Gérard Depardieu

Early life

Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France. He is one of the five children of Anne Jeanne Josèphe (née Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu, a metal worker and volunteer fireman. Leaving school at the age of 13 he took a job at a printworks, but also began to get involved in petty crime, resulting in his being put on probation at one point.

Acting career

At the age of 16, Depardieu left Châteauroux for Paris. There, he began acting in the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare, along with Patrick Dewaere, Romain Bouteille, Sotha, Coluche, and Miou-Miou. He studied dancing under Jean-Laurent Cochet.

His breakout film role came in 1974 playing Jean-Claude in Bertrand Blier's comedy Les Valseuses (Going Places). Other prominent early roles include a starring role alongside Robert De Niro in Bernardo Bertolucci's historical epic 1900 (1976) and a role in François Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980), for which he won his first César Award for Best Actor.

His international profile rose as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in the film Jean de Florette (1986) and received critical acclaim for his starring role in Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won his second César Award for Best Actor, the Cannes Film Festival for Best Actor, and received a nomination for an Academy Award.

Depardieu co-starred in Peter Weir's English language romantic comedy Green Card (1990), for which he won a Golden Globe Award. He has since had other roles in other English language films, including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012).

More recently, he has played Obélix in the four live-action Astérix movies in which he is said to have discovered Mélanie Laurent when she was 14.

In 2009, he took part in a rare performance of Sardou's La Haine at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, with Fanny Ardant; subsequently broadcast on France Musique.

In 2013, he starred in an independent film entitled A Farewell to Fools.

Depardieu features as a main character in Antwerp (Edinburgh Festival 2014), a play in The Europeans Trilogy (Bruges, Antwerp, Tervuren) by Paris-based UK playwright Nick Awde.

Personal life

In 1970, Depardieu married Élisabeth Guignot, with whom he had two children, actor Guillaume (1971–2008) and actress Julie (1973). On 28 January 1992, while separated from Élisabeth, he had a daughter, Roxanne, with the model Karine Silla. In 1996 he divorced Élisabeth and began a relationship with actress Carole Bouquet, who was his partner from 1997 to 2005.

On 14 July 2006, he had a son, Jean, with French-Cambodian Hélène Bizot (daughter of François Bizot and not to be confused with actress Hélène Bizot). Since 2005, Depardieu has lived with Clémentine Igou.

On 13 October 2008, his son Guillaume, whose health had been severely affected by drugs, a motorbike crash and a hospital infection contracted during the post-accident operations, eventually leading to the amputation of his leg, died at the age of 37 from complications linked to a sudden case of pneumonia.

In recent years, Depardieu has attracted attention from the media and legal authorities for his behavior. On August 16. 2011, he urinated in a bottle, which overflowed onto the carpet of a CityJet airplane as it departed Paris for Dublin. In August 2012, he was accused of assault and battery for punching a motorist in Paris. In November 2012, he was arrested for driving while intoxicated after he fell from his scooter, and was found to have a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, well above the French limit for driving of 0.5.

He has been an official resident of Néchin, Belgium since 7 December 2012. French prime minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticised his move. On 15 December 2012, Depardieu publicly stated he was handing back his French passport. On 3 January 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed an Executive Order granting Russian citizenship to Depardieu. In his first interview thereafter, Depardieu attacked Putin's critics. In his autobiography Depardieu said Putin 'immediately liked my hooligan side.' In February 2013 he registered as a resident of Saransk. Also in January 2013 he was appointed a cultural ambassador for Montenegro. During the summer of 2015, due to Russian-Ukrainian political issues, Depardieu was banned from TV and movie theaters in Ukraine.

Awards

Depardieu has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role César 17 times during his career and won it twice, in 1981 and 1991. He was also nominated for an Oscar in 1990 for his role in Cyrano de Bergerac.