The Most Famous

ACTORS from France

This page contains a list of the greatest French Actors. The pantheon dataset contains 13,578 Actors, 431 of which were born in France. This makes France the birth place of the 5th most number of Actors behind India, and Canada.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary French Actors of all time. This list of famous French Actors is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of French Actors.

1. Alain Delon (b. 1935)

With an HPI of 83.15, Alain Delon is the most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 119 different languages on wikipedia.

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon (French: [alɛ̃ dəlɔ̃]; born 8 November 1935) is a French actor, singer, filmmaker, and businessman. Acknowledged as a cultural and cinematic icon of the 20th century, he emerged as one of the foremost European actors of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Regarded as one of the most handsome and photogenic men in the history of cinema, both he and his various roles have given rise to multiple cultural and popular representations. Delon has received awards at prestigious festivals and has often been honored for his entire career. In 1985, he won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in Notre histoire (1984). In 1991, he became a member of France's Legion of Honour. At the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, he won the Honorary Golden Bear. At the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, he received the Honorary Palme d'Or. Delon achieved critical acclaim for roles in the films Purple Noon (1960), Rocco and His Brothers (1960), L'Eclisse (1962), The Leopard (1963), Le Samouraï (1967), La Piscine (1969), Le Cercle Rouge (1970), Un flic (1972), and Monsieur Klein (1976). Over the course of his career Delon worked with many directors, including Luchino Visconti, Jean-Luc Godard, Jean-Pierre Melville, Michelangelo Antonioni, and Louis Malle. As a singer, Delon recorded the popular duet "Paroles, paroles" (1973) with Dalida. He acquired Swiss citizenship in 1999.

2. Brigitte Bardot (b. 1934)

With an HPI of 82.65, Brigitte Bardot is the 2nd most famous French Actor. Her biography has been translated into 117 different languages.

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot ( brizh-EET bar-DOH; French: [bʁiʒit baʁdo] ; born 28 September 1934), often referred to by her initials B.B., is a French former actress, singer, and model as well as an animal rights activist. Famous for portraying sexually emancipated characters, often with hedonistic lifestyles, she was one of the best known activists in the sexual revolution of the 1950s–1970s. Although she withdrew from the entertainment industry in 1973, she remains a major popular culture icon and a noted figure in ushering in the sexual revolution. She has acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985. Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life. She started her acting career in 1952 and achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman (1956), catching the attention of many French intellectuals and earning her the nickname "sex kitten". She was the subject of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the first and most liberated woman of post-war France. She won a 1961 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award for her work in The Truth (1960). Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (1963). For her role in Louis Malle's film Viva Maria! (1965), she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. French President Charles de Gaulle called Bardot "the French export as important as Renault cars". After retiring from acting in 1974, she became an animal rights activist and created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. She is known for her strong personality, outspokenness, and speeches on animal defence; she has been fined twice for public insults. She has also been a controversial political figure, as of November 2021 having been fined six times for inciting racial hatred when she criticised immigration and Islam in France and called residents of Réunion "savages". She is married to Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right French politician. Bardot is a member of the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Programme and has received several awards and accolades from UNESCO and PETA. In 2011, Los Angeles Times Magazine ranked her second on the "50 Most Beautiful Women In Film".

3. Sarah Bernhardt (1844 - 1923)

With an HPI of 78.73, Sarah Bernhardt is the 3rd most famous French Actor. Her biography has been translated into 158 different languages.

Sarah Bernhardt (French: [saʁa bɛʁnɑʁt]; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils, Ruy Blas by Victor Hugo, Fédora and La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, and L'Aiglon by Edmond Rostand. She played female as well as male roles, including Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rostand called her "the queen of the pose and the princess of the gesture", and Hugo praised her "golden voice". She made several theatrical tours around the world, and she was one of the early prominent actresses to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures. She is also linked with the success of artist Alphonse Mucha, whose work she helped to publicize. Mucha became one of the more sought-after artists of this period for his Art Nouveau style.

4. Louis de Funès (1914 - 1983)

With an HPI of 78.46, Louis de Funès is the 4th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 86 different languages.

