantly catapulted Marceau to stardom, marking the beginning of her illustrious career. Marceau's talent is not limited to acting as she has also made significant strides as a writer and director. She authored a novel titled Telling Lies in 2001 that further demonstrated her creative dexterity. In 2002, she directed her first feature film called Speak to Me of Love, which won the award for Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival. Thus, Sophie Marceau was not only a remarkable actress but also successfully ventured into other facets of the entertainment industry, proving her versatility. Over the course of her career, Marceau has acted in numerous films, displaying her acting skills across various genres, from romance to action. Some of her notable roles include Princess Isabelle in Braveheart, Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough, and Lisa in Trivial. Each of these roles showcased her ability to bring depth and nuance to her characters, making her performances truly memorable.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- 1Firelight63 Votes
- 2Anna Karenina33 Votes
- 3Anthony Zimmer35 Votes
- 4Braveheart65 Votes
- A Best Director Oscar winner for "The Pianist" (2002), Roman Polanski also made the seminal films "Rosemary's Baby" (1969) and "Chinatown" (1974), but his career was inevitably overshadowed by the shocking murder of second wife Sharon Tate and his statutory rape of a 13-year-old girl which resulted in him becoming one of America's most high-profile fugitives. Born in Paris, France in 1933 to Polish immigrant parents who moved back to Krakow shortly after, Roman Polanski endured a traumatic early childhood which was largely spent in the Krakow Ghetto following the outbreak of World War II, a period in which his mother was tragically killed at Auschwitz. Using cinema as a form of escapism, Polanski developed a passion for movies and in his late teens attended Lodz's National Film School. He achieved his first screen credit as an actor, in Andrzej Walda's "Pokolenie" (1954), before making his directorial debut with the semi-autobiographical "Rower" (1955). Following several further shorts, Polanski made the leap to feature films with the unsettling Oscar-nominated thriller "Knife in the Water" (1962) before helming psychological horror "Repulsion" (1965), tragicomedy "Cul-de-sac" (1966) and parody "The Fearless Vampire Killers" (1967). He then ventured into Hollywood for the first time with the acclaimed Satanic horror "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). But tragedy struck a year later when his second wife, Sharon Tate, was brutally murdered at their Los Angeles home alongside four friends by members of the notorious Manson Family. Polanski subsequently threw himself into his work, directing a provocative adaptation of "Macbeth" (1971) and absurdist comedy "What?" (1973) before becoming the toast of Tinseltown with "Chinatown" (1974), the neo-noir mystery based on the California Water Wars, which earned 11 Academy Award nominations. But after helming and starring as a Polish immigrant in Parisian tale "The Tenant" (1976), his story took an even darker turn two years later when he was charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles. Polanski later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of unlawful sex with a minor, but on learning that a lengthy prison sentence was imminent, he fled America, spending the rest of his life in European exile. Yet Polanski continued to make films, and continued to receive the adoration of critics, with his next film, "Tess" (1979), picking up three Oscars and a Best Picture nomination. He fared less well with the swashbuckling epic "Pirates" (1986), but soon bounced back with "Frantic" (1988), a Hitchcock-esque thriller starring his future third wife Emmanuelle Seigner. After adding to his filmography with acting credits in in "Back in the USSR" (1992), "Una pura formulita" (1994) and "Zemsta" (2002), and directorial efforts "Bitter Moon" (1992), "Death and the Maiden" (1994) and "The Ninth Gate" (1999), Polanski adapted Polish-Jewish musician Wladyslaw Szpilman's autobiography in "The Pianist" (2003), winning both the Palme d'Or and Best Director Oscar in the process. He then took on Charles Dickens for "Oliver Twist" (2005) and Robert Harris for "The Ghost Writer" (2010), directed adaptations of stage plays "Carnage" (2011) and "Venus in Fur" (2013), and tackled the Dreyfus Affair in "J'accuse" (2019).
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- French actress Julie Delpy progressed from ingenue roles to become one of the most respected members of the international film community. A native of Paris, and raised in an acting family, she began her career while still a teenager with a small role in Jean-Luc Godard's "Detective" (1985). Roles followed in French films, including "Beatrice" (1987) and "The Dark NIght of the Soul" (1989). She found international acclaim for her role in "Europa, Europa" (1990), playing a pro-Nazi German who falls in love with a Jewish man. After starring opposite Sam Shephard in the French film "Voyager" (1991), Delpy began moving more into English language roles. She starred in Roger Avary's thriller "Killing Zoe" (1993), and then joined the all-star cast of Disney's "The Three Musketeers" (1993). At the same time, she starred in Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy "Three Colors: Blue" (1993), "Three Colors: White" (1994), and "Three Colors: Red" (1994). She then took what many considered her signature role, starring in Richard Linklater's romantic drama "Before Sunrise" (1995). She played Celine, a young woman who spends an evening in Vienna with Ethan Hawke's American writer, Jesse. She continued mixing American studio films like "An American Werewolf in Paris" (1997) and "But I'm a Cheerleader" (1999) with international productions such as "The Treat" (1998) and "Beginner's Luck" (2001). She also joined the American television hit "ER" (NBC, 1994-2009) for a memorable storyline, playing the girlfriend of Goran Visnjic's doctor. She rejoined Linklater and Hawke for the director's experimental animated film "Waking Life" (2001). The trio then began working on a sequel to "Before Sunrise." They shared writing credit on the resulting "Before Sunset" (2004), which saw the two original characters brought back together in France. The script earned them an Academy Award nomination. In addition to screenwriting, Delpy made her feature directorial debut with "Looking for Jimmy" (2002). She went on to write and direct multiple features, including the critically acclaimed "2 Days in Paris" (2007), "The Countess" (2009), and "Lolo" (2015). Delpy joined forces on more time with Hawke and Linklater for "Before Midnight" (2013), exploring what happened to Celine and Jesse after they entered into a relationship. The trio were once again nominated for an Academy Award for the script. Besides acting in films that she wrote or directed, Delpy continued working as an actress in films including "The Bachelors" (2017) and "Burning Shadows" (2018). She continued her filmmaking career with "My Zoe" (2019), which she wrote, directed, and starred in.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Christopher Reeve, a man of many talents, was an American actor, director, and activist who left a legacy in the world of entertainment and beyond. He was born on September 25, 1952, in New York City. Reeve's acting career began at a young age when he joined the theater scene in his hometown. His passion for performing arts led him to study at Cornell University and then at the renowned Juilliard School in New York. He made his Broadway debut in 1976, but it was his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the 1978 film Superman that catapulted him into international stardom. Reeve's portrayal of Superman was so convincing and enduring that it continues to define the character in popular culture. However, his acting repertoire extended far beyond this iconic role. He appeared in over forty films and television shows, demonstrating his versatile acting skills. In addition to his acting career, Reeve also directed several films and television episodes, showcasing his comprehensive understanding of the entertainment industry. Beyond the silver screen, Reeve was known for his tireless activism following a horse-riding accident in 1995 that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center, which is dedicated to advancing spinal cord injury research. He also established the Christopher Reeve Foundation (now the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation), which is committed to finding treatments and cures for paralysis caused by spinal cord injury. Despite the challenges he faced, Reeve remained an outspoken advocate for people with disabilities until his death in October 2004. His legacy continues to inspire millions around the world, both in the realm of entertainment and in the fight against paralysis.
- Birthplace: New York, New York, USA
- 1Superman162 Votes
- 2Somewhere in Time211 Votes
- 3Superman II121 Votes
- 4Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut75 Votes
- Alain Delon, a titan of the French cinema scene, made his mark in the world of film through his transformative roles and captivating screen presence. Born on November 8, 1935, in Sceaux, France, Delon initially pursued a career in the military before his undeniable charisma found its true calling in acting. His magnetic appeal resonated with audiences worldwide, earning him an iconic status that remains intact to this day. Stepping into the limelight with films such as Plein Soleil (1960) and Rocco and His Brothers (1960), Delon displayed a unique blend of emotional depth and raw intensity. His performances in these films garnered critical acclaim, setting the stage for a long and distinguished career. A consistent fixture in cinematic masterpieces, Delon worked with renowned directors like Luchino Visconti, Jean-Pierre Melville, and Michelangelo Antonioni. His portrayals of complex characters in films like The Leopard" (1963) further established him as a heavyweight actor of his generation. Delon's influence extended beyond the realm of acting. He ventured into producing and established his own production company, "Adel Productions." Despite facing personal controversies, Delon remained committed to his craft and continued to captivate audiences with his performances. His contribution to cinema was recognized with an honorary Palme d'Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. Alain Delon's life and career encapsulate a fascinating journey of talent, passion, and unwavering dedication to the art of filmmaking.
- Birthplace: Sceaux, France
- 1Le Samouraï115 Votes
- 2Purple Noon103 Votes
- 3Rocco and His Brothers99 Votes
- 4Mr. Klein51 Votes
- Often compared to a young Robert De Niro or Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor Vincent Cassel earned acclaim for his intense portrayals of men struggling to contain the violence that seethed within them. The son of successful film actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vincent ignored his father's advice and pursued a career in acting. Early breakout performances in such films as "La Haine" (1995) and "L'Apartement" (1996) made him a rising star in French cinema. While bloody actioners like "Dobermann" (1997) positioned Cassel as a popular genre star in Europe, he was more often seen as a full-fledged villain by American audiences in international hits like "Brotherhood of the Wolf" (2001). Never one to shy away from the risqué, Cassel and wife Monica Bellucci co-starred in one of the most controversial films of the decade, "Irreversible" (2003), a profoundly disturbing drama of rape, revenge and guilt. In the States, however, he was mostly seen in less gut-wrenching fare like "Ocean's 12" (2004) until director David Cronenberg turned him loose as a volatile gangster in the acclaimed crime-drama "Eastern Promises" (2007). His biggest hits were still to come on both shores, when the two-part crime epic "Mesrine: Killer Instinct" (2008) and "Mesrine: Public Enemy No. 1" (2008) won Cassel a coveted César Award and director Darren Aronofsky's "Black Swan" (2010) gave him his broadest stateside exposure to date. As one of the most respected international stars of his day, Cassel enjoyed a truly remarkable film career both at home and abroad.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Unquestionably one of the most popular authors in literary history, 19th century French writer Jules Verne created a world of scientific wonder and technological discovery in such classic novels as Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1870) that helped give rise to the science fiction genre. Verne's work predicted travel through the air, into space and under the sea at a time when such accomplishments were still the stuff of fantasy, and presented them in thrilling adventures that continued to capture the imagination of readers a century later. His work also proved ideal for film and television adaptations, which strove mightily to translate his scope and vision through elaborate special effects. More significantly, Verne's novels were part of the foundation on which the whole of science fiction was built, inspiring writers and filmmakers to imagine the furthest reaches of human achievement. Jules Verne's body of work placed him among a select number of 19th century authors whose writing had a profound influence on the written and visual entertainment of the centuries that followed.
