A burly, highly talented leading man and one of Europe's most prolific screen performers from the 1970s onward, Gerard Depardieu was once described as both a "loutish giant" and an international sex symbol, As an actor, he brings to his portrayals an intensity and attention to detail that endows all his characters with a sense of urgency.
Born to an impoverished family -- his father was an illiterate sheet metal worker with a fondness for drink -- Depardieu spent a Dickensian childhood replete with brushes with the law. A classic "juvenile delinquent", he dropped out of school at age 12 and embarked on a hitchhiking tour of Europe that found him stealing cars and selling goods on the black market. He may have been destined for a life of crime had he not discovered acting, thanks to a friend who was attending drama school in Paris. Depardieu enrolled in classes at the Theatre National Populaire and later was apprenticed at the Cafe de la Gare alongside future co-stars Patrick Dewaere and Miou-Miou. He made his film acting debut in the short "Le Beatnik et le minet" (1965). After appearing regularly on French TV and in small roles in a variety of films (e.g.,, "Nathalie Granger" 1972, "Les Gaspards" 1973), the actor enjoyed breakout success co-starring as a nihilistic but lovable petty thug with Dewaere in "Les Valseuses/Going Places" (1974), directed by Bertrand Blier. He went on to handle a dual role opposite Isabelle Adjani in "Barocco" and portrayed a Communist organizer in "1900" (both 1976). Reteaming with both Dewaere and Blier, Depardieu co-starred as a man attempting to cheer up his wife by finding her a lover in the Oscar-winning foreign film "Preparez vos mouchoirs/Get Out Your Handkerchiefs" (1977).
Kicking off the 1980s, Depardieu offered a sterling, award-winning performance as a Resistance fighter in the dark drama "Le Dernier Metro/The Last Metro" (1980). "Le Retour de Martin Guerre/The Return of Martin Guerre" (1982) cast him as a 16th-century peasant who may not be what he claims and he gave a passionate interpretation of the title role in "Danton" (also 1982), Andrzej Wajda's drama about the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution. He stepped behind the camera for the first time as co-director of "Le Tartuffe" (1984) which preserved his stage interpretation of the Moliere character. He dominated the middling "Police" (1985) as a tough cop cracking down on a drug ring and delivered a terrific turn as a naive, inexperienced farmer in "Jean de Florette" (1986). Reuniting with Isabelle Adjani, Depardieu limned the turbulently passionate love affair between artist Auguste Rodin and the title character in "Camille Claudel" (1988).
The 90s kicked off on a similarly high note with the actor earning some of the best reviews of his career (as well as a Best Actor Oscar nomination) for his interpretation of the classic role of "Cyrano de Bergerac" in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's 1990 screen version. Depardieu then surprised many with his first foray into English-language films, playing a French musician who agrees to a marriage of convenience in order to obtain his "Green Card" in that 1990 comedy. He and his handsome son Guillaume shared the role of 17th-century composer Marin Marais in the biopic "Tous les matins du monde" (1991), and for the rest of the decade, the actor remained constantly in demand, acting some 30 film or TV productions. He enjoyed some success as the overprotective father of a teenage daughter in "Mon Pere, ce heros" (1991) and reprised the role for the inferior 1994 English-language remake "My Father, the Hero". Miscast as the Italian seafarer Christopher Columbus in "1492: Conquest of Paradise" (1992), Depardieu fared better as a struggling miner in the sprawling epic "Germinal" (1993), helmed by Claude Berri. He also scored as an officer who makes his way home only to discover he has been declared legally dead in "Colonel Chabert" (1994).
Acting in English, the hulking player romanced Gena Rowlands in "Unhook the Stars" and portrayed Haley Joel Osment's imaginary pal in "Bogus" and had a cameo as Polonius' servant in Kenneth Branagh's full-scale screen adaptation of "Hamlet" (all 1996). Depardieu ventured onto French TV in the first of several miniseries in the title role of the umpteenth remake of "The Count of Monte Cristo" (1998) before portraying the esteemed writer "Balzac" (1999). He and John Malkovich were teamed as aging Musketeers in "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998) and later collaborated as hunter and prey in a TV adaptation of "Les Miserables" (2000). In between, Depardieu had the title role of Obelix opposite Christian Clavier in the popular live-action adaptation of the comic books in "Asterix et Obelix contre Cesar", and stepped behind the camera to helm the semi-autobiographical "The Bridge/Un pont entre deux rives" (both 1999). Betrand Blier tapped him for a seventh time for "Les Acteurs/The Actors", and Depardieu led the international cast of "Vatel" (both 2000), in which he essayed the real life master steward who was coveted for Versailles by King Louis XIV. He was slightly miscast as the Gaultier-like designer in the cartoonish "102 Dalmatians" (also 2000).
