François Berléand Biography

CIVIL STATUS
Professions Actor, Composer
Nationality French
Born 22 April 1952 (Paris, Paris, France)
BIOGRAPHY
After frequenting the Splendid team, François Berléand began his career by appearing in Alain Cavalier’s Martin et Léa in 1979. The actor then played a series of small roles in the 80s, making a name for himself in successful comedies such as On n’est pas des anges… elles non plus (1981), Les Hommes prefer les grosses (id.) and Marche à l’ombre (1984). His meeting with the director Pierre Jolivet would be decisive for the rest of his career.

The two men collaborated on several films, including Strictly Personal (1985), The Kangaroo Complex (1986), At the Time When the Big Cats Go to Drink (1993), Fred (1997), In the Heart (1998), The Warrior’s Brother (2002), Only Girls (2003), I Think I Love It (2006) and especially My Little Business (1999), a comedy for which François Berléand received the César Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as a shabby insurer. This award therefore appears to be the culmination of a prolific work of appearances in the most diverse works under the direction of renowned directors such as Louis Malle (Au revoir les enfants, Milou en mai), Bruno Nuytten (Camille Claudel), Bertrand Tavernier (L’Appât, Capitaine Conan), Jacques Audiard (Un héros très discret),Benoît Jacquot (Seventh Heaven, The School of Flesh), Catherine Breillat (Romance), Claude Berri (La Débandade) and his partner for a few years Nicole Garcia (Place Vendôme).

At the turn of the 2000s, François Berléand turned more towards popular cinema, adding a pinch of humour to the bastard and complaining characters he loved so much. Despicable and greedy French commander in The Prince of the Pacific (2000), paranoid killer in HS Hors Service (2001) or authoritarian headmaster in Les Choristes (2004), he also excels in the roles of clumsy forty-somethings overwhelmed by events, as evidenced by his compositions as a seductive painter in Cuddly Souls (2001), as a “nice cop” in the saga The Transporter (a role he reprised for the series inspired by the films, in 2012) or as a computer engineer off the mark in A Model Employee (2003).

A prolific and almost omnipresent actor on the French film scene, François Berléand also finds happiness in offbeat works such as Narco (2004) and Mon idole (2002) by Guillaume Canet, who directed him again in 2006 for the thriller Tell No One. Moving with exemplary ease from the darkest thriller (The Conveyor, Edy) to the lightest comedy (The Angry Sisters, The Most Beautiful Day of My Life, Pure Weekend…), the man with the three-day beard then became the star of a short series, The Office, and offered himself a It was a nice collaboration with the filmmaker Claude Chabrol, who imagined him alternately as a rogue CEO in The Drunkenness of Power (2006) and as a prestigious and perverse writer in The Girl Cut in Two (2007). He also took part in the highly celebrated Radu Mihaileanu Concert in 2009.

Since the beginning of his career, when he is not busy with the big screen, François Berléand has participated in numerous television productions. In 2010, he was cast in six TV movies but did not neglect cinema, the actor making a name for himself mainly in comedies: 15 ans et demi (2008), Ca$h (id.) and Le Siffleur (2010), the first film by actor Philippe Lefebvre. He also accompanied Sylvie Testud’s debut behind the camera, for which he played Juliette Binoche’s lawyer in La Vie d’une autre (2012) and Olivia Ruiz’s debut in Un jour mon père will come (id.), where he found himself competing with Gérard Jugnot to become the ideal father of the beauty. That same year, he played Sophie Marceau’s ex-husband in Un bonheur n’arrive jamais seul, and lent his voice for the first time to an animated character, the Lorax, in the film of the same name.

Prison director in Patrick Ridremont’s original Dead Man Talking, François Berléand plays a police commissioner in Max, a judge in Crawl, the friend of Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Jugnot in Entre amis, Vicky’s father in Vicky and Le Comte de la Fresnaye in L’Ecole buissonnière. Favouring comedy through supporting roles, he played Dany Boon’s father-in-law in La Ch’tite Famille, Commissioner Daran in Lucky and the psychiatrist in Michèle Laroque’s Chacun chez soi. Also of note are his short (but memorable) appearances in Les Tuche 4 and Champagne!. On the small screen, the actor can be seen in Les Chamois, Sam and L’Amour presque parfait.