French Actors

Here are some of the finest actors of yesterday and today whose faces define the cinema of France.

Note: Despite Gérard Depardieu’s recent outburst, I’ve included him in this list as planned.
Note #2: This list is loosely ranked. I couldn’t put everyone at #1, but then again, if an actor is on the list at all, they are worthy of attention.

Jean-Paul Belmondo

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Grégori Derangère

Daniel Auteuil

Gérard Depardieu

Jean Reno

François Cluzet

Dany Boon

Mathieu Almaric

Gad Elmaleh

Guillaume Canet

Stéphane Freiss

Jacques Dutronc

Patrick Bruel

Jacques Gamblin

Roschdy Zem

Benoît Magimel

Melvil Poupaud

Gilles Lellouche

Fabrice Luchini

Jean-Pierre Léaud

Kad Merad

Pierre Arditi

François Berléand

Philippe Noiret

Yvan Attal

Maurice Bénichou

Denis Podalydès

Lambert Wilson

Alain Delon

Michel Piccoli

Jean Gabin

Edouard Baer

Lino Ventura

Dominique Pinon

André Dussollier

Hippolyte Girardot

Jean Rochefort

Jean-Claude Brialy