Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (, , ; 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. He is also a film producer, businessman, vineyard owner, and occasional director. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors including François Truffaut, Bertrand Blier, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, Jean-Luc Godard, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès. His body of work also includes many television productions, several records and, as of 2025, 19 stage plays and 9 books. 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.

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 ), 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. 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. In May 2025, he was convicted of sexual assault against two women. He has appealed his sentencing. Provided by Wikipedia