Louis Germain David de Funès de Galarza (French: [lwi ʒɛʁ'mɛ̃ da'vid də fy'nɛs də ɡalaʁ'za]; 31 July 1914 – 27 January 1983) was a French actor and comedian. He is France's favourite actor, according to a series of polls conducted since the late 1960s, having played over 150 roles in film and over 100 on stage. His acting style is remembered for its high-energy performance and his wide range of facial expressions and tics. A considerable part of his best-known acting was directed by Jean Girault. One of the most famous French actors of all time, Louis de Funès also enjoys widespread international recognition. In addition to his immense fame in the French-speaking world, he is also still a household name in many other parts of the world, including German-speaking countries, Italy, the former Eastern Bloc, Albania, Greece, Portugal, Spain, the former Yugoslavia, Iran, Israel, Mauritius, Romania and Turkey. Despite his international fame, Louis de Funès remains almost unknown in the English-speaking world. He was exposed to a wider audience only once in the United States, in 1973, with the release of The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob, which is best remembered for its Rabbi Jacob dance scene and was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Louis de Funès has two museums dedicated to his life and acting: one in the Château de Clermont, near Nantes, where he resided, as well as another in the town of Saint-Raphaël, Southern France.

5. Jean-Paul Belmondo (1933 - 2021)

With an HPI of 78.36, Jean-Paul Belmondo is the 5th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 92 different languages.

Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃pɔl ʃaʁl bɛlmɔ̃do]; 9 April 1933 – 6 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officers and criminals in action thriller films. His best known credits include Breathless (1960), That Man from Rio (1964), Pierrot le Fou (1965), Borsalino (1970), and The Professional (1981). An undisputed box-office champion like Louis de Funès and Alain Delon of the same period, Belmondo attracted nearly 160 million spectators in his 50-year career. Between 1969 and 1982 he played four times in the most popular films of the year in France: The Brain (1969), Fear Over the City (1975), Animal (1977), Ace of Aces (1982), being surpassed on this point only by Louis de Funès. Belmondo frequently played heroic, brave, and virile characters, which made him popular with a wide audience both in France and abroad. Despite being heavily courted by Hollywood, Belmondo refused to appear in English-language films . During his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such as James Dean, Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart. Described as an icon and national treasure of France, Belmondo was seen as an influential actor in French cinema and an important figure in shaping European cinema. In 1989, Belmondo won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté. He was nominated for two BAFTA Awards throughout his career. In 2011, Belmondo received the Palme d'honneur at the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2017 he received the César d'honneur at the 42nd César Awards. Jean-Paul Belmondo was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, on 9 April 1933. Belmondo's father, Paul Belmondo, was a Pied-Noir sculptor who was born in Algeria of Italian descent, whose parents were of Sicilian and Piedmontese origin. His mother, Sarah Madeleine Rainaud-Richard, was a painter. As a boy, he was more interested in sport than school, developing a particular interest in boxing and soccer. Belmondo made his amateur boxing debut on 10 May 1949 in Paris when he knocked out René Desmarais in one round. Belmondo's boxing career was undefeated, but brief. He won three straight first-round knockout victories from 1949 to 1950. "I stopped when the face I saw in the mirror began to change", he later said. He did his National Service in French North Africa where he hit himself with a rifle butt to end his military service. Belmondo was interested in acting. His late teenage years were spent at a private drama school, and he began performing comedy sketches in the provinces. He studied under Raymond Giraud and then attended the Conservatoire of Dramatic Arts when he was twenty. He studied there for three years. He would probably have won the prize for best actor, but participated in a sketch mocking the school, which offended the jury; this resulted in his only getting an honourable mention, "which nearly set off a riot among his incensed fellow students" in August 1956, according to one report. The incident made front-page news. Belmondo's acting career properly began in 1953, with two performances at the Théâtre de l'Atelier in Paris in Jean Anouilh's Médée and Georges Neveux's Zamore. Belmondo began touring the provinces with friends including Annie Girardot and Guy Bedos. Belmondo first appeared in the short Moliere (1956). His first film role was a scene with Jean-Pierre Cassel in On Foot, on Horse, and on Wheels (1957), which was cut from the final film; however he had a bigger part in the follow-up A Dog, a Mouse, and a Sputnik (1958). Belmondo had a small role in the comedy Be Beautiful But Shut Up (1958), appearing with Alain Delon, followed by a role as a gangster in Young Sinners (1958), directed by Marcel Carné. Belmondo supported Bourvil and Arletty in Sunday Encounter (1958). Jean-Luc Godard directed him in a short, Charlotte and Her Boyfriend (1958), where Belmondo's voice was dubbed by Godard after Belmondo was conscripted into the army. As part of his compulsory military service, he served in Algeria as a private for six months. Belmondo's first lead role was in Les Copains du dimanche (1958). He later had a supporting part in An Angel on Wheels (1959) with Romy Schneider then appeared in Web of Passion (1959) for Claude Chabrol. He played D'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers (1959) for French television. Belmondo starred in Consider All Risks (1960), a gangster story with Lino Ventura. He then played the lead role in Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless (À Bout de Souffle, 1960), which made him a major figure in the French New Wave. Breathless was a major success in France and overseas and launched Belmondo internationally and as the face of the New Wave – even though, as he said "I don't know what they mean" when people used that term. In the words of The New York Times it led to his having "more acting assignments than he can handle." He followed it with Trapped by Fear (1960), then the Italian film Letters By a Novice (1960). With Jeanne Moreau and director Peter Brook he made Seven Days... Seven Nights (1961) which he later called "very boring." Belmondo appeared as a gigolo in the anthology film Love and the Frenchwoman (1960). Then he made two Italian films, supporting Sophia Loren in Two Women (1961) as a bespectacled country boy ("It may disappoint those who've got me typed" said Belmondo. "But so much the better."), then opposite Claudia Cardinale in The Lovemakers (1961). Two Women and Breathless were widely seen in the United States and the UK. In 1961, The New York Times called him "the most impressive young French actor since the advent of the late Gérard Philipe". He was reunited with Godard for A Woman Is a Woman (1961) and made another all-star anthology comedy, Famous Love Affairs (1961). Later, he acted in Jean-Pierre Melville's philosophical movie Léon Morin, Priest (1961), playing a priest. He was a retired gangster in A Man Named Rocca (1962), then had a massive hit with the swashbuckler Cartouche (1962), directed by Philippe de Broca. Also popular was A Monkey in Winter (1962), a comedy where he and Jean Gabin played alcoholics. François Truffaut wanted Belmondo to play the lead in an adaptation of Fahrenheit 451. This did not happen (the film was made several years later with Oskar Werner); instead Belmondo made two movies with Jean-Pierre Melville: the film noir crime film The Fingerman (Le Doulos, 1963) and Magnet of Doom (1963). He co-starred with Gina Lollobrigida in Mad Sea (1963) and appeared in another comedy anthology, Sweet and Sour (1963). There was some controversy when he was arrested for insulting a policeman, when the policeman was charged with assaulting Belmondo. Banana Peel (1963), with Jeanne Moreau, was a popular comedy. Even more successful was the action-adventure tale That Man from Rio (1964), directed by Philippe de Broca - a massive hit in France, and popular overseas as well. A 1965 profile compared him to Humphrey Bogart and James Dean. It stated Belmondo was: A later manifestation of youthful rejection... His disengagement from a society his parents made is total. He accepts corruption with a cynical smile, not even bothering to struggle. He is out entirely for himself, to get whatever he can, while he can. The Belmondo type is capable of anything. He knows he is defeated anyway... He represents something tough yet vulnerable, laconic but intense, notably lacking in neuroses or the stumbling insecurities of homus Americanus. He is the man of the moment, completely capable of taking care of himself - and ready to take on the girl of the moment too. Belmondo's own tastes ran to Tintin comics, sports magazines, and detective novels. He said he preferred "making adventure films like Rio to the intellectual movies of Alain Resnais or Alain Robbe-Grillet. But with François Truffaut I'd be willing to try." His fee was said to be between US$150,000–$200,000 per film. Belmondo said he was open to making Hollywood films but he wanted to play an American rather than a Frenchman and was interested in Cary Grant type roles instead of James Dean/Bogart ones. Belmondo made Greed in the Sun (1964) with Lino Ventura for director Henri Verneuil, who said Belmondo was "one of the few young actors in France who is young and manly." Backfire (1964) reunited him with Jean Seberg, his Breathless co-star. After a role in Male Hunt (1964) he played the lead in Weekend at Dunkirk (1965), another big hit in France. Belmondo dominated the French box office for 1964 – That Man from Rio was the fourth most popular movie in the country, Greed in the Sun was seventh, Weekend at Dunkirk ninth, and Backfire 19th. Crime on a Summer Morning (1965) was less successful, though it still performed well on the strength of Belmondo's name. Up to His Ears (1965) was an attempt to repeat the popularity of That Man Rio, from the same director, but did less well. There were Hollywood offers, but Belmondo turned them down. "He won't make films outside of France", said