- Birthplace: Pays-de-la-Loire, France
- 1Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea235 Votes
- 2Around the World in Eighty Days177 Votes
- 3The Mysterious Island202 Votes
- 4A Journey to the Center of the Earth176 Votes
- French actress/director Mélanie Laurent quickly ascended to star status in her native country with acclaimed, award-winning turns as soulful, often sultry women in such films as "Don't Worry, I'm Fine" (2006), before reaching international stardom with Quentin Tarantino's World War II action epic "Inglourious Basterds" (2009). She began acting as a teenager on the advice of Gérard Depardieu, who provided her with a debut role in his drama "The Bridge" (1999), which was soon followed by small parts in features and on French television. A César Award for her gripping performance in "Don't Worry, I'm Fine" as a teenager embroiled in a family secret vaulted her to the top of her profession, while also spurring her to explore opportunities behind the camera as the director of two well-regarded short films. Her turn in "Basterds" as an avenging Jewish theater owner received near-universal acclaim from international critical associations. However, Laurent preferred to remain active in French cinema for the next few years until returning to the States for such English-language hits as "Beginners" (2010) and "Now You See Me" (2013). Laurent's smoldering screen presence and burgeoning multi-hyphenate status underscored her standing as one of world cinema's most accomplished talents.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Jane Mallory Birkin (December 14, 1946 – July 16, 2023) was a British and French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. In addition to her acting and musical credits, she lent her name to the Hermès Birkin handbag.
- Birthplace: London, England, UK
- Slender, dark-haired actress who appeared in several films of the French New Wave, particularly those directed by first husband Jean-Luc Godard. Karina was outstanding as the lonely, lovelorn prostitute in "My Life To Live" (1962) and the effervescent petty criminal in "Band of Outsiders" (1964). She also gave a fine performance in Jacques Rivette's "La Religieuse/The Nun" (1966), and continued to appear in international features, enjoying a chance at directing with the 1973 film, "Vivre Ensemble." Anna Karina died on December 14, 2019 in Paris, France at the age of 79.
- Birthplace: København, Denmark
- Victor Hugo was a writer who was known for writing "Les Misérables," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," and "Les Miserables."
- Birthplace: Besançon, Doubs, France
- Few filmmakers had so profound an effect on the development of cinema as Jean-Luc Godard, certainly one of the most important and influential directors worldwide to have emerged since the end of World War II. From his early days as a critic and thinker in the pages of Cahiers du cinema, through the great age of the French New Wave of the 1960s, Godard redefined the way we look at film. An essayist and poet of the cinema, he made the language of film a real part of his narratives. Godard emerged on the international filmmaking scene with his most famous and perhaps best film, "Breathless" (1960), a celebration of the American film noir that also served as the stylistic template for the rest of the 1960s, widely considered to be his most fertile creative period. During that turbulent decade, Godard made no less than two films a year and sometime more, creating such experimental and increasingly politically-minded films as "Vivre sa vie" (My Life to Live") (1962), "Contempt" (1963), Bande à Part" ("Band of Outsiders") (1964) and "Alphaville" (1965), many of which starred his first wife, Anna Karina. After making the critically panned "Weekend" (1967), a disgruntled Godard left the filmmaking business altogether in order to make political films. Once that interest waned in 1972, he entered into a transitional period of video and television projects that eventually segued into a second period of narrative filmmaking that was more experimental and inaccessible than his previous work, though some critics declared this time as being more creatively fruitful. Chief among the works was the controversial "Hail Mary" (1985), a contemporary retelling of the biblical Joseph and Mary story that was tagged by the Vatican as being blasphemous. Whether he was continuing his long love affair with film noir, as he did with "Detective" (1985), or trying new narrative techniques with the ambiguous "King Lear" (1987), Godard was not only a tireless experimenter with form and context, but also synonymous with the world of cinema itself.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- 1Breathless44 Votes
- 2Contempt38 Votes
- 3Band of Outsiders24 Votes
- 4A Married Woman13 Votes
- Marguerite Donnadieu, known as Marguerite Duras (French: [maʁ.ɡə.ʁit dy.ʁas]; 4 April 1914 – 3 March 1996), was a French novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and experimental filmmaker. Her script for the film Hiroshima mon amour (1959) earned her a nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the Academy Awards. Born in French Indochina, to two teachers (immigrants from France), growing up in Indochina. She was sent to France before World War II (to continue her education), and experienced that war as a young woman in occupied France.
- Birthplace: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
- Jean Genet (French: [ʒɑ̃ ʒənɛ]; (1910-12-19)19 December 1910 – (1986-04-15)15 April 1986) was a French novelist, playwright, poet, essayist, and political activist. Early in his life he was a vagabond and petty criminal, but he later took to writing. His major works include the novels The Thief's Journal and Our Lady of the Flowers, and the plays The Balcony, The Maids and The Screens.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (French: [ʒɑ̃ kɔkto]; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. Cocteau is best known for his novels Le Grand Écart (1923), Le Livre Blanc (1928), and Les Enfants Terribles (1929); the stage plays La Voix Humaine (1930), La Machine Infernale (1934), Les Parents terribles (1938), La Machine à écrire (1941), and L'Aigle à deux têtes (1946); and the films The Blood of a Poet (1930), Les Parents Terribles (1948), from his own eponymous piéce, Beauty and the Beast (1946), Orpheus (1949), and Testament of Orpheus (1960), which alongside Blood of a Poet and Orpheus constitute the so-called Orphic Trilogy. He was described as "one of [the] avant-garde's most successful and influential filmmakers" by AllMovie.
- Birthplace: Maisons-Laffitte, France
- Alejandro Jodorowsky, a titan in the world of cinema and comic books, was born in 1929 in Tocopilla, Chile. His cultural influence extends beyond his native land, with a career spanning several continents and multiple mediums. Jodorowsky's early life was marked by a profound sense of mysticism inherited from his parents who were both Jewish immigrants from Ukraine. This spirituality would go on to shape much of his artistic output, imbuing it with a unique depth and complexity. Jodorowsky's foray into filmmaking began in Mexico, producing avant-garde theater during the 1960s. His ascent to international prominence came with the release of El Topo (1970), a metaphysical western often regarded as the first-ever midnight movie. Equally significant is his attempt to adapt Frank Herbert's science fiction novel Dune, a project that remains one of the most famous unmade films in history. Despite its non-completion, the planned film had a far-reaching impact on the sci-fi genre, influencing creators such as Ridley Scott and George Lucas. Apart from his cinematic ventures, Jodorowsky is celebrated for his work in comic books. He collaborated with French artist Moebius to create The Incal series which has since been acclaimed as a masterpiece of the comic medium. His other prominent works include Metabarons and Technopriests. Furthermore, Jodorowsky's exploration of spiritual themes led him to create "psychomagic", a therapeutic practice that combines elements of tarot, shamanism, and traditional psychotherapy. Alejandro Jodorowsky's multi-faceted career thus presents him as a visionary artist and innovative storyteller, consistently pushing boundaries across diverse spheres of creativity.
- Birthplace: Tocopilla, Chile
- A beloved talent in his native France, Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin's outsized comic personality, embossed by a toothy smile, made him a top leading man on television and in features, including the hit espionage spoof "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" (2006) and "The Artist" (2011) which earned him a Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival. He began in sketch comedy before making his name as the star of the sitcom-romance "Un gars, un fille" (France 2, 1999-2003). Its popularity brought him to features, where he developed his brash but clueless screen image through several partnerships with writer-director Michael Hazanavicius, including two "OSS" features. However, their fourth teaming, "The Artist," which offered a meticulously crafted valentine to American silent film, won them international acclaim and attention. The picture's unlikely success in America made Dujardin a likely candidate for that rara avis in the film community: the non-British European star who finds fame in Hollywood.
- Birthplace: Rueil-Malmaison, France
- Serge Gainsbourg, born Lucien Ginsburg in 1928, was a French singer, songwriter, pianist, film composer, poet, painter, screenwriter, writer, actor and director. His extraordinary ability to transcend genres and mediums made him one of the most influential figures in French popular music. Of Russian-Jewish descent, Gainsbourg's family fled to France escaping from the turbulence of the Russian revolution. His experiences growing up under Nazi occupation in Paris indubitably shaped the provocative and rebellious spirit that underscored much of his work. A virtuoso of words, Gainsbourg stirred controversy and admiration in equal measure through his audacious lyrics and unapologetically libertine lifestyle. He began his musical career as a jazz musician, but eventually found success in the pop music world, with his distinctive blend of chanson, pop, reggae, funk and world music. Gainsbourg's songs often explored taboo themes such as sex and death, most famously in his duets with Jane Birkin, notably the scandalous "Je t'aime... moi non plus". Despite his evident talent, Gainsbourg was plagued by self-doubt and an ever-present struggle with alcohol throughout his life -- a struggle that ultimately led to his untimely death in 1991. However, his legacy lives on, influencing and inspiring artists across the globe. Even three decades after his death, Serge Gainsbourg remains an enduring symbol of French creativity, his provocative genius continuing to shape the landscape of music and popular culture. His enigmatic persona and avant-garde style have assured him a place among the pantheon of France's greatest cultural icons.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Jeanne Moreau was the sort of talent that could generate hyperbolic labels like "the world's greatest actress," which was how no less an authority than Orson Welles described her. For a half-century, Moreau constantly set the bar for screen performances with her fearless, deeply emotive and passionate turns in such bona fide classics as "Elevator to the Gallows" (1958), "Jules and Jim" (1960), "The Trial" (1961), "Diary of a Chambermaid" (1964), "The Bride Wore Black" (1968), "Querelle" (1982) and countless others. The list of legendary directors who queued up to add her earthy sensuality and versatility to their films included figures like Welles, François Truffaut, Louis Malle, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Luc Besson and Tony Richardson. But despite the quality of her performances, Moreau was largely unknown to mass audiences, especially in America, where she was generally regarded as an art house figure. More mainstream moviegoers knew her as Cinderella's great-granddaughter in "Ever After" (1998) than for "Jules and Jim." If the anonymity bothered Moreau, it never showed; she simply continued to give life-affirming performances well into her eighties while dabbling in work behind the camera on several occasions. Moreau was one of the few actresses whose work remained consistently top-notch for the entirety of her career, with bit parts and cameos as well-crafted as her leading roles. In doing so, she cemented her status as one of the cinema's greatest actors. Her death at the age of 89 on July 31, 2017 brought forth international mourning, with French President Emmanuel Macron eulogizing her as a powerful figure who "always rebelled against the established order."
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès (; French: [meljɛs]; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938), was a French illusionist and film director who led many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Méliès was well-known for the use of special effects, popularizing such techniques as substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour. He was also one of the first filmmakers to use storyboards. His films include A Trip to the Moon (1902) and The Impossible Voyage (1904), both involving strange, surreal journeys somewhat in the style of Jules Verne, and are considered among the most important early science fiction films, though their approach is closer to fantasy.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Whether playing an artist trapped by a mad man or a tourist who discovers a mythical beach, French star Guillaume Canet always delivered performances brimming with conviction. He was born on April 10, 1973 in Hauts-de-Seine in Paris, France. The son of horse breeders, Canet wanted to become a show rider, but a bad fall derailed his dreams and he pursued acting instead. Canet gained accolades after starring in "Barracuda" (1997) as a naïve artist who is imprisoned by a cunning old man. He made inroads in France with memorable roles in "In All Innocence" (1998) and "I Follow in My Father's Footsteps" (1999), before gaining an international profile with a co-starring role in Danny Boyle's feature "The Beach" (2000), opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. An accomplished filmmaker, Canet wrote and directed several films, including Mon idole" (2002) and the commercial success "Little White Lies" (2010), a biting drama about a group of trendy Parisians who vacation together. One of the film's stars was Academy Award-winning French actress Marion Cotillard, who Canet dated for several years and had a child with in 2011. Canet earned rave reviews for his performances in "Love Me If You Dare" (2003) and the war drama "Joyeux Noel" (2005). In 2006, he released the hit thriller "Tell No One," which earned Canet a César award for Best Director. He continued to impress in films such as "Farewell" (2009) and "Last Night" (2010), starring in the latter as Keira Knightley's long-lost love interest.
