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Gérard Depardieu

French actor (born 1948) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gérard Depardieu
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Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (UK: /ˈdɛpɑːrdjɜː, ˌdɛpɑːrˈdjɜː/,[1][2] US: /-ˈdjʌ, ˌdeɪpɑːrˈdjuː/,[1][3][4] French: [ʒeʁaʁ ɡzavje maʁsɛl dəpaʁdjø] ⓘ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor. An icon of French cinema, considered a world star in the same way as Alain Delon or Brigitte Bardot, he has completed over 250 films since 1967, most of which as a lead actor.[5] He is also a film producer, businessman, vineyard owner, and occasional director. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors including François Truffaut,[6] Bertrand Blier,[7] Maurice Pialat,[8] Alain Resnais,[9] Claude Chabrol,[10] Ridley Scott,[11][12] Jean-Luc Godard,[13] and Bernardo Bertolucci.[14] He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès.[15][16][17] His body of work also includes many television productions, several records and, as of 2025, 19 stage plays and 9 books.[18][19][20] He is known for having portrayed numerous leading historical and fictitious figures including Cyrano de Bergerac, Georges Danton, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Christopher Columbus, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Joseph Stalin and Grigori Rasputin, as well as Obelix in four of the live action Asterix films.[21]

Quick Facts Born, Other names ...

Growing up in poverty in Châteauroux, central France, Depardieu had a difficult youth before settling in Paris where he became an actor. In 1974, he had his breakthrough role in Going Places, becoming an overnight star. Depardieu quickly established himself as a leading actor in European cinema and proved himself a versatile performer by appearing in a wide variety of productions, including drama, comedy, crime and avant-garde films. He has received acclaim for his performances in The Last Metro (1980), for which he won the César Award for Best Actor, in Police (1985), for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Jean de Florette (1986), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and his second César Award for Best Actor as well as garnering a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He co-starred in Peter Weir's comedy Green Card (1990), winning a Golden Globe Award, and later acted in several big-budget Hollywood films, including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012).

Depardieu is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite. He was granted citizenship of Russia in January 2013 (officially adopted name in Russian: Жерар Ксавие Депардьё, romanized: Zherar Ksavie Depardyo), and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro during the same month. During the early 2010s, his tax exile in Russia and his support of Vladimir Putin caused controversy in France.

Depardieu was accused of sexual misconduct as early as the 1990s, though this did not develop into formal complaints until the late 2010s.[22] In December 2020, French authorities charged him with rape. Depardieu denied any wrongdoing, but a number of controversies since 2020, not limited to the accusations of rape, damaged his popularity in France and abroad, resulting in his being stripped in 2023 of the National Order of Quebec.[23] In May 2025, he was convicted of sexual assault against two women in a separate case. He has appealed his sentencing.

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Early life

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Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu was born on 27 December 1948 in Châteauroux, Indre, France, to a working-class family. He is the third of six children[24] of Anne Jeanne Josèphe (née Marillier), a stay-at-home mother known as "La Lilette", and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu (better known in his neighborhood as "Dédé" because he could write only two letters),[25] a metal worker and volunteer fireman.[26][27] Not wishing to have a child at the time, Depardieu's mother tried unsuccessfully to abort him.[24]

Depardieu grew up in poverty in a two-room apartment at 39 rue du Maréchal-Joffre, Châteauroux, with his five siblings. His mother was not very affectionate, and sometimes violent to her children. His father, who suffered from a severe alcohol addiction, was often absent from home.[28] Depardieu helped his mother when she was in labour with his younger brothers and sisters.[29][30] His family eventually nicknamed him "Pétard" or "Pétarou", because of the habit he had acquired of breaking wind incessantly.[31] Depardieu's parents were both born in 1923; Anne died of a heart attack in 1988 and René, who suffered from cirrhosis, died two months after her.[32]

Depardieu spent more time on the streets than in school, leaving at the age of 13. Practically illiterate and half stammering,[33] he learned to read only later.[34] In his 2014 autobiography, Depardieu revealed that he had prostituted himself as a child, starting when he was 10 years old and could already pass as 15. He would sometimes rob his clients.[35] He was later employed at a printworks, and took part in boxing matches in his spare time.[36] He also supported himself by working as a beach attendant during summers.[37]

During his difficult adolescence, he turned to theft and smuggling all kinds of goods, notably cigarettes and alcohol, to the G.I.s at the large American air base of Châteauroux-Déols.[38] He also acted as a bodyguard for two prostitutes who came down from Paris on the G.I.s' payday.[39][40] Depardieu later credited those two women with teaching him sex.[41] According to his own account, he was put on probation at one point though he never went to jail.[42] In 1968, Depardieu's childhood best friend Jacky Merveille, also a hoodlum from Châteauroux, died in a car accident. This prompted Depardieu, who had already moved to Paris at that time, to consider his future and to try and do something with his life.[43]

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Career

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Early roles and stardom

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Depardieu in 1975 on the set of 1900

