Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu was born on 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux, a town in central France, into a working-class family. He was the third of six children. His mother, a stay-at-home parent known as "La Lilette," tried unsuccessfully to abort him. His father, a metal worker and volunteer fireman called "Dédé" by his neighbors, could only write two letters and struggled with severe alcohol addiction. The family lived in a two-room apartment, and Depardieu grew up in poverty. His mother was often distant and sometimes violent; his father was frequently absent. Depardieu helped deliver his younger siblings and earned the nickname "Pétard" or "Pétarou" for his constant flatulence. Both parents died in 1988—his mother from a heart attack, his father from cirrhosis two months later.

Depardieu left school at 13, practically illiterate and with a stutter. He learned to read only later. In his 2014 autobiography, he wrote that he began prostituting himself at age 10, when he could already pass for 15, and sometimes robbed his clients. He later worked at a print shop, boxed in his spare time, and spent summers as a beach attendant. As a teenager, he turned to theft and smuggling—especially cigarettes and alcohol—to American G.I.s at the nearby Châteauroux-Déols air base. He also acted as a bodyguard for two prostitutes from Paris, whom he credited with teaching him about sex. He was arrested several times and placed on probation, and in his autobiography claimed he spent three months in prison at 16 for car theft. In 1968, his childhood best friend Jacky Merveille died in a car accident, prompting Depardieu, who had already moved to Paris, to reconsider his path.

In Paris, he became an actor. His breakthrough came in 1974 with the film *Going Places*, making him an overnight star. He quickly established himself as a leading man in European cinema, showing versatility across drama, comedy, crime, and avant-garde films. He worked with over 150 directors, including François Truffaut, Bertrand Blier, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, Peter Weir, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. Over his career, he completed more than 200 films, most as the lead, and is the second highest-grossing actor in French cinema history, behind Louis de Funès. About 60 of his films sold over a million tickets in France.

He has portrayed many historical and fictional figures: Cyrano de Bergerac, Georges Danton, Christopher Columbus, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Porthos, Commissioner Maigret, Joseph Stalin, Grigori Rasputin, and Obelix in four live-action Asterix films. His acclaimed performances include *The Last Metro* (1980), which won him a César Award for Best Actor; *Police* (1985), for which he won the Volpi Cup; *Jean de Florette* (1986); and *Cyrano de Bergerac* (1990), which earned him the Best Actor prize at Cannes, a second César, and an Academy Award nomination. He launched a Hollywood career with *Green Card* (1990), winning a Golden Globe, and later appeared in English-language films such as *1492: Conquest of Paradise* (1992), *The Man in the Iron Mask* (1998), and *Life of Pi* (2012). He has also worked as a film producer, businessman, vineyard owner, occasional director, and singer, with numerous television productions, several records, 19 stage plays, and 9 books to his name as of 2025.

Depardieu is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and the Ordre national du Mérite. In January 2013, he was granted Russian citizenship and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro. His tax exile in Russia and support for Vladimir Putin sparked controversy in France during the early 2010s.

Accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced as early as the 1990s, but formal complaints did not emerge until the late 2010s. In December 2020, French authorities charged him with rape. He denied the allegations, but a series of controversies, including the rape accusations, damaged his reputation. In 2023, he was stripped of the National Order of Quebec. In May 2025, he was convicted of sexual assault against two women in a separate case and has appealed the sentencing.