- Birthplace: Boulogne-Billancourt, France
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Admired in the U.S. as an ersatz French Steven Spielberg and reviled by his home country's critical elite as the man who ruined Franco cinema, writer-director-producer Luc Besson was inarguably one of the most commercially successful and prolific filmmakers ever to emerge from Europe. After establishing the slick, visual aesthetic known as "Cinéma du look" with early efforts like "Subway" (1985), "The Big Blue" (1988) and "La Femme Nikita" (1990), Besson officially crossed over to Hollywood with the films "The Professional" (1994) and "The Fifth Element" (1997). Following the disappointment of his historical epic "The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc" (1999), he returned - usually as a writer-producer - to stories featuring hard luck heroes and spectacular chase sequences in genre movies like "Kiss of the Dragon" (2001), "The Transporter" (2002) and "Unleashed" (2005). Amongst the numerous writing and producing projects, Besson occasionally directed more personal films, among them the low-budget fantasy-romance "Angel-A" (2005) and the family adventure "Arthur and the Invisibles" (2006), based on a series of books authored by Besson himself. Even as he neared the 30-year mark in his career, Besson continued to rack up impressive writer-producer credits on such international smash hits as "Taken" (2008). A self professed purveyor of populist entertainment, Besson's strongest response to his detractors was his lengthy career - one that allowed him the freedom to produce precisely the films he wanted to make.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- 1Léon: The Professional118 Votes
- 2The Fifth Element123 Votes
- 3Nikita74 Votes
- 4The Big Blue54 Votes
- Denis Diderot (French: [dəni did(ə)ʁo]; 5 October 1713 – 31 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the Encyclopédie along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during the Enlightenment. Diderot initially studied philosophy at a Jesuit college, then considered working in the church clergy before briefly studying law. When he decided to become a writer in 1734, his father disowned him. He lived a bohemian existence for the next decade. In the 1740s he wrote many of his best-known works in both fiction and nonfiction, including the novel The Indiscreet Jewels. In 1751, Diderot co-created the Encyclopédie with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. It was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many named contributors, and the first to describe the mechanical arts. Its secular tone, which included articles skeptical about Biblical miracles, angered both religious and government authorities; in 1758 it was banned by the Catholic Church, and in 1759 the French government banned it as well, although this ban was not heavily enforced. Many of the initial contributors to the Encyclopédie left the project as a result of its controversies, and some were even jailed. d'Alembert himself left in 1759, making Diderot the sole editor. Diderot also became the main contributor, writing around 7,000 articles himself. He continued working on the project until 1765. He was increasingly despondent about the Encyclopédie by the end of his involvement in it, and felt that the entire project may have been a waste. Nevertheless, the Encyclopédie is considered one of the forerunners of the French Revolution. Diderot struggled financially throughout most of his career, and received very little official recognition of his merit, including being passed over for membership in the Académie française. His fortunes improved significantly in 1766, when Empress Catherine II of Russia, who heard of his financial troubles, paid him 50,000 francs to serve as her librarian. He remained in this position for the rest of his life, and stayed a few months at her court in Saint Petersburg in 1773 and 1774.Diderot's literary reputation during his lifetime rested primarily on his plays and his contributions to the Encyclopédie; many of his most important works, including Jacques the Fatalist, Rameau's Nephew, Paradox of the Actor, and D'Alembert's Dream, were published only after his death.
- Birthplace: Langres, France
- Jean-Claude Brialy (30 March 1933 – 30 May 2007) was a French actor and director.
- Birthplace: Sour El-Ghozlane
- Jean Renoir (French: [ʁənwaʁ]; 15 September 1894 – 12 February 1979) was a French film director, screenwriter, actor, producer and author. As a film director and actor, he made more than forty films from the silent era to the end of the 1960s. His films La Grande Illusion (1937) and The Rules of the Game (1939) are often cited by critics as among the greatest films ever made. He was ranked by the BFI's Sight & Sound poll of critics in 2002 as the fourth greatest director of all time. Among numerous honors accrued during his lifetime, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1975 for his contribution to the motion picture industry. Renoir was the son of the painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir. He was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur.
- Birthplace: France, Paris, Montmartre
- Laurent Hugues Emmanuel Ruquier (French pronunciation: [loʁɑ̃ yɡ emanɥɛl ʁykje]; born 24 February 1963) is a French television presenter, radio host and comedian. He is also a lyricist, writer, columnist and impresario; he has been co-owner and general manager of Théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau in Paris since 2011. He is best known for hosting the On n'est pas couché show on France 2 every Saturday evening since 2006.
- Birthplace: Le Havre, France
- Maria Esteves de Medeiros Victorino de Almeida, DamSE (born 19 August 1965), known as Maria de Medeiros (Portuguese pronunciation: [mɐˈɾiɐ ðɨ mɨˈðɐjɾuʃ]), is a Portuguese actress, director, and singer who has been involved in both European and American film productions. She is best known internationally for playing Fabienne in Quentin Tarantino's 1994 film Pulp Fiction.
- Birthplace: Lisbon, Portugal
- Roger Vadim (French: [ʁɔ.ʒe va.dim]; 26 January 1928 – 11 February 2000) was a French screenwriter, film director and producer, as well as an author, artist and occasional actor. His best-known works are visually lavish films with erotic qualities, such as And God Created Woman (1956), Barbarella (1968), and Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971).
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Child prodigy who worked as a piano accompanist for singers including Juliette Greco and Bing Crosby and enjoyed success as composer and singer of popular music before turning his attention to the screen in the mid-1950s. His lushly melodic work graced the early films of New Wave directors such as Jean-Luc Godard and Agnes Varda and he has subsequently worked with international figures including Norman Jewison, Joseph Losey, Kon Ichikawa and Orson Welles. Legrand has also enjoyed a long and fruitful association with countryman Jacques Demy, composing and conducting the music for his internationally popular romantic musical "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964). Legrand won Oscars for his hit song "The Windmills of Your Mind" (1968) and his scores for "Summer of '42" (1971) and "Yentl" (1983). He made his feature directing debut with "Five Days in June" (1989), an autobiographical war drama set in Normandy circa 1944. Son of Raymond Legrand (1908-74), a French film composer of the 1940s and 50s.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- François Charles Mauriac (French: [moʁjak]; 11 October 1885 – 1 September 1970) was a French novelist, dramatist, critic, poet, and journalist, a member of the Académie française (from 1933), and laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1952). He was awarded the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur in 1958. He was a lifelong Catholic.
- Birthplace: Bordeaux, France
- Jean Marie Maurice Schérer or Maurice Henri Joseph Schérer, known as Éric Rohmer (French: [eʁik ʁomɛʁ], 21 March 1920 – 11 January 2010), was a French film director, film critic, journalist, novelist, screenwriter, and teacher. Rohmer was the last of the post-World War II French New Wave directors to become established. He edited the influential film journal, Cahiers du cinéma, from 1957 to 1963, while most of his colleagues—among them Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut—were making the transition from film critics to filmmakers and gaining international attention. Rohmer gained international acclaim around 1969 when his film My Night at Maud's was nominated at the Academy Awards. He won the San Sebastián International Film Festival with Claire's Knee in 1971 and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for The Green Ray in 1986. Rohmer went on to receive the Venice Film Festival's Career Golden Lion in 2001. After Rohmer's death in 2010, his obituary in The Daily Telegraph described him as "the most durable filmmaker of the French New Wave", outlasting his peers and "still making movies the public wanted to see" late in his career.
- Birthplace: Tulle, France
- Handsome, romantic Continental lead for over five decades. Aumont began his career on the French stage, scoring a triumph in Cocteau's "La Machine Infernale" (1934). He entered film in France in the early 1930s and, after fighting with the Free French Army and earning both the Legion of Honor and the Croix de Guerre, made his Hollywood debut in "Assignment in Brittany" (1943). Aumont has alternated between stage and film and US and international productions. His most representative roles came as the suave, philandering magician, Marco the Magnificent, in "Lili" (1953) and as an aging matinee idol in Truffaut's valentine to filmmaking, "Day For Night" (1973). Married to actresses Blanche Montel, Maria Montez and--twice--Marisa Pavan, he is also the brother of director Francois Villiers and father of actress Tina Aumont.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Born Mireille Aigroz in Toulon, France, Mireille Darc chose her stage name as a play on the famous Frenchwoman, Jeanne d'Arc. After finishing secondary school, Darc moved to Paris and began to work as a model, while also appearing in small roles in a few films. Her fist lead role came in the 1963 comedy "Pouic-Pouic" ("Squeak-Squeak") (1963), playing the object of affection tied to a potential business deal. The film launched her career as one of the sexy French women breaking down the barriers of cinema. Although many of her roles were in mainstream sex comedies and crime stories, Darc made her mark on the French New Wave when she starred in Jean-Luc Godard's "Weekend" (1967). A critique of modern life and the newly forming car culture, "Weekend" quickly took its place as one of Godard's masterpieces and as piece of French film history. In 1969, she starred in "Jeff" (1969), a crime drama co-starring Alain Delon, the first of many collaborations between the two and the beginning of their highly publicized fifteen-year romance. Her most popular role came in "The Tall Blonde Man With One Black Shoe" (1972) and its sequel "The Return of the Tall Blonde Man with One Black Shoe" (1974). The films were spy comedies and both had international success. A car crash in the mid 1980s coupled with her split from Delon led Darc to take a break from working in front of the camera, but she returned to the stage and eventually film and television, most notably performing with Delon on the detective series "Frank Riva" (France 2, 2003-04). Darc passed away in 2017. She was awarded the French Légion d'honneur in 2006.
- Birthplace: Toulon, France
- Former student of painter Auguste Rodin who turned his attention to the theater and then moved into films as an actor and assistant director at the Eclair studios. Tourneur moved to the USA in 1914, initially as head of Eclair's Fort Lee, New Jersey, subsidiary. He soon became known as one of the most stylish directors of his time, partly thanks to his collaboration with pioneering art director Ben Carre, who designed some 35 features for Tourneur through 1920. The pair's best work was in the mystery and fantasy genres. Tourneur's most important films highlight his inimitable visual sensitivity and include the delightfully wistful "The Wishing Ring" (1914); "The Poor Little Rich Girl" (1917), one of Mary Pickford's best showcases; and a vivid rendition of "The Last of the Mohicans" (1920).
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- His academic demeanor and quiet professionalism masked a childhood scarred by abandonment and anger, but the films of François Truffaut - from his auspicious debut with "The 400 Blows" in 1959 to his stylish Hitchcock homage "Confidentially Yours" in 1983 - told the whole of the story through the protective prism of cinema. As a child, Truffaut took solace in the movie houses of Nazi-occupied Paris, where his psyche was sculpted by cinema. A high school dropout, he founded his own film society at the age of 16. Encouraged by film theorist André Bazin, Truffaut began contributing essays and reviews to the film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma, where he excoriated bourgeois French filmmakers while lauding certain Hollywood studio directors as true auteurs. Lauded at home alongside such other nouvelle vague figureheads as Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and Jacques Rivette, Truffaut was acclaimed also in the United States, where "Shoot the Piano Player" (1960), "Jules and Jim" (1962) and "Stolen Kisses" (1968) charmed American critics and art house audiences alike and where "Day for Night" (1973) and "The Story of Adele H." (1975) won Academy Awards. Truffaut's death from a brain tumor in 1984 robbed international cinema of one of its great practitioners, as well as a brilliant decoder of complex human emotions both writ large and up close and personal.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Chris Marker was a French director, writer, actor, and producer who was known for directing "A Cat Without a Grin" and "Le joli mai." Marker won a César Award in 1983 for "Junkopia."
- Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
- Alberto Aleandro Uderzo (French pronunciation: [albɛʁ ydɛʁzo]; Italian: [uˈdɛrtso]; born 25 April 1927), known as Albert Uderzo, is a French comic book artist and scriptwriter. The son of Italian immigrants, he is best known for his work on the Astérix series and also drew other comics such as Oumpah-pah, also in collaboration with René Goscinny. Uderzo retired from drawing in September 2011.
- Birthplace: Fismes, France
- French screenwriter, director of short films and actor who moved to Hollywood in 1921. Florey worked as assistant director to Josef von Sternberg, Frank Borzage and Victor Fleming before making his feature directing debut in 1926. He turned out more than 50 movies over the next 23 years, ranging from the first Marx brothers vehicle, "The Cocoanuts" (1929), to skillful low-budget crime programmers like "The Crooked Way" (1949). For many historians some of Florey's finest work is to be found in these lower-budget programmers and B films; he hit a peak at Paramount in the late 30s with films including "Hollywood Boulevard" (1936), "King of Gamblers" (1937) and "Dangerous to Know" (1938), all distinguished by their fast pace, cynical tone and striking use of moody, semi-expressionistic camera angles and lighting effects. Other notable films include the experimental short "Life and Death of 9413, A Hollywood Extra" (1927) and the creepy horror classic "The Beast with Five Fingers" (1946).
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Few film directors demonstrated the depth, range, longevity, and sensitivity that William Wyler served up on the American silver screen over his decades-long career. Having made a number of silent pictures in the 1920s, Wyler emerged in the talkie era as a director of respectable adaptations of plays and literary works like "These Three" (1936) and "Come and Get It" (1936). But it was his collaboration with actress Bette Davis - which was punctuated by an on-again, off-again romance - that elevated his career to the next level, starting with "Jezebel" (1938). He went on to earn Academy Award nominations for "Wuthering Heights" (1939), "The Letter" (1941) and "The Little Foxes" (1941), before winning his first Oscar for "Mrs. Miniver" (1942). Following a brief sojourn to Europe to film "The Memphis Belle" (1944) for the war effort, Wyler earned greater acclaim for with "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) and "The Heiress" (1949) before embarking on a string of well-received genre films, covering film noir, Westerns and romantic comedy. He had his grandest achievement with "Ben-Hur" (1959), an epic in every sense of the word that earned 11 Academy Awards. Wyler wound down his career in the next decade, helming hits like "How to Steal a Million" (1966) and "Funny Girl" (1968) before calling it a career in 1970. When he did, Wyler had cemented his place as a legendary director whose greatness spanned decades.
- Birthplace: Mülhausen, Alsace, Germany
- A charismatic actor with a gift for physical comedy, Omar Sy became an overnight sensation after his career-making performance in the French film "The Intouchables" (2011). Sy launched his career doing skits on a local radio station, which eventually morphed into the television series "Omar et Fred" (Canal+, 2001- ), a weekly sketch-comedy show based on phony radio call-ins. He went on to land a string of featured roles in mostly French comedies, including "Nos jours heureux" ("Those Happy Days") (2006), "Tellement proches" (2009), and the arthouse film "Micmacs" (2009), a satire on the world arms trade. After several years playing supporting characters, Sy suddenly became the toast of European cinema after his scene-stealing performance in "The Intouchables," an unlikely hit film about a wealthy quadriplegic (François Cluzet) whose life is turned upside down when he hires a rambunctious young man, just out of prison, to take care of him. The tailor-made role transformed Sy into a marquee star who also made history by becoming the first black performer to win a César Award for Best Actor, all of which made him a bona fide celebrity even beyond his native France.
- Birthplace: Trappes, France
- Hailing from one of the most prominent movie-making families in Hollywood, Roman Coppola - second son of Oscar-winning director Francis Ford Coppola - naturally entered the family business, but managed to carve his own path despite keeping his historic name. After growing up on the film sets of "The Godfather" (1972), "The Godfather Part II" (1974) and "Apocalypse Now" (1979), Coppola worked on the crews for his father's films "The Outsiders" (1983) and "Rumble Fish" (1983), before striking out on his own as a producer and music video director. While he earned a solid reputation for his experimental music video style, particularly on Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" (1999), he often worked behind the scenes as a second unit director for his father, sister Sofia Coppola, and friend Wes Anderson. Coppola performed second unit directing duties on "Bram Stoker's Dracula" (1992), "John Grisham's The Rainmaker" (1997), and Sofia's film debut "The Virgin Suicides" (1999), before making his own directing bow with the hip sci-fi feature "CQ" (2001). But Coppola stepped back from directing his own films to continue working for family on "Lost in Translation" (2003) and "Youth Without Youth" (2007), while creatively collaborating with Wes Anderson on "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004), "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007) and "Moonrise Kingdom" (2012). While another directing effort was certainly always on the horizon, Coppola remained satisfied contributing on second unit as well as producing and co-writing widely acclaimed films with family and friends.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Without doubt the first female director in the history of cinema. Whether Guy-Blache is also the first fiction director remains debatable. Somewhere between 1896 and 1900--the same years Georges Melies is generally credited with directing the first fiction films--she made "La Fee aux Choux," an adaptation of a popular fairy tale.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Charles Perrault (French: [ʃaʁl pɛʁo]; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was a French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales, published in his Histoires ou contes du temps passé. The best known of his tales include Le Petit Chaperon Rouge (Little Red Riding Hood), Cendrillon (Cinderella), Le Chat Botté (Puss in Boots), La Belle au bois Dormant (The Sleeping Beauty) and Barbe Bleue (Bluebeard). Some of Perrault's versions of old stories influenced the German versions published by the Brothers Grimm more than 100 years later. The stories continue to be printed and have been adapted to opera, ballet (such as Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty), theatre, and film. Perrault was an influential figure in the 17th-century French literary scene, and was the leader of the Modern faction during the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Gérard de Villiers (French: [ʒeʁaʁ də vilje]; 8 December 1929 – 31 October 2013) was a French writer, journalist and publisher whose SAS series of spy novels have been major bestsellers. According to the New York Times, "His works have been translated and are especially popular in Germany, Russia, Turkey, and Japan. The SAS series has sold a reported 120 million copies worldwide, which would make it one of the top-selling series in history, on a par with Ian Fleming's James Bond books. SAS may be the longest-running fiction series ever written by a single author."De Villiers' books are well known in French-speaking countries for their in-depth insider knowledge of such subjects as espionage, geopolitics, and terrorist threats, as well as their hard-core sex scenes. Vintage Books worked with his estate to publish his books in English translations posthumously, beginning in 2014 with The Madmen of Benghazi and Chaos in Kabul, Revenge of the Kremlin in 2015, and Lord of the Swallows in February 2016. Surface to Air was published in June 2016. All were translated by veteran literary translator William Rodarmor and bought de Villiers and his hero Malko Linge to English-speaking readers.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Fernando Arrabal Terán (born August 11, 1932) is a Spanish playwright, screenwriter, film director, novelist, and poet. He was born in Melilla and settled in France in 1955. Regarding his nationality, Arrabal describes himself as "desterrado", or "half-expatriate, half-exiled". Arrabal has directed seven full-length feature films and has published over 100 plays; 14 novels; 800 poetry collections, chapbooks, and artists' books; several essays; and his notorious "Letter to General Franco" during the dictator's lifetime. His complete plays have been published, in multiple languages, in a two-volume edition totaling over two thousand pages. The New York Times' theatre critic Mel Gussow has called Arrabal the last survivor among the "three avatars of modernism". In 1962, Arrabal co-founded the Panic Movement with Alejandro Jodorowsky and Roland Topor, inspired by the god Pan. He was elected Transcendent Satrap of the Collège de Pataphysique in 1990. Forty other Transcendent Satraps have been elected over the past half-century, including Marcel Duchamp, Eugène Ionesco, Man Ray, Boris Vian, Dario Fo, Umberto Eco, and Jean Baudrillard. Arrabal spent three years as a member of André Breton's surrealist group and was a friend of Andy Warhol and Tristan Tzara. Writer and critic Javier Villan wrote of Arrabal:Arrabal's theatre is a wild, brutal, cacophonous, and joyously provocative world. It is a dramatic carnival in which the carcass of our 'advanced' civilizations is barbecued over the spits of a permanent revolution. He is the artistic heir of Kafka's lucidity and Jarry's humor; in his violence, Arrabal is related to Sade and Artaud. Yet he is doubtless the only writer to have pushed derision as far as he did. Deeply political and merrily playful, both revolutionary and bohemian, his work is the syndrome of our century of barbed wire and Gulags, a manner of finding a reprieve.
- Birthplace: Spain, Melilla
Samuel Benchetrit
Age: 52Samuel Benchetrit is a director, writer, and actor who is known for directing "Asphalte" and "I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster." Benchetrit was nominated for a César Award in 2016 for the first project.- Birthplace: Champigny-sur-Marne, France
- Romane Bohringer (born 14 August 1973) is a French actress, film director, screenwriter, and costume designer. She is the daughter of Richard Bohringer and sister of Lou Bohringer. Her parents named her after Roman Polanski. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Savage Nights.
- Birthplace: France
- A Parisian-born actor, director, writer, and producer who has worked in both the Hollywood and French film worlds, Mathieu Kassovitz initially became known to American audiences for his turn as the poetically named Nino Quincampoix, the romantic interest in the whimsical Jean-Pierre Jeunet-directed French comedy "Amélie" in 2001. Prior to that, he had a fruitful collaboration with writer-director Jacques Audiard, who cast him as the lead in the mid-90s dramas "See How They Fall" and "A Self-Made Hero." Although Kassovitz got his start, and has his longest resume, as an actor, he's also put together an impressive directorial career. In 1995, his urban drama "La Haine" garnered great attention at the Cannes Film Festival, winning Kassovitz the Best Director award, and he followed it up with the controversial 1997 crime movie "Assassin(s)," in which he himself played the lead. He directed French stars Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel (whom he also collaborated with in "La Haine") in the thriller "The Crimson Rivers," and, in the U.S., he worked with such stars as Halle Berry and Robert Downey, Jr., in 2003's supernatural "Gothika," and Vin Diesel in 2008's apocalyptic "Babylon A.D.." As an actor, Kassovitz collaborated with Steven Spielberg in the lauded 2005 dramatic thriller "Munich," and with Steven Soderbergh in the 2012 action film "Haywire."
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Multifaceted Parisian actor Melvil Poupaud may be unfamiliar to most American audiences, but with an extensive career in French cinema under his belt, Poupaud's is a face worth knowing. Named after legendary "Moby-Dick" author Herman Melville by his mother, producer and writer Chantal Poupaud, Melvil began making amateur films in his bedroom at the age of 10. The same year, the young talent exploded onto the European acting scene, playing "l'enfant" ("child") in the surreal 1983 drama "City of Pirates," directed by inventive filmmaker Raoul Ruiz. Their relationship awoke a creative voracity in Poupaud, which saw him participating in as many as five films a year at his peak. Among the highlights of his performances was his naturalistic portrayal of Thomas, a teenage boy caught between a friend and his father in 1989's understated drama "The 15 Year Old Girl." The role landed Poupaud the first of two César award nominations for Most Promising Actor. His film career continued to expand. He starred opposite Naomi Watts in the bitter romantic comedy "Le Divorce," and has since been featured in major motion pictures like 2009's British gangster flick "44 Inch Chest" and the Wachowski siblings' colorful adaptation of the cult cartoon "Speed Racer," in which he played bit character Johnny "Goodboy" Jones. Poupaud is also known for his accomplished work as a musician. He and his brother Yarol Poupaud make up the rock group MUD. In 2002, Melvil released a solo album called "Simple Appareil."