As a teenager, Depardieu befriended Michel Pilorgé, a slightly older boy from a more affluent background. In 1965, Pilorgé, whose family owned a flat in Paris and who wanted to settle in the capital to become an actor, proposed Depardieu, then aged 16, to come with him. Depardieu accepted and left Châteauroux for Paris.[44] Out of curiosity, he began attending the acting class Pilorgé was taking at the Théâtre National Populaire. One day the teacher, Lucien Arnaud, noticed Depardieu and asked him to perform. The experience helped trigger Depardieu's vocation.[45][46]

Depardieu next took acting classes with Jean-Laurent Cochet[24][47] while making a living as a door-to-door salesman.[48] To compensate for his lack of education, he heavily studied the classics.[49][33][50] At Cochet's request, he followed a therapy with Alfred A. Tomatis to correct his disastrous diction.[51][52]

Depardieu became the boyfriend, and later husband, of actress Élisabeth Guignot, who introduced him into entertainment circles and the Parisian bourgeoisie.[53] In 1966, Guignot brought him on the first film project he worked on, Christmas Carole, directed by Agnès Varda, where he was cast as a beatnik. The film was never completed due to a lack of funding and distribution deal.[54][55] In 1967, Depardieu made his first actual screen appearance in the short film Le Beatnik et le minet, directed by Roger Leenhardt: his diction was still so bad at the time that his voice had to be dubbed by another actor.[24]

Working in theater, Depardieu became a regular performer at the Café de la Gare headed by Romain Bouteille and Sotha, where he met Patrick Dewaere, Coluche, and Miou-Miou.[56] He acquired a reputation thanks to his "instinctive" approach to acting.[33] The first feature film he worked on was Michel Audiard's crime spoof Le cri du cormoran, le soir au-dessus des jonques (1971).[57] In 1971, Jean-Louis Livi became his agent and "mentor", introducing him into Artmedia, France's main casting agency.[58] Theater director Claude Régy was enthusiastic about Depardieu, whom he found "extraordinary" and gifted in an "abnormal" way: he cast him in several plays, including Peter Handke's The Ride across Lake Constance which Depardieu later credited with jump-starting his career.[59]

Depardieu appeared in various supporting roles in films and on television, often portraying hoodlums and petty criminals. He played a similar character in the film where he had his first major role, Bertrand Blier's raunchy and controversial comedy Les Valseuses (Going Places, 1974). Blier was initially reluctant about casting Depardieu but the actor, who felt that the character's background strongly resembled his own, pestered him until he won the role.[24][60] The film, in which Depardieu co-starred with Dewaere and Miou-Miou, was a huge box office success in France,[61] gaining a cult following and making instant stars of the three actors.[60] Depardieu and Blier subsequently had a long working relationship, making eight more films together.[7][62] That same year, Depardieu was part of the ensemble cast of Claude Sautet's Vincent, François, Paul and the Others, which came to be regarded as a classic of French cinema.[63]

Depardieu's other prominent films during the 1970s included the psychological thriller Seven Deaths by Prescription (1975) which earned him his first César Award nomination, Barbet Schroeder's controversial Maîtresse, and André Téchiné's romantic thriller Barocco where he co-starred with Isabelle Adjani (both 1976). Also in 1976, Depardieu played a lead role in Bernardo Bertolucci's Italian historical epic 1900,[14] where he co-starred with Robert De Niro and an international ensemble cast that included Donald Sutherland, Stefania Sandrelli and Burt Lancaster. The thriller This Sweet Sickness (1977), directed by Claude Miller, was a box-office failure,[64] but earned Depardieu another César Award nomination. During that period, Depardieu also appeared in several experimental films, including two by Marco Ferreri, The Last Woman (1976) and Bye Bye Monkey (1978), and two by Marguerite Duras, The Lorry (1977) and Baxter, Vera Baxter (1978). He worked again with Bertrand Blier on the quirky sex comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (1978), which won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 1979,[65] and the surreal dark comedy Cold Buffet (1979), which became a cult film in France.[66]

Peak of success

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Depardieu in 1993.

In 1980, Depardieu co-starred with Isabelle Huppert in Loulou, directed by Maurice Pialat. This film marked the beginning of a long collaboration with Pialat, who directed Depardieu in three other films.[67] Also in 1980, Depardieu co-starred with Catherine Deneuve in François Truffaut's The Last Metro, a drama set in Nazi-occupied Paris. The film was a major commercial success and earned Depardieu his first César Award for Best Actor.[68][69] Later that year, Depardieu appeared in a second film with Deneuve, Claude Berri's Je vous aime. They subsequently made six more films together.[70] Still in 1980, Depardieu starred in Alain Resnais' internationally successful My American Uncle.[71] That same year, he co-starred with Coluche in the box-office hit Inspector Blunder, a police comedy where he played the antagonist.[72] He also tried his hand at singing, releasing an LP with lyrics written by his wife.[73]

