Hippolyte Girardot

Biography: life and films

With over 120 film and television credits to his name, Hippolyte Girardot is one of France's most prolific and versatile screen actors. Originally named Frédéric Girardot, he was born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, on 10th October 1955. After graduating from the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs, he opted for an acting career and took drama lessons under Robert Cordier and Andréas Voutsinas. He made his screen debut playing Claude Rich's son in Yannick Bellon's La Femme de Jean (1974), but it would be a decade before he established himself as an actor. The director Francis Girod gave him his first notable role in Le Bon plaisir (1984), for which he received a César nomination for Most Promising Actor.

Hippolyte Girardot's screen career took off after playing the lead role in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié (1989), for which he earned another César a nomination, this time in the Best Actor category. Showing a particular flair for playing ambiguous, ironic, seductive and yet mostly sympathetic characters, Girardot was cast in a wide range of roles and worked with some of the most distinguished filmmakers of his time. Among the directors he has worked with are Jean-Luc Godard (Prénom Carmen), Diane Kurys (Après l'amour), Bob Swaim (Nos amis les flics), Arnaud Desplechin (Un conte de Noël) and Alain Resnais (Aimer, boire et chanter).

Girardot's finest performance is, arguably, in Maroun Bagdadi's realist thriller Hors la vie (1991), in which he is harrowingly convincing as a young photographer who is taken hostage in Lebanon. Other notable film appearances include Patrice Leconte's Le Parfum d'Yvonne (1993), Pascale Ferran's Lady Chatterley (2005) and Angelo Cianci's Dernier étage, gauche, gauche (2010). In 2009, he directed his first feature Yuki et Nina (2009), in collaboration with Nobuhiro Suwa. His daughter Ana Girardot (born in 1988) has followed in his footsteps and is making a successful career as an actress.

Filmography

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