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Henri-Louis Bergson (French: [bɛʁksɔn]; 18 October 1859 – 4 January 1941) was a French-Jewish philosopher who was influential in the tradition of continental philosophy, especially during the first half of the 20th century until the Second World War. Bergson is known for his arguments that processes of immediate experience and intuition are more significant than abstract rationalism and science for understanding reality. He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his rich and vitalizing ideas and the brilliant skill with which they have been presented". In 1930 France awarded him its highest honour, the Grand-Croix de la Legion d'honneur. Bergson's great popularity created a controversy in France where his views were seen as opposing the secular and scientific attitude adopted by the Republic's officials.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
Denis Podalydès
Age: 62A wiry and diminutive French character actor with large, expressive eyes, Denis Podalydès spent much of his prolific career traversing the fringes of indie cinema before snagging several major film roles. Originally hailing from the stage, where he's since become a time-honored member of the vaunted Comédie-Française, he jumped headlong into films in the late 1980s and became a peripheral fixture of the subsequent two decades' influx of hip and sometimes outré French relationship comedies. In addition to appearing in the ensembles of films such as the tapestried love story "My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument," he's delivered several endearing if little-seen lead performances in quirky character studies directed by his brother, Bruno Podalydès, including the comedy of romantic indecisiveness "Only God Sees Me." His profile was raised considerably, however, when he co-starred as a wounded soldier in the lyrically haunting "The Officer's Ward" and as a freewheeling 1940s-era screenwriter in the exceptionally insightful "Safe Conduct" (2002). The two critically acclaimed wartime dramas paved the way for supporting parts in such international crossover smashes as the crackerjack domestic thriller "Caché" and the mystery-shrouded American adventure "The Da Vinci Code" ('06). Ever since, Podalydès has worked at an incredible rate of several films per year, continuing to crop up in dozens of offbeat love stories while garnering starring roles in such ambitious projects as "The Conquest," a probing examination of French president Nicolas Sarkozy's rise to power.- Birthplace: Versailles, France
- A leading figure in the New French Extremity movement, director and screenwriter Bruno Dumont became a festival favorite with a series of provocative arthouse films deliberately intended to stir audiences' emotions. Born in the small French town of Bailleul in 1958, Dumont began his career as a philosophy professor, and later began to moonlight as a film-maker with a number of industrial documentaries and short films including "Paris" (1993), "P'tit Quinquin" (1993) and "Marie et Freddy" (1994). Inspired by the likes of Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman and Pier Paolo Pasolini, Dumont eventually gave up his day job and moved into feature-length cinema with "La vie de Jesus," an unsettling study of disenchanted youth which showcased his penchant for extreme violence and graphic sexuality, use of non-professional actors and gritty realism. A contemplative tale in which a detached detective investigates the murder of an 11-year-old girl, follow-up "Humanite" (1999) launched Dumont into the spotlight, winning three awards at the Cannes Film Festival including the Grand Prix. Dumont further established his reputation as one of French cinema's most divisive names with "Twentynine Palms" (2003), a hugely disturbing road movie in which a photographer and his Russian girlfriend's trip to the Southern California desert ends in horrific circumstances. Dumont then won his second Cannes Grand Prix with "Flandres" (2006), a powerful meditation on both everyday life and the horrors of war, and three years later addressed themes of religious obsession, teenage desire and racial tension in "Hadewijch" (2009), the story of a troubled young Sister whose blind faith is severely tested by her relationship with two Muslim brothers. The visually stunning "Hors Satan" (2011) saw Dumont once again explore the nature of good and evil with a typically avant-garde take on the serial killer film, while "Camille Claudel 1915" (2013) found him working with French film royalty in the shape of Juliette Binoche for a surprisingly compassionate biopic of the tortured sculptor. In 2014, Dumont unexpectedly ventured into television with "P'tit Quinquin" (Arte France, 2014), a bizarre blend of screwball comedy and police procedural in which a small town falls victim to a band of young scoundrels.
- Birthplace: Bailleul, Nord, France
- Raúl Ruiz or Raul Ruiz may refer to: Raúl Ruiz (director) (1941–2011), Chilean filmmaker Raul Ruiz (journalist), American journalist and Chicano activist Raul Ruiz (politician) (born 1972), United States congressman Raúl Ruiz Matarín (born 1990), Spanish footballer
- Birthplace: Puerto Montt, Chile
- Christine Pascal (29 November 1953 – 30 August 1996) was a French actress, writer and director.
- Birthplace: France, Lyon
- Jeanne Balibar first distinguished herself on the stage in France's Festival d'Avignon, an annual performing arts event. But it was her first film role, in noted French director Arnaud Desplechin's thriller "La Sentinelle," that launched Balibar's career in independent European film. In 1996, she collaborated a second time with Desplechin in the romantic comedy "My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument," also starring Balibar's future husband, actor/director Mathieu Amalric. This time, Balibar played a larger supporting role and was even nominated as Most Promising Actress in France's César awards; it would be the first of many nominations. Not long after, she teamed up with Amalric again in Olivier Assayas' adult coming-of-age drama "Late August, Early September," playing the secondary female lead character, Jenny. Balibar would continue holding supporting roles in heavy emotional dramas and, occasionally, thrillers. Most notably, she collaborated once again with Assayas in "Clean," about a former junkie trying to regain control of her life. In 2003, Balibar played Tim Robbins' girlfriend in the British sci-fi thriller "Code 46." The same year, Balibar took a starring role in "All the Fine Promises," one of the most distinguished films from French New Wave director Jean-Paul Civeyrac. In it, Balibar's character deals with heavy emotional subjects once again--coping with her mother's death, a romantic break-up, and a family scandal.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- An inspiring and rebellious figure, writer and director Marjane Satrapi became well known when her autobiographical graphic novel Persepolis was published in France in 2000 to immense critical acclaim. The story chronicled Satrapi's youth in her native Iran, where her affluent and politically active family spoke out against the nation's last Shah and supported Marxist ideals. The book also recounted Satrapi's experiences after the Iranian Revolution left a strict authoritarian regime in place, eventually leading to her own beloved uncle's execution for his political beliefs. Satrapi became increasingly rebellious following the event, listening to music banned by the regime and breaking "modesty" laws. After attending boarding school in Vienna, Satrapi returned to Iran and graduated from Islamic Azad University with a master's degree in visual communication. Later, she moved to France and married Swedish national Mattia Ripa. Satrapi also began an important professional relationship at this time with comic artist David Beuchard, who helped Satrapi develop her skills. In 2000, she wrote and illustrated the first of her four-part Persepolis series to major acclaim and in 2003, the series was released in English as well. The following year, Satrapi published another acclaimed graphic novel, Chicken with Plums. In 2007, Satrapi teamed with French director Vincent Paronnaud to co-direct an animated film adaptation of Persepolis. The film was a massive success in France as well as in the United States, where it was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2011, she and Paronnaud re-teamed to produce a live-action adaptation of her book Chicken with Plums. By the following year, Satrapi was ready to direct on her own, bringing her own screenplay to life with "The Gang of the Jotas" (2012). Having established herself as a filmmaker in her own right, Satrapi's next project was the American comedy "The Voices" (2014) starring Ryan Reynolds. It was the director's first film for which she had no role in the script.
- Birthplace: Rasht, Iran
- Françoise Sagan (born Françoise Quoirez; 21 June 1935 – 24 September 2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. Sagan was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters. Her best-known novel was her first – Bonjour Tristesse (1954) – which was written when she was a teenager.
- Birthplace: Cajarc, France
- Emmanuelle Bercot (born 6 November 1967) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter. Her film Clément was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Her 2013 film On My Way premiered in competition at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival.Her 2015 film Standing Tall was selected to open the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. At Cannes, Bercot won the award for Best Actress for her role in Mon roi.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Yann Arthus-Bertrand FRSGS (born 13 March 1946) is an environmentalist, activist, journalist and photographer. He has also directed films about the impact of humans on the planet. He is especially well known for his book Earth from Above (1999) and his films Home (2009) and Human (2015). It is because of this commitment that Yann Arthus-Bertrand was designated Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme on Earth Day (April 22, 2009).
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- A founding father of French New Wave cinema, director Claude Chabrol's fascination with genre films, and the detective drama in particular, fueled a lengthy and celebrated string of thrillers, including "Les Bonnes Femmes" (1959), "Les Biches" (1968), La Femme Infidèle" (1968) and "Que la bête meure" (1969), which explored the human heart under extreme emotional duress. Chabrol began as a contributor to the celebrated film magazine Cahiers du Cinema alongside such film legends as Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard before launching his directorial career in 1957. He quickly established himself as a versatile filmmaker whose innate understanding of genre tropes informed the complex triangular relationships at the center of many of his films, which frequently served as a prism through which commentary on class conflict could be obliquely addressed. Chabrol's mordant sense of humor and penchant for violent scenarios were alternately embraced and rejected by moviegoers over the course of his five-decade career, but the talent he displayed in depicting these dark deeds, as well as his status among the pantheon of French New Wave cinema, underscored his significance as one of his native country's most prolific and wickedly gifted craftsmen.
- Birthplace: Sardent, France
- André Weinfeld (born April 6, 1947), is a French and American film and television producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer, photographer, and journalist. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand and the Sorbonne University in Paris.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- René Goscinny (French: [ʁəne ɡosini], Polish: [ɡɔɕˈtɕinnɨ] (listen); 14 August 1926–5 November 1977) was a French comic editor and writer of Polish descent, who created the Astérix comic book series with illustrator Albert Uderzo. He also worked on the comic series Lucky Luke with Morris (considered the series' golden age) and Iznogoud with Jean Tabary. He also wrote a series of children's books known as "Le Petit Nicolas" series (Little Nicolas).
- Birthplace: France, Paris
Thomas Vincent
Age: 61Thomas Vincent is a French film director, screenwriter and actor. His 1999 film Karnaval was entered into the 49th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Alfred Bauer Prize.- Birthplace: France, Juvisy-sur-Orge
- Gabriel-Maximilien Leuvielle (16 December 1883 – 1 November 1925), known professionally as Max Linder (French: [maks lɛ̃.dɛʁ]), was a French actor, director, screenwriter, producer and comedian of the silent film era. His onscreen persona "Max" was one of the first recognizable recurring characters in film. He has also been cited as the "first international movie star."Born in Cavernes, France to Catholic parents, Linder grew up with a passion for the theatre and enrolled in the Conservatoire Bordeaux in 1899. He soon received awards for his performances and continued to pursue a career in the legitimate theatre. He became a contract player with the Bordeaux Théâtre des Arts from 1901 to 1904, performing in plays by Molière, Pierre Corneille and Alfred de Musset. From the summer of 1905, Linder appeared in short comedy films for Pathé, at first usually in supporting roles. His first major film role was in the Georges Méliès-like fantasy film The Legend of Punching. During the following years, Linder made several hundred short films portraying "Max", a wealthy and dapper man-about-town frequently in hot water because of his penchant for beautiful women and the good life. Starting with The Skater's Debut in 1907, the character became one of the first identifiable motion-picture characters who appeared in successive situation comedies. By 1911, Linder was co-directing his own films (with René LePrince) as well as writing the scripts. Linder enlisted at the outbreak of the First World War, and worked at first as a dispatch driver and entertainer. During his service, he was injured several times, and the experiences reportedly had a devastating effect on him both physically and mentally. It was during this time he suffered his first outbreak of chronic depression.
