Jean-Pierre Léaud

Jean-Pierre Léaud — Biography

Jean-Pierre Léaud was born on 28 May 1944 in the 20th arrondissement of Paris and grew into one of the most recognizable faces of French cinema. Discovered by François Truffaut at fourteen, he shot to international fame playing Antoine Doinel in the 1959 film The 400 Blows, returning to that character in five further films over the next two decades. He also became a regular presence in Jean-Luc Godard's productions, helping shape the look of the French New Wave. Over his career he worked with directors such as Jean Eustache, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Jean Cocteau and Bernardo Bertolucci; his performance in Eustache's 1973 film The Mother and the Whore is counted among his career highlights. In the 1990s he found a second wind through his collaborations with Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. He was later honored with a César in 2000 and received an honorary Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.