Gérard Depardieu Biography

MARITAL STATUS
Professions Actor , Director , Producer more
Birth name Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu
Nationalities Russian, French
Birth December 27, 1948 (Châteauroux, France)

BIOGRAPHY
Coming from a modest background (his father was a sheet metal worker-former), Gérard Depardieu grew up among five brothers and sisters. After a difficult adolescence, which saw him flirt with delinquency, he discovered a passion for theater during a trip to Paris. A student of Jean-Laurent Cochet, he took his first steps in the cinema in 1970 in The Cri of the Cormoran in the Evening Above the Junks by Michel Audiard .

Gérard Depardieu was revealed in 1974 with his role as a nice thug on the run in Les Valseuses , a libertarian fable by Blier with Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou . The following year, the success of the medical thriller Seven Deaths on Prescription allowed the actor, until then subscribed to the roles of thugs, to show the extent of his repertoire. Filming with great Italian directors ( 1900 by Bertolucci in 1976, The Last Woman by the provocateur Ferreri ), Depardieu moves with ease from the world of Marguerite Duras ( Le Camion in 1977) to that of Zidi ( Inspecteur la Bavure in 1980). In 1984, he tried his hand at directing by adapting Molière’s Le Tartuffe , making the main character (whom he played) an austere character, very different from the original.

While continuing his collaboration with Blier , from the grating Evening Outfit to the moving Trop belle pour toi in 1989, Gérard Depardieu became the traveling companion of several big names in French auteur cinema: alter ego of Pialat , who did so filmed four times, he won the Best Actor Prize in Venice for Police in 1985, and played an abbot consumed by doubt in Under the Sun of Satan . A guinea pig for the experimentalist Resnais in My Uncle from America , at the same time he found roles as a passionate lover with Truffaut , in Le Dernier Métro – a commercial success which earned him a César in 1981 – then La Femme d’à side . At the same time, he distinguished himself in comedy by forming a winning tandem with Pierre Richard in Francis Veber ‘s French buddy movies ( La Chèvre in 1981, Les Compères in 1983, and Les Fugitifs in 1986). After the success of

Return of Martin Guerre in 1982, Gérard Depardieu will play several historical characters or from classics of French literature such as Jean de Florette for Berri or Rodin in Camille Claudel . He performed one of his most memorable compositions in Rappeneau ‘s Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) , a role for which he won a César, a Cannes prize and an Oscar nomination. Allowing himself a few American escapades ( Christopher Colomb by Ridley Scott ) and treating himself to the luxury of filming with Godard ( Alas pour moi ), he was also an occasional producer ( Unhook the Stars ) and participated in the production in 1999 with A bridge between two banks . In the 2000s, the insatiable Gérard Depardieu remains more than ever a central figure of the 7th art, to whom no territory seems foreign: mainstream comedy ( Le Placard and Tais-toi! by Veber, the Astérix series ), the thriller ( 36 Quai des Orfèvres in 2004, L’Instinct de mort in 2008), the intimate drama ( Aime ton père avec son Guillaume ), the big budget fresco ( Bon voyage , La Môme ) or even the cinema of animation (he lends his voice to the rooster in Chicken Run ). Despite the longevity of his career, he still manages to surprise critics and spectators, as when he plays a transfixed lover in Téchiné’s Les Temps qui change , a humble Baloche artist in When I Was Singer (2006) or a vulnerable commissioner ( Bellamy , 2009). After having played various supporting roles in various cinematographic genres (second-rate gangster alongside François Cluzet in A l’origine , mafioso in the science fiction blockbuster Babylon AD , etc.), Gérard Depardieu returns to historical film, playing Alexandre Dumas in L’Autre Dumas , where he plays opposite Benoît Poelvoorde . The same year, the two actors met again in Mammuth , a road movie directed by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern

, in which Gérard Depardieu plays a retiree embarking on a journey with his motorcycle to recover all of his retirement points. A prosperous and varied year for the actor, who toured for the second time under the direction of Jean Becker (after Elisa in 1995) in La Tête en friche , a drama in which he plays a somewhat simple countryman who will befriend with an old lady ( Gisèle Casadesus ). He then played for François Ozon in the film Potiche , then two years later put on the costume of the character Obélix for the fourth time with Astérix et Obélix: au service de sa Majesté . Also in 2012, he became Ursus, a colorful showman taking in Marc-André Grondin and Christa Theret for the needs of The Man Who Laughs .

Touring a lot, Gérard Depardieu alternates original independent projects ( Valley Of Love , The End , Tour De France ) with more mainstream films ( Les Invincibles , La Dream Team ). The actor even plays a character strongly inspired by Dominique Strauss-Kahn in Welcome to New York by Abel Ferrara and tastes the joys of the small screen by slipping into the shoes of the mayor of Marseille in the Netflix series of the same name . He then turns to an exercise that he knows well, the interpretation of a personality who actually existed, by lending his stature to Stalin in the biopic Le Divan de Staline by Fanny Ardant .

Always in high demand, he continues filming. He notably plays a clairvoyant for Claire Denis in Un Beau soleil interior then seduces Catherine Deneuve in Bonne Pomme . The actor then reunites with Bertand Blier and Christian Clavier in the crazy comedy Convoi exceptional . In 2019, he shared a Thalasso with Michel Houellebecq before taking under his wing a migrant child gifted at playing chess in Fahim . The following year, Depardieu starred in the drama Des hommes . He plays a traumatized veteran of the Algerian War.

At the start of the 2020s, the actor also distinguished himself in light comedies ( Mystery in Saint-Tropez: an investigation by Inspector Boulin ,Retirement home , Irréducible ), as well as costume productions to which he is accustomed ( Illusions Perdues based on the work of Balzac, the series Diane de Poitiers, la almost queen , Maigret ). Les Volets vertes , which allows him to reunite with Jean Becker for the third time, appears as a reflection on his own status as a sacred monster of French cinema.

Over the years, the actor has also been talked about for his private life. His tax exile and his friendship with Vladimir Putin (he has been a Russian citizen since 2013) have caused him several controversies. In December 2020, he was indicted for “rape and sexual assault”, following a complaint from actress Charlotte Arnould, who accused him of having raped her in her private hotel.

In 2023, a few weeks before the release of Umami , the Mediapart site published a long investigation collecting the testimonies of 13 women accusing Depardieu of “sexual and sexist violence”. The latter “formally denies all the accusations likely to come under criminal law”.