- Birthplace: Saint-Loubès, France
- Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (French: [ʒɑ̃ anuj]; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play Antigone, an adaptation of Sophocles' classical drama, that was seen as an attack on Marshal Pétain's Vichy government. One of France's most prolific writers after World War II, much of Anouilh's work deals with themes of maintaining integrity in a world of moral compromise.
- Birthplace: Bordeaux, France
- Isild Le Besco (born 22 November 1982) is a French actress and filmmaker. She is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French, and Algerian descent.She has starred in many films, including Sade (2000), a French film starring Daniel Auteuil, and in The Good Heart, directed by Dagur Kari. She is the sister of actress and film director Maiwenn, and the daughter of actress Catherine Belkhodja.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Edouard Baer was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Baer's early acting career consisted of roles in big screen comedies like the Geraldine Pailhas film "Loose Screws" (1994), "L' Appartement" (1996) with Romane Bohringer and Vincent Cassel and "Rien sur Robert" (1999) with Fabrice Luchini and Sandrine Kiberlain. He also appeared in "Terror Firmer" (1999) starring Keenan Will, the Edouard Baer film "La Bostella" (2000) and "Les Freres Soeur" (2000). He continued to act in productions like "Asterix and Obelix Meet Cleopatra" (2002) with Gérard Depardieu, "Alias Betty" (2002) with Sandrine Kiberlain and "God is Great, I'm Not" (2002). He also appeared in "Double Zero" (2004) with Eric Judor. In his more recent career, he continued to act in "Off and Running" (2008), "Un monde a nous" (2008) and the foreign "A Girl Cut in Two" (2008) with Ludivine Sagnier. He also appeared in the foreign "Les Barons" (2009) with Nader Boussandel and the dramatic adaptation "Une exécution ordinaire" (2010) with André Dussollier. Most recently, Baer acted in "Encore heureux" (2016).
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Marina Foïs was a prolific French actress who appeared in dozens of films beginning in the 1990s. Born and raised in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Foïs discovered her love of performance at the age of 16, when she appeared in a production of the 17th century French comedy "The School for Wives," thus developing an immediate love and fascination with making people laugh. The play left such a massive impression on Foïs that she soon decided to continue her high school courses through correspondence so that she can devote herself to comedic performing. In the late '80s, she joined the sketch comedy troupe The Royal Imperial Green Rabbit Company. The group, which was later rechristened Les Robins des Bois, performed sketches in and around France, with Foïs writing several of her own characters. Les Robins des Bois continued to perform throughout the '90s, but in 2001 the group disbanded so that each member could focus on their burgeoning movie careers. Although Foïs had acted in a few movies and TV shows up until that point, by the early 2000s she became one of the most prolific actresses in French cinema, appearing in such films as "The Race" (2002), "RRRrrrr!!!" (2004), and 2012's "Maman." In 2015 Foïs co-starrred in the popular comedy "Daddy or Mommy" (2015).
- Birthplace: Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
- Louis Marie Malle (French: [mal]; 30 October 1932 – 23 November 1995) was a French film director, screenwriter and producer. His film Le Monde du silence won the Palme d'Or in 1956 and the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957, although he was not credited at the ceremony; the award was instead presented to the film's co-director Jacques Cousteau. Later in his career he was nominated multiple times for Academy Awards. Malle is also one of only four directors to have won the Golden Lion twice. Malle worked in both French cinema and Hollywood, and he produced both French and English language films. His most famous films include the crime film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (1958), the World War II drama Lacombe, Lucien (1974), the romantic crime film Atlantic City (1980), the comedy-drama My Dinner with Andre (1981), and the autobiographical film Au revoir les enfants (1987).
- Birthplace: Thumeries, France
Thierry Lhermitte
Age: 72A French leading man usually in light comedy and often compared by cineastes to the American actor Tom Hanks, Thierry Lhermitte began in show business on stage in his teens and made his feature film debut in "L'an 01" (1972). In the mid-1970s, he was one of the founders of Le Splendid, a comedy troupe similar to Chicago's famed Second City. A sketch Lhermitte co-wrote about life at a Club Med called "Les Bronzes/Sun Tan" became a hit in France when made into a motion picture in 1976 and spawned an equally successful sequel. He went on to essay leading roles in "Les Heroes n'ont pas froid aux oreilles" (1978), and "Le Pere Noel est une ordure" (1981). The latter had Lhermitte running a crisis center on Christmas Eve and served as the inspiration for the 1994 Steve Martin vehicle "Mixed Nuts." Established as a major star of French cinema, Lhermitte. who also penned many of the scripts in which he acted. attempted to cross-over to the international market with a role in "Until September" (1984) but the film failed to catch on with American audiences. Returning to his native land, he went on to star in several films that were eventually Americanized including "Le fete des peres/Father's Day" (1990), in which he played a gay man who wants to father a child, "La Totale!" (1991), which James Cameron turned into "True Lies" (1994), and "Un Indien dans la ville/Little Indian, Big City" (1996), about a French man who discovers he has a son raised as a South American Indian whom he brings to Paris. That movie was supposed to further raise Lhermitte's American profile but American audiences were unresponsive. It did, however, serve as the basis for the Tim Allen comedy "Jungle2Jungle" (1997). More recently, Lhermitte portrayed King Louis XIV in "Marquise" and played a Parisian publisher engaged in one-upsmanship with his friends in "The Dinner Game" (both 1997). Amercian audiences were exposed to his considerable charms in the sophisticated Merchant-Ivory production of Diane Johnson's bestseller when Lhermitte played a suave, very married French diplomat with a penchant for seducing naive young American women--in this case, Kate Hudson--with his slick, roguish appeal and gifts of Hermes Kelly Bags.- Birthplace: Boulogne-Billancourt, France
Yann Gonzalez
Age: 48Yann Gonzalez is a screenwriter, a film director and a member of the musical group M83.- Birthplace: Nice, France
Michel Drach
Dec. at 59 (1930-1990)Michel Drach (18 October 1930 in Paris – 15 February 1990 in Paris) was a French film director, writer, producer and actor.- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Bruno Podalydès is a director, writer, and actor who is known for directing "Dieu Seul Me Voit" and "Versailles Rive-Gauche." Podalydès won a César Award in 1999 for the first project.
- Birthplace: Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France
- François Ozon (French: [fʁɑ̃.swa o.zɔ̃]; born 15 November 1967) is a French film director and screenwriter whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality. He has achieved international acclaim for his films 8 femmes (2002) and Swimming Pool (2003). Ozon is considered to be one of the most important French film directors in the new "New Wave" in French cinema such as Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Philippe Ramos, and Yves Caumon, as well as a group of French filmmakers associated with a "cinema du corps/cinema of the body".
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Gérard Oury (born Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum; 29 April 1919 – 20 July 2006) was a French film director, actor and writer.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Isidore Isou (French: [izu]; 29 January 1925 – 28 July 2007), born Isidor Goldstein, was a Romanian-born French poet, dramaturge, novelist, film director, economist, and visual artist who lived in the 20th century. He was the founder of Lettrism, an art and literary movement which owed inspiration to Dada and Surrealism. An important figure in the mid-20th Century avant-garde, he is remembered in the cinema world chiefly for his revolutionary 1951 film Traité de Bave et d'Eternité, while his political writings are seen as foreshadowing the May 1968 movements.
- Birthplace: Botoșani, Romania
Louis Verneuil
Dec. at 59 (1893-1952)Louis Jacques Marie Collin du Bocage (14 May 1893 – 3 November 1952), better known by the pen name Louis Verneuil, was a French playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Born in Paris, Verneuil wrote approximately sixty plays and was best known for comedy. Many of his works were produced on Broadway including Monsieur Lamberthier, adapted into Jealousy (1928) starring John Halliday and Fay Bainter, and subsequently adapted again in 1946 as Obsession with Eugenie Leontovich and Basil Rathbone; and Affairs of State (1950) which starred Celeste Holm and Harry Bannister. Affairs of State ran for 610 performances at the Music Box Theatre and was the first work Verneuil wrote in English. His screenwriting credits include Avec Le Sourire (With a Smile) (1936) which starred Maurice Chevalier, and Cosas de mujer (Feminine Wiles) (1951). The Bette Davis film Deception (1946) was a third adaptation of his Monsieur Lamberthier. Verneuil was once married to Lysiane Bernhardt, the granddaughter of Sarah Bernhardt. Verneuil committed suicide at the age of 59 by slashing his throat. Police found his body in a bathtub. Verneuil is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Tomer Sisley was a bit of a liar. The multiethnic actor and humorist drew massive acclaim for a stand-up routine in which he joked his mother was Jewish and his father was Arabic. Though only half true - his parents were both Israeli - the joke's success brought his career to new heights. After debuting on the TV series "Highlander" (TF1, 1992-98) and in the romantic comedy "Alliance cherche doigt" (1997), Sisley won the 2003 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and established himself as one of France's top talents. His love of adrenaline-pumping sports (he participated in numerous horse-jumping competitions and was a licensed helicopter pilot) proved useful in "The Heir Apparent: Largo Winch" (2008), which featured the kind of action set pieces typically found in a James Bond film. After appearing in the 2011 sequel "The Burma Conspiracy," Sisley took on a darker role as a crooked cop in "Sleepless Night" (2011), and made his American debut with a small but memorable part in "We're the Millers" (2013). Tomer Sisley didn't look like anyone else, so he wasn't going to act like anyone else, either.
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Gérard Lanvin is an actor and writer who is best known for his role in "The Taste of Others" as Franck Moreno. Lanvin won a César Award in 2001 for the same project.
- Birthplace: Boulogne-Billancourt, France
- Bernard-Henri Lévy (; French: [bɛʁnaʁ ɑ̃ʁi levi]; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. The Boston Globe has said that he is "perhaps the most prominent intellectual in France today". His opinions, political activism and publications have also been the subject of several controversies over the years.
- Birthplace: Béni Saf, Algeria
Marc Fitoussi
Age: 51Marc Fitoussi is a French film director and screenwriter.- Jérémie Elkaïm (born 29 August 1978) is a French actor, screenwriter and film director best known for his role in Presque rien (US title: Come Undone, 2000). In the film, he plays Mathieu, a troubled, emotionally fragile teen who finds himself in a whirlwind romance with Cédric (played by Stéphane Rideau). His performance in the film garnered him much critical acclaim. Other notable films starring the actor include the comedy teen flick Sexy Boys (2001), which is touted to be the French version of American Pie, À cause d'un garçon (U.S. title: You'll Get Over It, 2002), where he plays yet another gay teenager, and Mariées mais pas trop in which he plays an insurance investigator. His latest role was the lead in the comedy film Les Bêtises. He has also appeared in television, as 30-year-old Paul Delorme in the TV series Le Bureau (2006), the French version of The Office currently seen on Canal+. Paul often plays pranks on officemate Joël Liotard (Benoît Carré), and shows a level of attraction towards receptionist Laetitia Kadiri (Anne-Laure Balbir). His character is the French equivalent of the British version's Tim Canterbury (played by Martin Freeman) and the American version's Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski).
