Mathieu Amalric (born 25 October 1965) is a French actor and filmmaker. He has won several César Awards and the Lumières Award. He is best known internationally for his roles in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace, in which he played the lead villain, Steven Spielberg's Munich, Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel and The French Dispatch, and for his lead performance in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, for which he drew critical acclaim.

Early life

Amalric was born on 25 October 1965 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris. He is the son of Jacques Amalric, a French native who worked as a foreign affairs editor for Le Monde and Libération, and Nicole Zand, a literary critic for Le Monde, who was born in Poland to Jewish parents and moved to France at the outbreak of World War II.

Selected films

Amalric first gained fame in the film Ma Vie Sexuelle (My Sex Life...or How I Got Into an Argument), for which he won a César Award. In 2007, he starred in the critically acclaimed movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, portraying Jean-Dominique Bauby, a journalist who learned to communicate through partner-assisted scanning after a stroke left him suffering from locked-in syndrome. Amalric's performance was universally acclaimed, and he won the Cesar Award for Best Actor. He was selected to play the James Bond villain Dominic Greene alongside Daniel Craig (with whom he had previously starred in Munich) in the 2008 film Quantum of Solace. His 2010 film, On Tour, premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and won Amalric the Best Director Award. The 2014 film The Blue Room, which he directed and starred in, was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival.

Personal life

Amalric has three sons, two with French actress and singer Jeanne Balibar, and one with another former partner, a writer. As of 2019, he is in a long-term relationship with Canadian soprano and conductor Barbara Hannigan. He supports the Girondins de Bordeaux football club.

Filmography

As actor

As filmmaker