During the first half of the 1980s, Depardieu enjoyed a series of commercial and critical successes, including his second and last film with François Truffaut, the romantic drama The Woman Next Door (1981). Other notable films were the period drama The Return of Martin Guerre (1982), Andrzej Wajda's historical film Danton (1983), as well as the crime film Choice of Arms (1981) and the war drama Fort Saganne (1984), both directed by Alain Corneau.[58][74] One major disappointment during that period was Jean-Jacques Beineix's The Moon in the Gutter (1983), which failed to meet box-office expectations. Depardieu later openly disparaged the film.[75] Also in 1984, Depardieu made his first film as a director, Le tartuffe, an adaptation of Molière's classic play with himself in the title role.[76] Depardieu conceived the film as a filmed version of the play, which he was performing at the time at the National Theatre of Strasbourg under Jacques Lassalle's direction. The reception was disappointing for both the play and the film.[77] Depardieu rarely returned to directing thereafter. For his performance in the crime drama Police (1985), his second film with Maurice Pialat, he was awarded the Volpi Cup for Best Actor at the Venice Film Festival. Depardieu became at that time one of the most successful and sought after actors in the French film industry.[58]

Already an established dramatic performer, Depardieu extended his range and box-office appeal throughout the 1980s by appearing in a series of highly successful, family-friendly comedies. Following Inspector Blunder in 1980, he co-starred with Pierre Richard in three comedy films directed by Francis Veber, Knock on Wood (1981), ComDads (1983) and The Fugitives (1986), that were major commercial hits in France. Depardieu functioned as the straight man in his pairing with Richard.[78][58][79]

In 1985, Depardieu co-starred with Sigourney Weaver in the screwball comedy One Woman or Two, which failed to make an impact at the box-office.[80] In 1986, he worked again with Bertrand Blier in the provocative comedy-drama Evening Dress, which was remarkably successful in France.[58][81] That same year, his international profile rose as a result of his performance as a doomed, hunchbacked farmer in Claude Berri's period drama Jean de Florette, which won immense public and critical acclaim.[58][82] Also in 1986, he co-starred with singer Barbara in a musical play she had conceived, Lily Passion.[83] The show enjoyed great success.[84] The next year, he played the lead role in Maurice Pialat's Under the Sun of Satan, which controversially won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[85]

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Depardieu at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, sporting his Cyrano de Bergerac moustache.

In 1988, Depardieu was Isabelle Adjani's co-star in the successful and critically acclaimed biographical drama Camille Claudel.[86] Several of Depardieu's next films were box-office disappointments, including François Dupeyron's A Strange Place to Meet (1988) and Alain Resnais' I Want to Go Home (1989) but, also in 1989, he enjoyed renewed success with Bertrand Blier's Too Beautiful for You[87] which won the Grand prix at the Cannes Film Festival and the César Award for Best Film.[88]

In 1990, Depardieu received particular notice for his starring role in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Cyrano de Bergerac, based on Edmond Rostand's 1897 play.[89] The film was an international box-office success and won critical acclaim: Depardieu's performance as Cyrano earned him his second César Award for Best Actor, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor, the London Film Critics' Circle Award for Actor of the Year, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.[90] Later that year, Depardieu appeared in the ensemble cast of Uranus, a satirical drama about postwar France directed by Claude Berri.[91]

Depardieu's next film was Peter Weir's Green Card, his first Hollywood picture,[90] which was specifically conceived as a vehicle to introduce him to a wide English-speaking audience. Though the film performed moderately at the box-office, it earned Depardieu a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.[92] However, remarks Depardieu had made in a 1978 interview about raping women during his teenage years re-emerged in the American press. The resulting controversy damaged his nascent Hollywood career. It was speculated in the French media that it had also prevented him from winning the Academy Award for Cyrano de Bergerac.[90][93]

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Depardieu at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival

In 1991 Depardieu starred in two successful films, the comedy My Father the Hero and Alain Corneau's period drama Tous les Matins du Monde, which won critical acclaim.[94] In the latter film, he and his son Guillaume portrayed the same character at différent ages.[95] Depardieu next started filming Ridley Scott's historical epic 1492: Conquest of Paradise, in which he starred as Christopher Columbus. Released in 1992 to celebrate the 500th anniversary of Columbus' voyage,[96] the film flopped in the United States[97] but did good business in Europe.[98] Also in 1992, Depardieu was the Jury President for the Cannes film festival.[99]

Depardieu also developed a passion for the films directed by John Cassavetes. In the early 1990s, together with Jean-Louis Livi, he bought the distribution rights for most of Cassavetes' films, including some that had never been released in France, to introduce them to a new audience. He later co-produced and appeared in Nick Cassavetes' first film as a director, Unhook the Stars (1996)[100] and co-produced his next film, She's So Lovely (1997).[101]

Depardieu's next box-office successes in France were Claude Berri's epic period drama Germinal (1993) where he was part of an ensemble cast, Jean Becker's drama Élisa (1995) where he played a supporting role alongside Vanessa Paradis, and Jean-Marie Poiré's comedy Guardian Angels (also 1995) in which he co-starred with Christian Clavier.[102] In 1993, Depardieu starred in the experimental Hélas pour moi, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, though Godard and Depardieu disliked working with each other and Depardieu eventually refused to promote the film.[103] During the same period, the science fiction thriller The Machine (1994) was a box-office flop; Depardieu's performance in that film received unusually poor reviews.[102]