director Mark Robson, who wanted him for Lost Command (1966). "He has scripts stacked up and he doesn't see why he should jeopardise his great success by speaking English instead of French." Belmondo was reunited with Godard for Pierrot le Fou (1965) then made a comedy, Tender Scoundrel (1966). He had small roles in two predominantly English speaking films, Is Paris Burning? (1966) and Casino Royale (1967). After making The Thief of Paris (1967) for Louis Malle, Belmondo took an acting hiatus for over a year. "One day it seemed that life was passing me by", he said. "I didn't want to work. So I stopped. Then one day I felt like starting again. So I started." Belmondo spent three months of that time off in Hollywood but did not accept any offers. He did not want to learn English and appear in English-language films: Every Frenchman dreams of making a Western, of course but America has plenty of good actors. I'm not being falsely modest but why would they need me? I prefer a national film to an international film. Something is lost. Look at what happened to Italy when they went international. Belmondo returned to filmmaking with the crime movie, Ho! (1968), then had a massive hit with a comedy co-starring David Niven, The Brain (1969). He later appeared in Mississippi Mermaid (1969) for François Truffaut with Catherine Deneuve and the romantic drama Love Is a Funny Thing (1969). Belmondo starred alongside Alain Delon in Borsalino (1970), a successful gangster film. The latter produced the film and Belmondo ended up suing Delon over billing. The Married Couple of the Year Two (1971) was also popular; even more so was The Burglars (1971). Inspired by the success Alain Delon had producing his own films, Belmondo formed his own production company, Cerito Films (named after his grandmother, Rosina Cerrito), to develop movies for Belmondo. The first Cerito film was the black comedy Dr. Popaul (1972), with Mia Farrow, the biggest hit to date for director Claude Chabrol. La scoumoune (1972) was a new version of A Man Named Rocca (1961). The Inheritor (1973) was an action film; Le Magnifique (1974), a satiric action romance reunited him with Philippe de Broca. He produced as well as starred in Stavisky (1974). Then he made a series of purely commercial films: Incorrigible (1974), Fear Over the City (1975; one of Belmondo's biggest hits of the decade and the first time he played a policeman on screen), Hunter Will Get You (1976), and Body of My Enemy (1977). Animal (1977) cast him as a stuntman opposite Raquel Welch and he starred as a policeman in Cop or Hood (1979). In 1980, Belmondo starred in another comedy, Le Guignolo. He was a secret service agent in The Professional (1981) and a pilot in Ace of Aces (1982). "What intellectuals don't like is success", said Belmondo. "Success in France is always looked down on, not by the public, but by intellectuals. If I'm nude in a film, that's fine for the intellectuals. But if I jump from a helicopter, they think it's terrible." Belmondo kept to commercial films: Le Marginal (1983) as a policeman, Les Morfalous (1984) as a sergeant in the French Foreign Legion, Hold-Up (1985) as a bank robber, and Le Solitaire (1987), again playing another policeman in the last one, the latter one was a big box office disappointment and Belmondo returned to theatre shortly afterwards. In 1987, he returned to the theatre after a 26-year absence in a production of Kean, adapted by Jean-Paul Sartre from the novel by Alexandre Dumas. "I did theatre for 10 years before going into movies and every year I planned to go back", he recalled. "I returned before I became an old man." For Claude Lelouch, Belmondo starred in and co-produced Itinerary of a Spoiled Child (1988). For his performance in the film, also titled as Itineraire d'un Enfant Gate, he won a César. Belmondo claimed there were "several reasons" why he made fewer films in the 1980s. "I'm now a producer so it takes time to organise things", he said. "But it's also difficult to find good screenplays in France. We have serious writing problems here. And I'd prefer to do theatre for a long time than take on a mediocre film." In 1990, he played the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac on the stage in Paris, another highly successful production. He had a small role in One Hundred and One Nights (1995) then the lead in Lelouch's version of Les Misérables (1995). He also appeared in the comedy Désiré (1996), Une chance sur deux (1998), and in the science fiction comedy Peut-être (1999). In 2009, Belmondo starred in A Man and His Dog ("Un homme et son chien"), his final film role. Despite his difficulty in walking and speaking, he played a character who had the same disability. Following this film he was forced into retirement in 2011 having earlier suffered a stroke in 2001. In 1989, Belmondo won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance in Itinéraire d'un enfant gâté. Belmondo was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre National du Mérite, promoted to Officier (Officer) in 1986 and promoted to Commandeur (Commander) in 1994. He was also made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur, promoted Officier (Officer) in 1991, and promoted to Commandeur (Commander) in 2007. During his career, he was nominated for two BAFTA awards. Belmondo received several honorary awards – Palme d'Or at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, and César in 2017. In 2009, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association gave him a career achievement award. In 2017, he was received a lifetime achievement honor at the 42nd César Awards accompanied by a two-minute standing ovation. On 4 December 1952, Belmondo married Élodie Constantin, with whom he had three children: Patricia (1953–1993), who was killed in a fire, Florence (born 1958), and Paul (born 1963). Belmondo and Constantin separated in 1965. She filed for divorce in September 1966, and it was finalised on 5 January 1968. He had relationships with Ursula Andress from 1965 to 1972, Laura Antonelli from 1972 to 1980, Brazilian actress and singer Maria Carlos Sotto Mayor from 1980 to 1987, and Barbara Gandolfi from 2008 to 2012. In 1989, Belmondo was in his mid-50s when he met 24-year-old dancer Natty Tardivel. The couple lived together for over a decade before marrying in 2002. On 13 August 2003, Tardivel gave birth to then 70-year-old Belmondo's fourth child, Stella Eva Angelina. Belmondo and Tardivel divorced in 2008. Belmondo was a supporter of football club Paris Saint-Germain. Belmondo died on 6 September 2021 at his home in Paris, aged 88. He had been in failing health since he suffered a stroke a decade before. A national tribute was held on 9 September in Hôtel des Invalides. President Emmanuel Macron called Belmondo a "national hero". The last tribute melody was "Chi Mai" by Ennio Morricone (from The 1981 film The Professional). The next day, 10 September, his funeral took place at the Saint-Germain-des-Prés church in the presence of relatives and family. The actors Alain and Anthony Delon also were present. His remains were cremated at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, and his ashes are buried alongside his father, the sculptor Paul Belmondo, at the Montparnasse Cemetery. Throughout his career, he was called the French counterpart of actors such as James Dean, Marlon Brando, and Humphrey Bogart. On the day of his death, television channels in France altered their schedules to add screenings of his films, which drew over 6.5 million viewers cumulatively. For his performances as a police officer in many films, the National Police said that "Even if it was just cinema you were in a way one of us, Mr. Belmondo". Throughout his career, he was regarded as an influential French actor and was often seen as the face of the French New Wave. Belmondo was described as the "figurehead" of the French New Wave, with his acting techniques often seen as capturing the style and imagination of France in the 1960s. Many of his film roles, especially as Michel Poiccard, were regarded as "legendary" and highly influential. Despite his reluctance to learn English, many often believed had he accepted offers from Hollywood, his success there would have been comparable to that of French actors Charles Boyer or Maurice Chevalier. In an obituary for The Guardian, they hailed Belmondo as an "integral part of the history of French cinema, and France itself". He was described as the "epitome of cool". American film director Quentin Tarantino cited Belmondo as an influence and called Belmondo "a verb that represents vitality, charisma, a force of will, it represents super coolness". English director Edgar Wright said that "cinema will never be quite as cool again" following Belmondo's death. He was described as an icon of French cinema and being influential in shaping modern European cinema. Cinema of France Jean-Paul Belmondo at IMDb Jean-Paul Belmondo at AllMovie Jean-Paul Belmondo discography at Discogs

