Jean-Louis Trintignant

He retired from movies in 2003, but kept working on the stage. He made one exception when he returned to the screen with Amour (2012) and stated that director Michael Haneke is the only person for whom he'd do it again, in either a big or small role. In September 2013, he announced that he would've extended his retirement to stage work as well. His last theatrical appearance was a poetry recital in Antibes on the 2nd October 2013. His promise to do more film work with Haneke is still valid.

Both Jean-Louis and his Amour (2012) co-star, Emmanuelle Riva, were part of Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy. She appeared in Three Colors: Blue (1993) while he played the leading male role in Three Colors: Red (1994).

He provided the voice of the Narrator (The School Teacher as an Old Man) in the French edition of The White Ribbon (2009). This marked his first collaboration with Michael Haneke.

He was nominated for the 2006 Molière Award for Best Actor for his stage performance in "Moins 2".

His actress/daughter, Marie Trintignant, who was married at the time to director/actor Samuel Benchetrit, was fatally beaten in a Lithuanian hotel in 2003 by her jealous boyfriend, Bertrand Cantat, the lead rock singer and guitarist of the group, Noir Désir. Apparently, he became outraged when she received a telephone call from her husband. She suffered a cerebral edema as a result of her skull fractures and died four days after the incident. In 2004, Cantat was sentenced to eight years in prison for manslaughter, which was initially appealed by Marie's family, who wished for a heavier sentence. They later canceled their appeal and the judgment was final.

Lent his voice to the widely acclaimed The City of Lost Children (1995).

In his autobiography "Du côté d'Uzès", he recounts that, during the shooting of The Sunday Woman (1975), both he and his friend Marcello Mastroianni had set their mind on winning the heart of their co-star, Jacqueline Bisset. They were both unsuccessful.

Said he didn't accept the leading role in Last Tango in Paris (1972), because he didn't like the numerous nude scenes.

He called The Conformist (1970) and Amour (2012) the best movies he's ever done.

His daughter Pauline died as a baby while he and his family were on location in Rome in 1969.

He stated that he was a bit embarrassed when he had to film his erotic scenes with ex-wife Stéphane Audran in Les Biches (1968) right under the eyes of her new husband, director Claude Chabrol.

Raised in and around automobile racing, he was the natural choice of director Claude Lelouch for the role of a race car driver in A Man and a Woman (1966).

Was chosen to play opposite Vittorio Gassman in Il Sorpasso (1962) because he looked like Jacques Perrin, who started the picture but left to do Family Portrait (1962) under Valerio Zurlini 's direction.

He became friends with Valerio Zurlini on the set of Violent Summer (1959). He stayed at his place during the entire shooting of the movie.

When the press stalked him 1956 because of rumors of an affair with Brigitte Bardot his partner in And God Created Woman (1956), he fled into the army.

Started theatrical acting in 1950, but was regarded untalented at first, until Roger Vadim discovered him for the movies.

Born 1930 in Piolenc in south France as son of a wealthy industrialist. Studied law in Aix-en-Provence.

Nephew of sport car driver Maurice Trintignant (1917-2005).