In 1994, Depardieu starred in My Father the Hero, the Hollywood remake of his 1991 French film of the same name.[104] His subsequent English-language pictures included Bogus (1994),[105] a cameo in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996),[106] The Man in the Iron Mask (1998),[107] Vatel,[108] 102 Dalmatians[109] (both 2000) and CQ (2001).[110]

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Depardieu starred in several successful television miniseries, notably portraying Edmond Dantès in The Count of Monte Cristo (1998)[111] and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (2000).[112] In 1999, 15 years after Le tartuffe, he made his second film as a director, The Bridge, a romantic drama starring himself and his real-life partner Carole Bouquet. The film, which Depardieu co-directed with Frédéric Auburtin,[113] was not a success.[114] Depardieu's other films during that period included Vidocq (2001), a digitally-shot steampunk mystery that did well at the box-office but was panned by critics,[115] as well as the successful comedies The Best Job in the World (1996), The Closet (2001) and Ruby & Quentin (2003). In 1999, Depardieu starred as Obelix in Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, the first live action adaptation of the Asterix franchise. He reprised the role in three sequels,[116] most notably Alain Chabat's Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), one of the most commercially successful French films ever.[117]

Later work

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Depardieu in 2010

In 2004, the large-budget action comedy San-Antonio was a major box-office failure. Depardieu, who was set to play the protagonist, contributed to the production's troubles by being unable to lose weight for his role as planned, which caused him to be recast as the hero's overweight sidekick.[118] Depardieu's subsequent notable appearances included starring roles in the crime film The 36 (2004), the romantic drama When I Was a Singer (2006) which won him the Lumière Award for Best Actor,[119] Claude Chabrol's last film, the murder mystery Bellamy (2009), as well as supporting parts in La Vie en Rose (2007), Mesrine (2008) and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012). In 2010, Depardieu played starring roles in the successful comedy film Potiche, the biographical film Dumas and the comedy drama My Afternoons with Margueritte. Also in 2010, he starred in the surprise success Mammuth,[120] a low-budget dramedy for which he had agreed to work at the union minimum wage in exchange for a percentage of the revenue.[121]

In the early 2010s, Depardieu's popularity in France suffered from the controversies following his tax exile first in Belgium then in Russia, and his public praise of Vladimir Putin. Several of his films performed dismally at the French box-office, including the period drama The Man Who Laughs (2012) which was released in the midst of the controversy.[122][123]

In 2014, Depardieu starred in Abel Ferrara's controversial Welcome to New York as a thinly-disguised impersonation of disgraced former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.[124] The film was released only on VOD.[125] Also in 2014, Depardieu appeared in United Passions, a promotional film about the history of FIFA that bombed at the box-office and was lambasted by critics.[126][127] Still in 2014, the crime film Viktor, an English-language Russian production, flopped in its limited U.S. release, failed to secure a release in France and was ridiculed by several French media.[128][129][130]

Two films Depardieu made with director Guillaume Nicloux, Valley of Love, also starring Isabelle Huppert (2015), and The End, a low-budget film released on VOD (2016),[131] while not box-office successes, earned him nominations for the César Award for Best Actor (for the first film) and the Lumière Award for Best Actor (for both films). Depardieu made two further films with Nicloux, including Thalasso (2019) where he co-starred with author Michel Houellebecq.[132]

From 2016 to 2018, Depardieu played a starring role in Marseille, Netflix's first French-language original series.[133] He authored or co-authored four books between 2014 and 2020, either to tell his life story[24] or to express his personal philosophy. [134] Starting in 2017, Depardieu performed Barbara's songs on stage as a homage to the late singer. He reprised this show several times in the following years.[135]

Depardieu next appeared in the drama Home Front (2020), the literary adaptation Lost Illusions (2021), the successful comedy Retirement home, the crime film Maigret and the drama The Green Shutters (all 2022). His public image was then impacted by the accusations of rape and sexual assault against him.[136] In April 2023, he was excluded from the promotion of his latest film, Umami.[137] Later that year, his public performances of Barbara's songs were disrupted by feminists, causing the cancellation of several shows.[138][139][140]

As a result of these allegations and the criminal charges brought against him, Depardieu was ostracized by most French filmmakers: in March 2025, while he was on trial, it was reported that he hadn't worked on a film since the completion of The Green Shutters in 2021.[136][141] In May 2025, Depardieu began work on his first film in four years, Elle regardait sans plus rien voir, directed by Fanny Ardant.[142]

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Personal life

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Relationships and children

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Depardieu with Carole Bouquet at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival

In 1970, Depardieu married actress Élisabeth Guignot (later known professionnally as Élisabeth Depardieu), with whom he had two children: actor Guillaume (1971–2008) and actress Julie (b. 1973). They separated in the early 1990s, though their divorce was only finalised in 2006 once a settlement was found after a lengthy court dispute.[143][144]

