Today’s Top 7 French Leading Men

A very subjective survey of leading French actors on screen today:

The Bad Boy: Vincent Cassel
Cassel has the unconventional good looks of a Jean-Paul Belmondo, and a similar raw talent. Son of actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vincent made his own name by starring in La Haine (Hate), directed by his friend Mathieu Kassovitz. He often plays tough guys, and won the 2009 César for Best Actor in Mesrine (2008), a two-part biopic based on the life of notorious French gangster Jacques Mesrine. He’s also been the baddy in Hollywood’s Eastern Promises and Ocean’s Twelve and Thirteen. Cassel and his wife, actress Monica Bellucci, are one of France’s most glamorous film couples.
Also: Clovis Cornillac

The Handsome Clown: Jean Dujardin
Jean Dujardin became almost a member of the family in many French households when he starred as Loulou in the TV series Un Gars, une Fille. After the show ended in 2002, Dujardin conquered the movies with the surprise hit comedy Brice de Nice (2005), which he co-wrote. Now he is Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, a fun-house mirror version of James Bond. Both his spy pics-OSS 117: Le Caire Nid d’Espions (Cairo, Nest of Spies, 2006) and OSS 117: Rio ne Répond Plus (Lost in Rio, 2009)-were huge hits, and a third is in the works. Next, Dujardin is set to play cowboy Lucky Luke, one of France’s best-loved comic book characters, with Brice de Nice director James Huth.
Also: Albert Dupontel

The Thinker: Mathieu Amalric
Amalric won his first two Césars for roles in Arnaud Desplechin’s Comment Je Me Suis Disputé … Ma Vie Sexuelle (My Sex Life, 1996) and Rois et Reine (Kings & Queen, 2004). He excels at playing extremely sensitive, introspective, sometimes disturbed characters, most recently in Un Conte de Noël (A Christmas Tale). His touching brown eyes make many female fans long to protect him against the world and himself. Hollywood cast him in a different vein: as the villain in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, and a mysterious spy in Munich. Amalric has also directed several feature films.
Also: Melvil Poupaud

Jeune Premier: Louis Garrel
Indy favorite Louis Garrel had his first film role at age six, in a film directed by his father Philippe Garrel. In 2003 Bernardo Bertolucci handed him his big break with a leading role in The Dreamers. The highly charismatic Garrel is often cast in the role of seducer and he’s become a darling of both male and female moviegoers, especially teenagers. He has become director Christophe Honoré’s alter ego in four films, including Les Chansons d’Amour (Love Songs), in which Garrel also reveals his talent as a singer. His girlfriend is actress and director Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, the half-sister of France’s first lady, Carla Bruni Sarkozy.
Also: Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Romain Duris

The Funny Guy: Franck Dubosc
After a long career as a stage comedian and a supporting actor in B movies, Franck Dubosc hit the big time with Camping (which he also co-wrote), one of the most successful French films of 2006. His character, playboy-with-a-big-heart Patrick Chirac, a lovable loser who wears a Speedo through the whole film, has become his screen persona. A sequel is in production. Dubosc may be stuck in a rut-in his latest film, Incognito, he plays a similar character minus the Speedo-but you can’t deny he’s really funny.
Also: Dany Boon, Alain Chabat, Benoît Poelvoorde

The Boy Next Door: François Cluzet
Cluzet often portrays the innocent victim, the best friend, the guy you may not notice at first, the character who inspires such confidence others would trust him with their lives, but there is often a secret torment beneath his ingenuous looks. But he also excels in comic roles. In 2007 he won the César for Best Actor with Ne Le Dis à Personne (Tell No One). When it was released in the US, a friend remarked that Cluzet was the French Dustin Hoffman, an apt comparison.
Also: Vincent Lindon, Kad Merad, Roschdy Zem, Jean-Pierre Darroussin

The Chameleon: Daniel Auteuil
One of France’s most prolific and eclectic actors, often with several films in theaters at one time, Auteuil has always alternated comic and dramatic roles. Continually surprising, he is equally believable as a gangster in Le Deuxième Souffle (The Second Wind); a policeman in 36 Quai des Orfèvres (Department 36); an employee pretending to be gay to save his job in Le Placard (The Closet); an uneducated peasant obsessed with a beautiful shepherdess in Jean de Florette; or an office worker possessed by the spirit of a dead singer in the unexpectedly hilarious La Personne aux Deux Personnes (Me Two)-only a few examples of his versatility.

Also: Gérard Depardieu

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Originally published in the July/August 2009 issue of France Today