François Cluzet

François Cluzet is a French film and theatre actor widely recognized for his performance as a wealthy quadriplegic named Philippe in the 2011 feature film The Intouchables. Over his career, he has built an extensive body of work by collaborating with numerous prominent European and American filmmakers, including Claude Chabrol, Bertrand Tavernier, Claire Denis, Agnieszka Holland, Robert Altman, and Olivier Assayas.

Raised in Paris, Cluzet began his acting journey on stage in 1976. Three years later, he made his feature film debut in Diane Kurys's Cocktail Molotov. In 1980, he appeared in Claude Chabrol's family drama Cheval d'orgueil, beginning a lasting professional relationship with the director that continued with Les Fantômes du chapelier in 1982. The following year, Cluzet featured in Jean Becker's L'Été meurtrier, which earned him a César Award nomination for best supporting actor, while also being recognized on a list for best new male for his work in Vive la sociale.

Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Cluzet worked frequently with major French directors known for dramatic storytelling. He reteamed with Kurys on Coup de foudre in 1983 and collaborated with Bertrand Tavernier on the 1985 jazz movie Round Midnight. His credits during this decade also include Tony Gatlif's Rue du départ, Claire Denis's Chocolat, Bertrand Blier's Trop belle pour toi, and Robert Enrico's La Révolution française. Additionally, his performance in Pierre Jolivet's 1988 film Force majeure brought him another César nomination for best supporting actor, while his work with Chabrol continued in the 1988 release Une affaire de femmes.

In the 1990s, Cluzet expanded his career into international productions. He joined the ensemble cast of Robert Altman's Prêt-à-Porter in 1994 and appeared in Lawrence Kasdan's romance French Kiss. That same year, he reunited with Chabrol to portray a husband tormented by jealousy in L'Enfer. Returning to French cinema and comedy, he starred in Les Apprentis in 1995, receiving a César nomination for best actor, and appeared in Tonie Marshall's Enfants de salaud before working again with Chabrol on Rien ne va plus in 1997. Towards the end of the decade, he frequently portrayed tormented authors, such as in Olivier Assayas's Fin août, début septembre and L'Examen de minuit.

Cluzet's work in the 2000s included playing a tormented writer in Je suis un assassin, a John Lennon double in Janis et John, and a teleshopping presenter in France Boutique. In 2005, he appeared in Raoul Ruiz's Le Domaine perdu, a film portraying the 1973 Chilean coup d'état. Cluzet achieved major critical success in 2006 starring in the thriller Tell No One as a doctor suspected of double homicide, a role that won him the César Award for best actor in 2007.

In 2011, Cluzet took on his most prominent role in The Intouchables, based on a true story depicting the friendship between a wealthy quadriplegic man and his caregiver who was recently released from prison. By March 2012, the feature had become the second highest-grossing French film in France. In his personal life, Cluzet was previously married to producer Chantal Perrin and later married Narjiss Slaoui-Falcoz in 2011. He has a son with the late actress Marie Trintignant, resided with Chiara Mastroianni in 1994, and shares two children with actress Valérie Bonneton following a long-term relationship.