As his marriage deteriorated, Depardieu met model Karine Silla (sister of producer Virginie Besson-Silla) and began a relationship with her.[143] On 28 January 1992, while Depardieu was separated from Guignot, he and Silla had a daughter, Roxane. Silla remained Depardieu's partner until 1996.[145] Also in 1996, Depardieu and his wife definitely separated following attempts at reconciliation.[143]

From 1997 to 2005, Depardieu was in a relationship with actress Carole Bouquet.[146] On 14 July 2006, he had a son, Jean, with Hélène Bizot (daughter of François Bizot, not to be confused with the actress of the same name).[147][148] Between 2005 and 2023, Depardieu was in a relationship with Clémentine Igou. As of 2024, he is in a relationship with Magda Vavrusova.[149]

On 13 October 2008, Depardieu's son Guillaume died from pneumonia at the age of 37. Guillaume's health had been adversely affected by drug addiction and a 1995 motorcycle crash that eventually required the amputation of his right leg in 2003. Depardieu and Guillaume had a turbulent relationship, including a public falling out in 2003,[95] but had reconciled prior to Guillaume's death.[150] In his 2014 autobiography, Depardieu acknowledged his shortcomings as a father, saying that he had been unable to provide an answer to Guillaume's suffering.[24] Later on, he blamed his son's death on the prison sentence he had received at the age of 17 for drug offences: he said that Guillaume had never recovered from it and that he had been unfairly treated by the court due to being his son. Depardieu commented that his son had been "killed" for two grams of heroin.[151]

Health

Depardieu's eating and drinking habits have caused his weight to increase dramatically over the years. He managed several times to lose weight through strict diets, only to later gain it back. In the course of the 2000s, he became permanently and severely overweight.[152][153][154] In a 2014 film review, The Hollywood Reporter called Depardieu "morbidly obese".[155] As Depardieu weighed 150 kilograms (330 lb) at the end of 2008, film critic Pascal Mérigeau commented on Depardieu's large amounts of food consumption, "at lunch he ingests 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of red meat, swallows handfuls of saltine crackers".[153] Laurent Audiot, the chef of the Parisian restaurant La Fontaine Gaillon, compared Depardieu to the gluttonous giant Gargantua, saying that "he has excessive energy and he compensates with food, but sometimes it takes on incredible proportions".[156]

According to a 2024 biography, Depardieu's already heavy drinking worsened after his son Guillaume died in 2008.[157] In September 2014, Depardieu stated he drank twelve, thirteen or fourteen bottles of alcoholic drinks daily, starting at 10:00 a.m., drinking champagne, wine, and pastis, and ending the day with vodka, whisky, or both. He said: "I'm never totally drunk, just a bit of a pain in the ass".[158]

On 18 May 1998, Depardieu had a motorcycle accident with a high blood alcohol content, of 2.5 g/L[159] on the way to the shooting of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar. He was prescribed forty days off work.[160] In 2000, Depardieu underwent heart bypass surgery after two weeks of chest pains.[161] In 2011, he was removed from a Cityjet flight to Dublin after refusing to sit down due to being refused access to the toilet and urinating in a bottle. Depardieu apologised for this and his fellow actor Édouard Baer attributed it to prostate issues.[162]

In 2012, Depardieu was hit by a car while riding his scooter in Paris.[163] The same year, while intoxicated with 1.8 g/L of alcohol in his blood, he had another scooter accident, without injury and without collision with another party.[164] In 2013, it was reported that since the 2000s he had been involved in at least seven motorcycle or scooter accidents.[165]

In the context of Depardieu's 2025 trial, it was mentioned by his legal team that he suffered from heart ailments[166] and diabetes,[167] the latter illness dating back to his twenties.[166]

Tax exile and citizenship

On 7 December 2012, after French President François Hollande announced a plan to tax high incomes at 75%,[168] Depardieu registered as a resident of Néchin, Belgium[169] in a tax avoidance move. French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault criticised Depardieu's move as "shabby" and unpatriotic.[170] On 15 December, Depardieu said that he felt "insulted" by Ayrault's remarks, commented that in the eyes of the French government, "success, creation, talent, anything different, must be punished" and stated he would be handing back his French passport.[171][172]

On 20 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Depardieu could become a citizen of Russia if he wished to.[173] Depardieu accepted the offer and on 3 January 2013, Putin signed an Executive Order granting Russian citizenship to the actor.[174][175] On 5 January, Depardieu met with Putin at the latter's residence in Sochi, to receive his Russian passport.[176] The controversy harmed Depardieu's public image in France.[122][177] Also in January 2013, Depardieu was appointed a cultural ambassador for Montenegro,[178] a country where he had also considered becoming a tax resident.[174] In February, he registered as a resident of Saransk, Russia.[178] He received a preferential tax treatment in Russia, where he became subject to a 6% tax rate, half as high as the majority of other fiscal residents.[168] In 2018, he stated that he wished to become a citizen of Turkey.[151]