6. Catherine Deneuve (b. 1943)

With an HPI of 75.72, Catherine Deneuve is the 6th most famous French Actor. Her biography has been translated into 73 different languages.

Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (born 22 October 1943), known professionally as Catherine Deneuve (UK: , US: , French: [katʁin dənœv] ), is a French actress, producer, and model. She is considered one of the greatest European actresses on film. In 2020, The New York Times ranked her as one of the greatest actors of the 21st century. Early in her career, she gained acclaim for her portrayals of aloof and mysterious beauties for well-known directors, including Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Jacques Demy, Roman Polanski, and Agnès Varda. In 1985, she succeeded Mireille Mathieu as the official face of Marianne, France's national symbol of liberty. Deneuve made her screen debut in 1957 at age 13, in a film shot the previous year when she was only 12. She gained acclaim for her collaborations with Jacques Demy's starring in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967), and Donkey Skin (1970). She starred in Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), and Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour (1967) and Tristana (1970). Her other notable films include The Hunger (1983), Indochine (1992), My Favourite Season (1993), Place Vendôme (1998), Dancer in the Dark (2000), 8 Women (2002), and The Truth (2019). She has received numerous accolades over her career including two César Awards, and the Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actress as well as nominations for an Academy Award, and BAFTA Award. She has received honorary awards, including the Berlin International Film Festival's Golden Bear in 1998, the Cannes Film Festival's Honorary Palme d'Or in 2005, and the Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion in 2022.