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Jean-Claude Carrière (French: [ka.ʁjɛʁ]; born 17 September 1931) is a French novelist, screenwriter, actor, and Academy Award honoree. He was an alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud and was president of La Fémis, the French state film school. Carrière was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel on the screenplays of Buñuel's late French films.
- Birthplace: France, Colombières-sur-Orb
- Benjamin Fondane (French pronunciation: [bɛ̃ʒamɛ̃ fɔ̃dan]) or Benjamin Fundoianu (Romanian pronunciation: [benʒaˈmin fundoˈjanu]; born Benjamin Wechsler, Wexler or Vecsler, first name also Beniamin or Barbu, usually abridged to B.; November 14, 1898 – October 2, 1944) was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, also noted for his work in film and theater. Known from his Romanian youth as a Symbolist poet and columnist, he alternated Neoromantic and Expressionist themes with echoes from Tudor Arghezi, and dedicated several poetic cycles to the rural life of his native Moldavia. Fondane, who was of Jewish Romanian extraction and a nephew of Jewish intellectuals Elias and Moses Schwartzfeld, participated in both minority secular Jewish culture and mainstream Romanian culture. During and after World War I, he was active as a cultural critic, avant-garde promoter and, with his brother-in-law Armand Pascal, manager of the theatrical troupe Insula. Fondane began a second career in 1923, when he moved to Paris. Affiliated with Surrealism, but strongly opposed to its communist leanings, he moved on to become a figure in Jewish existentialism and a leading disciple of Lev Shestov. His critique of political dogma, rejection of rationalism, expectation of historical catastrophe and belief in the soteriological force of literature were outlined in his celebrated essays on Charles Baudelaire and Arthur Rimbaud, as well as in his final works of poetry. His literary and philosophical activities helped him build close relationships with other intellectuals: Shestov, Emil Cioran, David Gascoyne, Jacques Maritain, Victoria Ocampo, Ilarie Voronca etc. In parallel, Fondane also had a career in cinema: a film critic and a screenwriter for Paramount Pictures, he later worked on Rapt with Dimitri Kirsanoff, and directed the since-lost film Tararira in Argentina. A prisoner of war during the fall of France, Fondane was released and spent the occupation years in clandestinity. He was eventually captured and handed to Nazi German authorities, who deported him to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was sent to the gas chamber during the last wave of the Holocaust. His work was largely rediscovered later in the 20th century, when it became the subject of scholarly research and public curiosity in both France and Romania. In the latter country, this revival of interest also sparked a controversy over copyright issues.
- Birthplace: Nord-Est, Iași, Romania
- Georges Albert Maurice Victor Bataille (; French: [ʒɔʁʒ batɑj]; 10 September 1897 – 9 July 1962) was a French intellectual and literary figure working in literature, philosophy, anthropology, consumerism, sociology and history of art. His writing, which included essays, novels, and poetry, explored such subjects as erotism, mysticism, surrealism, petroleum, and transgression. His work would prove influential on subsequent schools of philosophy and social theory, including poststructuralism.
- Birthplace: Billom, France
- Claude Barruck Joseph Lelouch (French: [ləluʃ]; born 30 October 1937) is a French film director, writer, cinematographer, actor and producer.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Alain Chabat's comic timing and natural charisma endeared him to French audiences and across the pond. He was born on Nov. 24, 1958 in Oran, French Algeria to Sephardic Jewish parents. Chabat's family moved to Massy, located in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. He initially wanted to be a cartoonist and singer, but eventually found his passion in acting. Chabat made his acting debut on the French sci-fi spoof "Objectif: Nul" (1987, Canal +) opposite Bruno Carette, Dominique Farrugia, and Chantal Lauby, with whom Chabat formed the comedy group Les Nuls ("The Dummies") in the late 1980s. Following Carette's death in 1989, the remaining trio starred on the sketch comedy series "Les Nuls, l'émission" (Canal +, 1990-92) and "Didier" (1997). The latter marked Chabat's first writing and directorial effort, which earned him a César Award for Best Debut. In 2001, Chabat voiced "Shrek," replacing Mike Myers in the French-dubbed version of the hit animated film and its sequels. One of Chabat's frequent collaborators was Charlotte Gainsbourg, the daughter of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin. Chabat and Gainsbourg co-starred in several films, including " And They Lived Happily Ever After" (2004) and "The Science of Sleep" (2006). Chabat appeared in his first mainstream American film in "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" (2009), portraying Napoleon Bonaparte. In 2012, Chabat acted in the Eddie Murphy comedy "A Thousand Words" and voiced the Blue-footed booby Silas in the animated film "Ice Age: Continental Drift."
- Birthplace: Oran, France
- Roland Topor (7 January 1938 – 16 April 1997) was a French illustrator, cartoonist, comics artist, painter, novelist, playwright, film and TV writer, filmmaker and actor, known for the surreal nature of his work. He was of Polish-Jewish origin and spent the early years of his life in Savoy, where his family hid him from the Nazi peril.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Mainstay of the New Wave who has played supporting roles in films by Jean-Luc Godard (as the hot-tempered police inspector in "Breathless"), Claude Chabrol and Francois Truffaut. Boulanger has written novels, short stories and plays as well as screenplays, mostly for Philippe de Broca.
- Birthplace: Compiègne, Oise, France
- Sylvain Chomet (French: [ʃɔmɛ]; born 10 November 1963) is a French comic writer, animator and film director.
- Birthplace: Maisons-Laffite, France
- Ann Scott (born 3 November 1965 in Paris, France) is a French novelist. She is regarded as a social realist for her novels which paint portraits of contemporary youth and her second novel Superstars has given her a cult status in France.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Urbane Franco-Italian performer, on stage from the late 1940s and in routine screen character roles through the 50s. Michel Piccoli gained prominence in the following decades with roles as sophisticated bourgeois types in films by Bunuel, Hitchcock and Chabrol. He has since cemented his reputation as one of France's most prolific and acclaimed performers, working through the 1990s with directors including Bertrand Tavernier ("Spoiled Children" 1977), Louis Malle ("Atlantic City" 1980) and Leos Carax ("Bad Blood" 1986). Michel Piccoli died on May 18, 2020 at the age of 94.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Marie NDiaye (born 4 June 1967) is a French novelist and playwright. She published her first novel, Quant au riche avenir, when she was 17. She won the Prix Goncourt in 2009. Her play Papa doit manger is the sole play by a living female writer to be part of the repertoire of the Comédie française.
- Birthplace: Pithiviers, France
- Multi-faceted maverick of contemporary French cinema. Berri began his career as an actor and moved behind the camera in the early 1960s, earning critical praise for short films like "Le poulet" (1963).
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- A key member of the new wave of female French directors, Claire Denis toiled for more than 10 years as an assistant director before winning international acclaim with her first feature film, "Chocolat" (1988), a semi-autobiographical tale of a young French girl in Africa. "Chocolat," co-written with Jean-Pol Fargeau, was a meditation on colonialism. The woman returning to Africa is driven by an American black and the intertwining of their stories links the pair to the continent through issues of native identity. It was the official French entry in the Cannes Film Festival.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Sabine Crossen is a French American actress and director.
- Antoine Blondin (11 April 1922 – 7 June 1991) was a French writer. He belonged to the literary group called the Hussards. He was also a sports columnist in L'Équipe. Blondin also wrote under the name Tenorio.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Michel Ocelot is a French writer, designer, storyboard artist and director of animated films and television programs (formerly also animator, background artist, narrator and other roles in earlier works) and a former president of the International Animated Film Association. Though best known for his 1998 debut feature Kirikou and the Sorceress, his earlier films and television work had already won Césars and British Academy Film Awards among others and he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'honneur on 23 October 2009, presented to him by Agnès Varda who had been promoted to commandeur earlier the same year. In 2015 he got the Lifetime Achievement Award at the World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb.
- Birthplace: France, Villefranche-sur-Mer
- Roger Vailland (16 October 1907 - 12 May 1965) was a French novelist, essayist, and screenwriter.
- Birthplace: Acy-en-Multien, France
- Alexandre-Pierre Georges "Sacha" Guitry (French: [gitʁi]; 21 February 1885 – 24 July 1957) was a French stage actor, film actor, director, screenwriter, and playwright of the Boulevard theatre. He was the son of a leading French actor, Lucien Guitry, and followed his father into the theatrical profession. He became known for his stage performances, often in boulevardier roles, in the many plays he wrote, of which there were more than 120. He was married five times, always to rising actresses whose careers he furthered. Probably his best-known wife was Yvonne Printemps to whom he was married between 1919 and 1932. Guitry's plays range from historical dramas to contemporary light comedies. Some have musical scores, by composers including André Messager and Reynaldo Hahn. When silent films became popular Guitry avoided them, finding the lack of spoken dialogue fatal to dramatic impact. From the 1930s to the end of his life he enthusiastically embraced the cinema, making as many as five films in a single year. The later years of Guitry's career were overshadowed by accusations of collaborating with the occupying Germans after the capitulation of France in the Second World War. The charges were dismissed, but Guitry, a strongly patriotic man, was disillusioned by the vilification by some of his compatriots. By the time of his death his popular esteem had been restored to the extent that 12,000 people filed past his coffin before his burial in Paris.
- Birthplace: Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Antoine de Caunes (born 1 December 1953) is a French television presenter, actor, writer and film director. He is the son of two prominent French personalities, television journalist-reporter Georges de Caunes and television announcer Jacqueline Joubert. He is the father of the actress Emma de Caunes.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Jacques Prévert (French: [ʒak pʁevɛʁ]; 4 February 1900 – 11 April 1977) was a French poet and screenwriter. His poems became and remain popular in the French-speaking world, particularly in schools. His best-regarded films formed part of the poetic realist movement, and include Les Enfants du Paradis (1945).
- Birthplace: Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
- Filmmaker and musician Quentin Dupieux got his hands on his first camera at age 12 and knew that his life was destined to revolve around creative pursuits. He told his father that he wanted to quit school to become a full time artist, and in time, that's exactly what he did. By 1991, the Paris-born 17 year-old bought his first synthesizer, and began creating his own visionary electronic music. In 1997, Dupieux caught the ear of DJ Laurent Garnier, who heard his music while buying a car from Dupieux's father. Soon, Dupieux was signed to the label FCom, and directed the music video for Garnier's "Crispy Bacon." In 1999, Dupieux released the electronic single "Flat Beat" under the stage name Mr. Oizo. The song became a massive worldwide hit, and Dupieux began releasing albums. Simultaneously, Dupieux nurtured his career as a director, helming music videos and commercials. In 2007, he made the leap to feature films with "Steak" (2007), a surreal mix of comedy, drama, and science fiction. He followed this with the tonally similar "Rubber" (2010), "Wrong" (2012), "Wrong Cops" (2013), and "Reality" (2014). Dupieux's films were acclaimed by critics, who praised his nonlinear style and dreamlike approach to storytelling.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Joann Sfar (French: [ʒoan sfaʁ]; born 28 August 1971) is a French comics artist, comic book creator, novelist, and film director.