In February 2022, Depardieu revealed that he had become a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, although he did not specify when this occurred.[179] In the same interview, he said that he had retained his French passport, even though he wished to live "less and less" in France.[180] Depardieu's friend Guy Roux said that the actor's resentment of France stemmed from the 2008 death of his son Guillaume, which he blamed on the French judiciary.[151]

While residing in Russia part of the year, Depardieu remained registered as a resident of Néchin. In February 2025, it was reported that the French National Financial Prosecutor's office had opened an investigation into aggravated tax evasion and money laundering pertaining to Depardieu's tax residence in Belgium. Magistrates aimed to establish whether Depardieu really had been residing in Néchin, or if he had instead been living in France for a period longer than that allowed by his status as a tax resident abroad.[181]

Political views

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Depardieu with Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Russia, 5 January 2013

In 1987, Depardieu published an op-ed in the left-wing newspaper Libération in support of socialist French President François Mitterrand, announcing that he would be "voting for the first time" on the occasion of Mitterrand's 1988 reelection bid. He later said that he had abstained that year.[182] In 1993, he expressed support for the French Communist Party.[183] Later on, he supported conservative President Jacques Chirac.[182] Following the 2002 presidential election, he supported again the Communist Party, then on the verge of bankruptcy after its electoral failure, by donating 10,000 euros. In 2010, he said that right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy was the only politician he appreciated.[184] In 2012, during Sarkozy's unsuccessful bid for reelection, Depardieu publicly endorsed him and spoke at one of his rallies.[182] He later said that he had been "drunk" that day.[185]

Since the 1990s, Depardieu has publicly associated himself with authoritarian leaders, based on his economic interests.[182][186][187][151] In the course of that decade, he invested in an oil exploration project in Cuba, meeting then-President Fidel Castro and expressing his sympathy for him.[182][186] In 1998, he supported Slovak Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar's bid for reelection.[188] It was later revealed that Depardieu had been paid 45,000 euros for his endorsement of Mečiar,[182] which he acknowledged in 2004.[189] Depardieu eventually said he had realised afterwards that Mečiar was "a real fascist".[182] Depardieu also expressed support for Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika after investing in vineyards in Algeria.[182] His associations with political strongmen were long tolerated by the French general public.[190]

After Vladimir Putin granted him Russian citizenship, Depardieu penned an open letter to the Russian President, praising him and calling Russia "a great democracy".[174][191] His support for Putin was widely condemned in France, by a broad spectrum of political actors.[177] His open letter also drew ridicule from the Russian opposition.[191] Depardieu granted his first extensive interview after becoming a Russian national to Russia-24: he was dismissive of Putin's opponents, stating that "The Russian opposition has no programme; it has nothing".[192] In his autobiography, he commented that Putin "immediately liked [his] hooligan side."[35] Depardieu subsequently made public appearances with Putin's allies, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and expressed his support for them.[193][194] In August 2015, Depardieu's films were banned from television and cinemas in Ukraine after he said "I love Russia and Ukraine, which is part of Russia".[195]

One of Depardieu's biographers, Bernard Violet, stated that the actor's fascination with dictators stemmed in part from his interest in extraordinary characters, whom he saw as "shakespearian monsters", and also from his taste for provocation. Another biographer, Lionel Duroy, said that Depardieu had no understanding of politics and was totally naive in this area.[151]

In a 2021 interview, Depardieu said that he disliked dictators, had never met one, and did not consider Putin to be one.[196] In March 2022, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he distanced himself from Putin, condeming the invasion and accusing the Russian President of "crazy, unacceptable excesses".[197]

Religion

Though not baptised at birth, Depardieu had a Catholic upbringing.[198] In the 2010s, he revealed that as a young man, he had converted to Islam as part as his interest in spirituality. Depardieu also credited an Umm Kulthum concert he attended in Paris in 1965 with starting his interest in Islam. According to Depardieu, this conversion took place in the late 1960s,[199][200] though he also said in some interviews that it occurred during the 1970s.[198][201] He "was a Muslim for two years" before giving up due to his inability to speak Arabic. He later expressed interests in Buddhism and Hinduism.[198][202]

In 2003, following an encounter with Pope John Paul II, Depardieu gave public readings of Saint Augustine's Confessions at Notre-Dame.[203] Over the years, he gave several other readings of Saint Augustine's works.[204] In September 2020, Depardieu converted to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Paris.[198] [205]

Wealth

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Bottles of Moroccan wine produced by Gérard Depardieu

In 1983, Depardieu created the company DD Productions to co-produce his films. Apart from his acting career, Depardieu is also a viticulturist, having invested in vineyards at the end of the 1980s. He owns wine estates in the Médoc, Hérault, Burgundy, Eastern Europe, Maghreb, and South America. In addition, Depardieu is the owner of the Château de Tigné (Tigne Castle) in Anjou. He also collects works of art and motorcycles.[206] In 2003, Depardieu bought the restaurant La Fontaine Gaillon in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris. Its wine cellar, which consisted of bottles of Château Haut-Brion, Château Latour, Meursault and Saint-Émilion, was rewarded by the Gault Millau guide. La Fontaine Gaillon was described as "a Parisian institution".[207] He sold the restaurant in 2019.[207] During the 1990s, he was associated with Planet Hollywood, to which he provided wine.[208]