Despite near fatal accidents (a 1996 plane collision and a 1998 motorcycle crash) and health problems (he underwent coronary bypass surgery in July 2000), Depardieu appeared unstoppable as the new millennium unfolded. In addition to reteaming with Daniel Auteuil as a homophobe in "The Closet/Le Placard" (2000), he had the title role as the famous detective "Vidocq" (2001) as well as reprised the part of Obelix in "Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cleopatra" (2002). On the small screen, he appeared in TV projects as "Napoleon" (2002), and "Le Femme Musketeer" (2004).
Next for the actor was "Concurrence Deloyale/Unfair Competition" (2001), the story of two rival families from Milan, one Jewish and the other Catholic, who are competing merchants in 1938 Rome against the background of the encroaching holocaust; "Love, Prozac and Other Curiosities" (2001), in which three sisters decide that their lives must change, and then realise that they need each other more than they would like to admit; and "I Am Dina" (2002), a beautiful and eccentric young woman lives with the consequences of having indirectly caused the death of her mother when she was a child in mid-19th century Norway. He then appeared in director Roman Coppola's "CQ" (2002), as the temperamental director of a sexy pop femme-fatale spy movie in the 1960s who, after trying to shoehorn radical politics into the airy conception, is fired; then it was on to "Between Strangers" (2002) opposite Sophia Loren and directed by her son Edoardo Ponti; followed by the comedy "Tais-Toi/Shut Up" (2003) teamed with Jean Reno. In "Nathalie" (2003) he plays the longtime husband of a woman (Fanny Ardant) who is shocked to discover he may be unfaithful and sets out on a determined, methodical course of revenge by hiring a Parian prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) to seduce him. That same year's "Crime Spree" cast the actor as part of a gang of six amaterurish crooks in Chicago who end up with the Mafia, the FBI and a Latino gang on their heels.
Depardieu then took a role in Matt Dillon's directorial effort "City of God" (2003) as a hotel/bar proprietor who casually breaks up fights while holding a baby. He reunited with his "Cyrano" director Jean-Paul Rappeneau for the lavish "Bon Voyage" (2003), with the actor looking slimmer, trimmer and more put together than in a long time playing a harassed cabinet minister involved with a famous movie star and sexual provocateur (Isabelle Adjani) against the backdrop of the Nazi occupation of France. In "Les Temps Qui Change/Changing Times" as a man determined to win back the love of his life (Catherine Deneuve) after 30 years apart. After turns in director Alain Chabat's lesser comedy "RRRrrrr!!!" (2004) and as one of a pair of rival cops in "36 Quai Des Orfevres" (2004), he appeared as the town priest in Jean Boudin's historical drama "Nouvelle-France" (2004), a tragic love story between a feisty peasant woman and an adventurous trapperset in 1759 against the backdrop of the struggle between England and France to control Canada. Next was a role in "Combien Tu M'aimes?/How Much Do You Love Me?" (2005) a romantic comedy in which a prostitute (Monica Belucci) is hired by an admirer who has just won the lottery to be his around-the-clock "wife." Depardieu then starred in "Boudu Saved From Drowning" (2005), the tale of a male prostitute who is saved from drowning after jumping into the Seine by a bookseller who then takes him home, a remake of the classic 1932 French film directed by Jean Renoir and inspired by the play "Boudu sauve des eaux" written by Rene Fauchois. With several other projects released in France and other nations awaiting an audience in the U.S., Depardieu announced in 2005 that, at age 56, he was done making movies. "I have done 170 films. I have nothing left to prove," the actor said. "I am not going to hang on like a jerk."
Divorced from actress Elisabeth Depardieu (nee Guignot), who appeared with him in "Jean de Florette," and father of actors Guillaume and Julie, Depardieu has been romantically involved with frequent co-star Carole Bouquet since the mid-90s, and couple became in engaged in 2003.