7. Gérard Depardieu (b. 1948)

With an HPI of 75.46, Gérard Depardieu is the 7th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 79 different languages.

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu (UK: , US: , French: [ʒeʁaʁ ɡzavje maʁsɛl dəpaʁdjø] ; born 27 December 1948) is a French actor, known to be one of the most prolific in film history. He has completed over 250 films since 1967, almost exclusively as a lead. Depardieu has worked with over 150 film directors whose most notable collaborations include Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Maurice Pialat, Alain Resnais, Claude Chabrol, Ridley Scott, and Bernardo Bertolucci. He is the second highest-grossing actor in the history of French cinema behind Louis de Funès. As of January 2022, his body of work also includes countless television productions, 18 stage plays, 16 records and 9 books. He is known for having portrayed numerous leading historical and fictitious figures of the Western world including Georges Danton, Joseph Stalin, Honoré de Balzac, Alexandre Dumas, Auguste Rodin, Cyrano de Bergerac, Jean Valjean, Edmond Dantès, Christopher Columbus, Obélix, and Dominique Strauss-Kahn. 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 Russian: Жерар Ксавие Депардьё, romanized: Zherar Ksavie Depardyo), and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro during the same month. Depardieu 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 many big-budget Hollywood films, including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012). Depardieu has been repeatedly accused of sexual assault. The French authorities have charged him with rape and, since 2021, have had him under formal investigation. Depardieu has denied any wrongdoing and has not been convicted in connection with any of the accusations against him, but he was stripped of the National Order of Quebec in 2023.

8. Jean Marais (1913 - 1998)

With an HPI of 73.45, Jean Marais is the 8th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 67 different languages.

Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais (11 December 1913 – 8 November 1998), known professionally as Jean Marais (French: [ʒɑ̃ maʁɛ]), was a French actor, film director, theatre director, painter, sculptor, visual artist, writer and photographer. He performed in over 100 films and was the lover, muse and friend of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French cinema.

9. Jean Gabin (1904 - 1976)

With an HPI of 70.67, Jean Gabin is the 9th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 72 different languages.

Jean-Alexis Moncorgé, known as Jean Gabin (French: [ʒɑ̃ gabɛ̃]; 17 May 1904 – 15 November 1976), was a French actor and singer. Considered a key figure in French cinema, he starred in several classic films, including Pépé le Moko (1937), La grande illusion (1937), Le Quai des brumes (1938), La bête humaine (1938), Le jour se lève (1939), and Le plaisir (1952). During his career, he twice won the Silver Bear for Best Actor from the Berlin International Film Festival and the Volpi Cup for Best Actor from the Venice Film Festival, respectively. Gabin was made a member of the Légion d'honneur in recognition of the important role he played in French cinema.

10. Jean-Louis Trintignant (1930 - 2022)

With an HPI of 70.07, Jean-Louis Trintignant is the 10th most famous French Actor. His biography has been translated into 50 different languages.

Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ lwi tʁɛ̃tiɲɑ̃]; 11 December 1930 – 17 June 2022) was a French actor. He made his theatrical debut in 1951, and went on to be regarded as one of the best French dramatic actors of the post-war era. He starred in many classic films of European cinema, and worked with many prominent auteur directors, including Roger Vadim, Costa-Gavras, Claude Lelouch, Claude Chabrol, Bernardo Bertolucci, Éric Rohmer, François Truffaut, Krzysztof Kieślowski, and Michael Haneke. He made a critical and commercial breakthrough in And God Created Woman (1956), followed by a starmaking romantic turn in A Man and a Woman (1966). He won the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the 1968 Berlin International Film Festival for his performance in The Man Who Lies and the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival for Costa-Gavras's Z. Trintignant's other notable films include The Great Silence (1968), My Night at Maud's (1969), The Conformist (1970), Three Colours: Red (1994), and The City of Lost Children (1995). He won the 2013 César Award for Best Actor for his role in Michael Haneke's Amour.

People

Pantheon has 474 people classified as French actors born between 1615 and 1999. Of these 474, 280 (59.07%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living French actors include Alain Delon, Brigitte Bardot, and Catherine Deneuve. The most famous deceased French actors include Sarah Bernhardt, Louis de Funès, and Jean-Paul Belmondo. As of April 2024, 43 new French actors have been added to Pantheon including Christian Marquand, Claire Lacombe, and Vernon Dobtcheff.