In Paris, Depardieu owns luxury restaurants, a Japanese delicatessen, a wine bar, and a seafood shop.[209][206] By 2012, he employed over a hundred people in France through fifteen companies.[206] In 2013, Depardieu's wealth was estimated at US$200 million.[210] He said that the 2006 divorce settlement with his wife cost him 15 million euros.[143] Depardieu owns a luxury hotel built in 1805 in the 6th arrondissement of Paris valued at 50 million euros ($53.5 million).[211]

Sexual assault and rape allegations

First controversy

In 1977, Harry Stein interviewed Depardieu on the set of Get Out Your Handkerchiefs. The interview, which was published in the March-April 1978 issue of Film Comment under the title Depardieu: French Primitive, adressed the actor's difficult upbringing and turbulent youth: it quoted Depardieu as saying that he had first participated in a rape when he was nine years old and in more rapes since then, and commenting that there were "too many [rapes] to count... There was nothing wrong with it. The girls wanted to be raped. I mean, there's no such thing as rape. It's only a matter of a girl putting herself in a situation where she wants to be." The story re-emerged in February 1991, shortly after the American releases of Cyrano de Bergerac and Green Card, when Time published an interview of Depardieu where he appeared to confirm these statements and commented: "it was absolutely normal in those circumstances. That was part of my childhood."[212][213][214][215]

On 15 March 1991, Depardieu's American publicist Lois Smith stated: "He's sorry, but it happened".[93] The National Organization for Women requested an apology from Depardieu.[215] Later that month, Depardieu's French publicist Claude Devy discounted the statements made by Smith, and Depardieu threatened legal action against any media outlet that published the comments.[93] Depardieu's team said that Time had mistranslated the French verb "assister" as "participate", when a more accurate translation would be "attend" or "be witness to".[216] Time refused to retract the story and claimed that Depardieu had told them he had "participated" in the rapes.[217]

At that time, Depardieu received support from the French media, who said he was being treated unfairly and blamed American "puritanism". As a result, his career in France did not suffer and the controversy was forgotten over time by the French general public.[218][219][220][214]

2018 rape accusation

In August 2018, Depardieu was accused of sexual assault and rape by Charlotte Arnould, a 22-year old actress and dancer.[221] Arnould, whose identity was initially concealed, made her name public in December 2021.[222]

The daughter of a longtime friend of Depardieu, Arnould said that on 7 August 2018 she had been invited by the actor to his Parisian home, ostensibly to discuss her career: there, she said, Depardieu had digitally raped her. According to her account, on 13 August she went back to Depardieu's home to confront him, only to be similarly raped a second time.[223]

Arnould made her statement on 27 August[223] to police in Lambesc, southern France, after which the case was passed to prosecutors in the capital. Depardieu denied the allegations.[224] In 2019, the charges were dropped after a nine-month police investigation.[225] Actress Emmanuelle Debever commented the news by accusing Depardieu of groping her on the set of the 1983 film Danton.[226] The case was reopened in October 2020 after Arnould refiled the complaint.[227]

In February 2021, it was announced that following Arnould's second complaint, French authorities had charged Depardieu with rape on 16 December 2020. The actor rejected the allegation through his lawyer.[228] In March 2022, the Paris Court of Appeal rejected Depardieu's attempt to have the charges dropped and announced the actor would remain under formal investigation.[229]

2023-2024 controversy and further accusations

On 11 April 2023, investigative website Mediapart reported that 13 women were accusing Depardieu of sexual assault and sexual harassment pertaining to incidents that occurred on film and television sets between 2004 and 2022.[230][231][232] On 23 May, Charlotte Arnould gave a television interview where she recounted her version in detail.[233] On 1 October 2023, after several of his public performances were disrupted by feminist protesters and hecklers, Depardieu published an open letter disputing the accusations.[234][235]

In that context, Depardieu's reputation was further damaged on 7 December 2023, when French television newsmagazine Complément d'enquête broadcast a documentary segment about the accusations against the actor, which included behind-the-scenes footage from a documentary project Depardieu had worked on with author-director Yann Moix. In that footage, shot in 2018 in North Korea, Depardieu could be seen making multiple obscene, sexist and misogynistic remarks.[236][157][237]

Emmanuelle Debever died on 6 December 2023 after one week in a hospital following a suicide attempt, leading to speculation that her death was connected to the broadcast of the Complément d'enquête segment.[238][226] On 13 December 2023, Gérard Depardieu was stripped of the National Order of Quebec, on the grounds of what Quebec premier François Legault called "scandalous remarks made by Gérard Depardieu in front of the cameras".[23] He had been appointed as a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2002 by premier Bernard Landry.[239][240] That segment also caused Radio Télévision Suisse, the French-language television of Switzerland, to announce that for the time being it would no longer broadcast films starring Depardieu.[241] On 17 December, Depardieu's daughter Julie, her two half-siblings and several other family members signed an op-ed in support of him.[242]