- Birthplace: Nice, France
- Eric "Bibo" Bergeron is a French animator and film director. His work includes The Road to El Dorado, Shark Tale and A Monster in Paris. Bergeron has served as animator on films like Asterix in Britain, Asterix and the Big Fight, Fievel Goes West, FernGully: The Last Rainforest, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, A Goofy Movie, The Iron Giant, The Adventures of Pinocchio and Bee Movie. He also worked as storyboard artist on Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, The Madagascar Penguins in a Christmas Caper and Flushed Away. In 1993 Bergeron founded the animation studio "Bibo Films" in France. He directed the 2011 film A Monster in Paris, which he dedicated to his father. Bergeron is an alumnus of the Gobelins School of the Image.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Daniel Pennac (real name Daniel Pennacchioni, born 1 December 1944 in Casablanca, Morocco) is a French writer. He received the Prix Renaudot in 2007 for his essay Chagrin d'école. Daniel Pennacchioni is the fourth and last son of a Corsican and Provençal family. His father is a polytechnicien who became an officer of the colonial army, reaching the rank of general at retirement and his mother, a housewife, is a self-taught reader. He spent his childhood at the discretion of the fathers garrisons in Africa (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Algeria, Equatorial Africa), Southeast Asia (Indochina) and France (including La Colle-sur-Loup). It's his father's poetry buff that will give him the taste for books that he will quickly devour in the family library or at schoolAfter studying in Nice he became a teacher. He began to write for children and then wrote his book series "La Saga Malaussène", that tells the story of Benjamin Malaussène, a scapegoat, and his family in Belleville, Paris. In a 1997 piece for Le Monde, Pennac stated that Malaussène's youngest brother, Le Petit, was the son of Jerome Charyn's New York detective Isaac Sidel.His writing style can be humorous and imaginative like in "La Saga Malaussène", but he can also write "Comme un roman", a pedagogic essay. His Comic Débauche, written jointly with Jacques Tardi, treats the topic of unemployment, revealing his social preoccupations.
- Birthplace: Casablanca, Morocco
- Roland Joffé (born 17 November 1945) is a British director and producer of film and television, known for the Academy Award-winning movies The Killing Fields and The Mission. He began his career in television, his early credits including episodes of Coronation Street and an adaptation of The Stars Look Down for Granada. He gained a reputation for hard-hitting political stories with the series Bill Brand and factual dramas for Play for Today.
- Birthplace: London, United Kingdom
- Raymond Depardon (French: [də.paʁ.dɔ̃]; born 6 July 1942) is a French photographer, photojournalist and documentary filmmaker.
- Birthplace: France, Villefranche-sur-Saône
- Born in the picturesque landscape of Nice, France, Bertrand Bonello began his career not as a filmmaker, but as a musician. Bonello entered the business with a classical background, having begun playing the piano at the age of five. By his adult life, he was fronting the underground rock band Coven, and working with major names in the French pop world, including the legendary Françoise Hardy. By the mid-'90s, however, Bonello was ready for a change. He entered the film industry with the short "Qui je suis" (1996). Soon, he was jumping in completely with the full-length feature "Something Organic" (1998). Before long, Bonello's films were competing in the prestigious lineups of the Cannes Film Festival. His controversial drama "The Pornographer" (2001) won Cannes' International Critics Week Prize, and he was at the festival promoting the Palme d'Or nominated "Tiresia" (2003) when his daughter Anna Mouchette was born to his wife, cinematographer Josée Deshaies. Critics associated Bonello's arch themes and jarring filmmaking techniques with the New French Extremity movement, and he would continue pushing the boundaries throughout his increasingly high-profile career. He received greater exposure than ever with his conceptual biopic of French designer Yves Saint Laurent, "Saint Laurent" (2014), a film that found him working with a bigger budget than he ever had before.
- Birthplace: Nice, France
- Catherine Breillat (French: [bʁɛja]; born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker, novelist and professor of auteur cinema at the European Graduate School. In the film business for over 40 years, Catherine Breillat chooses to normalize previously taboo subjects in cinema. Taking advantage of the medium of cinema, Breillat juxtaposes different perspectives to highlight irony found in society. Through film, she attempts to redefine the female narrative in cinema by showing female characters who undergo similar experiences as their male counterparts. Many of Breillat's films explore the transition between girlhood and adulthood. The females of her films attempt to escape their adolescence by seeking individuality. There is an unsaid silence in society for girls to hide their sexuality and desires unless directly confronted about them. Breillat offers a platform to discuss female pleasure and sexual responsibility by exposing social and sexual conflicts in her films' themes.
- Birthplace: France, Bressuire
- Tony Gatlif (born as Michel Dahmani on 10 September 1948 in Algiers) is a French film director of Romani ethnicity who also works as a screenwriter, composer, actor, and producer.
- Birthplace: Algiers, Algeria
- Jacques Demy (French: [ʒak dəmi]; 5 June 1931 – 27 October 1990) was a French director, lyricist, and screenwriter. He appeared in the wake of the French New Wave alongside contemporaries like Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Demy's films are celebrated for their sumptuous visual style. Demy's style drew upon such diverse sources as classic Hollywood musicals, the documentary realism of his New Wave colleagues, fairy-tales, jazz, Japanese manga, and the opera. His films contain overlapping continuity (i.e., characters cross over from film to film), lush musical scores (typically composed by Michel Legrand) and motifs like teenaged love, labor rights, incest, and the intersection between dreams and reality. He is best known for the two musicals he directed in the mid-1960s: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967).
- Birthplace: Pontchâteau, France
- Anne Wiazemsky (14 May 1947 – 5 October 2017) was a French actress and novelist. Through her mother, she was the granddaughter of novelist and dramatist François Mauriac. She made her cinema debut at the age of 18, playing Marie, the lead character in Robert Bresson's Au Hasard Balthazar (1966), and went on to appear in several of Jean-Luc Godard's films, among them La Chinoise (1967), Week End (1967), and One Plus One (1968). She and Godard were married from 1967 to 1979.
- Birthplace: Berlin, Germany
- Michel Gondry (French: [miʃɛl ɡɔ̃dʁi]; born 8 May 1963) is a French director, screenwriter, and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of the 2004 film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. His other films include the surrealistic science fantasy comedy The Science of Sleep (2006), the comedy Be Kind Rewind (2008), the superhero action comedy The Green Hornet (2011), the drama The We and the I (2012), and the romantic science fantasy tragedy Mood Indigo (2013). He is well known for his music video collaborations with Daft Punk, Donald Fagen, Radiohead, Björk, Beck, The Chemical Brothers and The White Stripes.
- Birthplace: Versailles, France
- Bertrand Tavernier quit law school to write film criticism for Cahiers du Cinema and other major journals, worked as an assistant director and publicist (e.g., for Jean-Pierre Melville) and authored a couple of books on American cinema before making his first feature, "The Clockmaker" (1973). Adapted from a Georges Simenon novel (and transposed from the USA to Tavernier's home town), it is an intelligent, studied debut with finely-tuned performances, which won a Special Jury Prize at the 1974 Berlin Film Festival, the Prix Louis Delluc in France, and established Tavernier's reputation. His subsequent works have been equally well-crafted, displaying an affecting confluence of French and American cinematic styles. Tavernier's other noted films include "Clean Slate" (1981), a bold adaptation of Jim Thompson's "Pop. 1280", set not in the US South, but in French North Africa, and "'Round Midnight" (1986), a smooth, pseudo-biopic of a black-American jazz musician in 1950s Paris. Tavernier is separated from screenwriter Colo Tavernier Hagan, who has worked on several of his films, and the father of actor Nils Tavernier, who appeared in, among others, "Beatrice" (1987). Bertrand Tavernier died on March 25, 2021 in Sainte-Maxime, Var, France at the age of 79.
- Birthplace: Lyon, Rhône, France
- Dylan Riis Verrechia (born March 9, 1976 in Paris) is a New York based American-French-Danish award-winning film director, writer, and producer. He grew up in Saint Barthélemy, and suffered an orphan disease that had him bedridden for many years. A graduate with honors of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Verrechia's movies have screened at film festivals around the world. Tierra Madre won in 2010 the Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the Reeling Chicago Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival [1], the Jury Award for Special Mention Feature Film at the Festival Internacional de Cine de Morelia[2], the Diversity Award for Best Feature Film at the Barcelona International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival [3], the Outstanding Achievement in Foreign Feature Award at the Williamsburg International Film Festival [4], the Cinesul Award for Best Feature Film at the Cinesul Ibero-Americano Film Festival, the Golden Palm at the Mexico International Film Festival, the Honorary Mention Prize at the New Jersey Film Festival, and the Silver Lei for Excellence in Filmmaking at the Honolulu International Film Festival. Kids of the Majestic won the Artivist Award for Best Feature in Children's Advocacy Category at the 2010 Artivist Film Festival & Awards[5], and the Directing and Writing Insight Awards of Recognition at the National Association of Film and Digital Media Artists [6]. Tijuana Makes Me Happy won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, and the Indie Max Award at the San Antonio Film Festival[7]. The Laughter of God won the World Tour Award for Best Actor and Best Cinematography at the 2003 IFCT Film Festival. He is also the co-founder of Troopers Films (Arakimentari by Travis Klose, 2004 Brooklyn International Film Festival Winner, and 25th Frame (Picture Me by Sara Ziff, 2009 Milan International Film Festival Winner, and location scout on the Mexican border of Sangre de mi sangre by Christopher Zalla, 2007 Sundance Film Festival Winner). Verrechia is based in New York and in Baja California, and works as a director/writer, producer and director of photography on features, commercials and music videos. Credits include: Anthrax War by Bob Coen, Nortec Collective, DJ Vadim, Wu Tang Clan, Jean Rouch, Sam Pollard, The Weinstein Company, Morgan Spurlock, Todd Solondz, Pete Chatmon.
- Birthplace: Paris, France
- Agnes Jaoui is an award-winning French actress, writer, and director best known for her collaborations with her husband, Jean-Pierre Bacri. Encouraged by her Tunisian Jewish parents to pursue acting, Jaoui studied drama under Patrice Chereau at Theatre des Amandiers in Nanterre, France. She made her film debut in 1983 with a small role in the action drama "The Hawk," and next appeared in the Anton Chekhov melodrama "Hotel de France." Jaoui, who also trained as a classical singer, spent much of the 1990s appearing in stage productions like "The Birthday Party" and "Cuisine et Dependances," both of which she later adapted to film. It was while performing in these plays that she met fellow actor Jean-Pierre Bacri. They soon married and became a professional and personal team, writing popular comedies such as "Family Resemblance," which reveals an upper-class French family dynamic over the course of one meal, and acting opposite each other in the comedy short "La methode." In 1997 she and Bacri won numerous awards for their screenplay of the Alain Resnais musical "Same Old Song," and a few years later Jaoui wrote, directed and starred in the romantic comedy "The Taste of Others." The film, which received an Academy Award nomination, was a critical and commercial success. She has since directed "Look at Me" and "Parlez-moi de la pluie," and also appeared as a screen idol in "Le role de sa vie" and as a woman who opens her home to Holocaust survivors in "La maison de Nina."
- Birthplace: Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, France
- Yasmina Reza (born 1 May 1959) is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter best known for her plays 'Art' and God of Carnage. Many of her brief satiric plays have reflected on contemporary middle-class issues.
- Birthplace: France, Paris
- Michel Ciment (French: [simɑ̃]; born 26 May 1938 in Paris) is a French film critic and the editor of the cinema magazine Positif.Ciment is a Chevalier of the Order of Merit, Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, Officer in the Order of Arts and Letters, and the former president of FIPRESCI.
- Birthplace: France, Paris