On 19 December 2023, Spanish author and photographer Ruth Baza [es; fr] told La Vanguardia that Depardieu had forcibly kissed and groped her in 1995 when, at age 23, she had interviewed him in Paris.[243][244][245] Baza explained that due to her trauma her mind had blocked out the events,[246] until the allegations against him emerged in 2023,[247] which made her experiences flashbacks.[248] Although the facts were likely time-barred, Baza filed a complaint in Spain, saying that she hoped it would encourage other people to speak out.[249]

French politicians also reacted to the Complément d'enquête documentary. Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak expressed outrage at Depardieu's behavior, saying that he brought "shame" to France,[250] and launched a disciplinary procedure that could lead to the actor's Legion of Honour being rescinded. On the contrary, when asked for comment on 21 December, President Emmanuel Macron denounced the "manhunt" against Depardieu and said that the actor made France "proud".[244][245][251][246]

Depardieu's former partner Carole Bouquet went on television to defend his character.[252] On 25 December, a group of over 50 French actors and other prominent figures including Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling, Carla Bruni, Fanny Ardant, Nathalie Baye, Bertrand Blier and Roberto Alagna, signed an open letter published in French newspaper Le Figaro that denounced the "lynching" of Depardieu. The text, titled Do not cancel Gérard Depardieu, claimed that the actor was the victim of a "torrent of hatred", adding that he was "probably the greatest of all actors" and that attacking him was an attack on art itself.[253][254][255][251] Several signatories, including Bouquet and Pierre Richard, eventually distanced themselves from the op-ed due to its content and after it was revealed that it had been penned by an actor with far-right connections.[256][257]

Depardieu's former partner Karine Silla also defended him.[258] Sophie Marceau, who had made two films with Depardieu during the 1980s, said that she had found his attitude "rude and inappropriate", though he wouldn't harass famous actresses and instead "went more for low-level assistants".[259] On 1 January 2024, over 150 French performers signed an op-ed in Libération, saying that artists should be held accountable like anyone and expressing support for the victims of sexual assault.[260] That text eventually attracted 500 signatories.[261][262][263] In a January 2024 French opinion poll, 23% of respondents stated that they would no longer watch films starring Depardieu.[264]

In September 2023 and January 2024 respectively, two women, an actress and an assistant, filed complaints for assault against Depardieu, for incidents they said had occurred on film sets in 2007 and 2014. Both complaints were dismissed as time-barred. In February 2024, two other women, a set decorator and an assistant director, filed complaints against Depardieu for assaulting them in 2021 on the set of the film The Green Shutters. [265] On 29 April 2024, the police detained Depardieu for questioning over the sexual assault accusations. He was formally charged for the incidents on the set of The Green Shutters.[266][267][268]

On 14 August 2024, the Paris Public Prosecutor requested that Depardieu go to trial for the Arnould rape case.[269][270][271]

2025 sexual assault trial

Depardieu's trial on two counts of sexual assault said to have occurred during the shooting of The Green Shutters was scheduled to begin on 28 October 2024. That day, Depardieu's lawyer said that health concerns meant he was unable to attend court. The trial was rescheduled, and began on 24 March 2025.[272][273][274][275]

Depardieu spoke in his own defense,[167] taking the stand for three days. He denied any sexual misconduct, but appeared sometimes confused and unfocused. Several women testified that they had been groped by Depardieu on film sets, or had seen him grope other women.[276] Fanny Ardant, his friend and co-star in several films including The Green Shutters, testified of his good character.[277] Anouk Grinberg, who had also co-starred with Depardieu in that film, attended the trial in support of the two plaintiffs.[278]

On 13 May 2025, Depardieu was convicted on both counts of sexual assault. He was handed an 18 month suspended sentence.[279] The court commented that Depardieu did not appear to have "grasped the notion of consent".[280] He appealed his conviction.[281]

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Awards

Summarize
Perspective

Depardieu has been nominated for the César for Best Actor in a Leading Role 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.

Besides his acting accolades, he has been awarded the following order of merits:

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Filmography

Main article: Gérard Depardieu filmography

Stage work

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Musical recordings

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Books

  • Lettres volées, Lattès, 1988, ISBN 978-2709607438
  • Vivant !, with Laurent Neumann, Plon, 2004, ISBN 978-2290347430
  • Lire Saint Augustin, with André Mandouze, Desclée De Brouwer, 2004, ISBN 978-2220055039
  • Ma cuisine, France Loisirs, 2005, ISBN 978-2-263-03868-6
  • Depardieu grandeur nature, with Richard Mellou, Flammarion, 2009, ISBN 978-2081228245
  • Ça s'est fait comme ça, with Lionel Duroy, XO, 2014, ISBN 978-2845637320
  • Innocent, Le Cherche Midi, 2015, ISBN 978-2-7491-4889-2
  • Monstre, Le Cherche Midi, 2017, ISBN 978-2749153148
  • Ailleurs, Le Cherche Midi, 2020, ISBN 978-2290252239
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See also

References

Further reading

External links

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