Benoît Magimel

Biography

Benoît Magimel is a French actor born on 11 May 1974 in Paris. His mother was a nurse and his father worked in a bank. Through his maternal grandfather he is of Hungarian Jewish descent. He has a brother, Arnaud, and a sister, Bénédicte. In 1988, he landed his first film role in Étienne Chatiliez's comedy Life Is a Long Quiet River, in which he played Maurice "Momo" Groseille. At sixteen, while in première (the second year of lycée), Magimel left school without a diploma to pursue acting as a career. For his second film, the Christine Lipinska-directed comedy Papa est parti, maman aussi (1989), his name appeared at the top of the bill alongside Sophie Aubry and Jérôme Kircher. He spent the decade accumulating roles, on television and in cinema, growing up in front of the camera, often under the direction of respected filmmakers. In 1995, Magimel appeared as boyfriend Rémi in Benoît Jacquot's New Wave-style drama A Single Girl, which stars Virginie Ledoyen as a hotel waitress who discovers she is pregnant. That same year, Magimel made a brief appearance in Mathieu Kassovitz's black-and-white banlieue drama La Haine, which went on to become a cult film. In 1996, Magimel took on a supporting role in André Téchiné's psychodrama Thieves, starring Catherine Deneuve, Daniel Auteuil and Laurence Côte. His performance garnered him a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 1997. He then achieved leading roles, often depicting rough and violent characters. In 1998, he shared the screen with Romain Duris and Zoé Félix for Olivier Dahan's crime drama Déjà mort. He also starred in the mining drama Une minute de silence, directed by Florent-Emilio Siri, who would become one of Magimel's most frequent collaborators. In 1999, he shared the screen with Juliette Binoche in the romantic drama Children of the Century. Under the direction of Diane Kurys, he portrayed Alfred de Musset. In 2001, he played a young protégé to a masochistic piano teacher who attempts to engage him in a sadomasochistic relationship, played by Isabelle Huppert, in the acclaimed drama The Piano Teacher, directed by Michael Haneke. He won the Best Actor award at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival for his performance. In 2003, he shared the screen with Laetitia Casta for the drama Errance. He also accepted a supporting role under Jacques Villeret and André Dussollier in Jean Becker's drama Strange Gardens. He then portrayed a son alongside Nathalie Baye in Claude Chabrol's family drama The Flower of Evil. In 2004, he continued this momentum in Olivier Dahan's police thriller Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse, in which he appeared opposite Jean Reno. He then appeared alongside Laura Smet in Claude Chabrol's psychological thriller The Bridesmaid. He continued in 2005 with the thriller Trouble, starring Natacha Régnier. He then shared the screen with Clovis Cornillac for the blockbuster Sky Fighters. Around the same time, Magimel was also approached by Barbet Schroeder to portray French criminal Jacques Mesrine after Vincent Cassel withdrew from the role. Magimel refused the role because he felt his physique would be unsuitable to portray Mesrine. The project was later revived by Jean-François Richet, with Cassel returning. On 2 January 2006, Magimel was named Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by Minister of Culture Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres. In 2006, he was part of the choral cast of Nicole Garcia's drama Charlie Says. Magimel had four film releases in 2007. In January, he led the Parisian organized crime thriller Paris Lockdown, directed by Frédéric Schoendoerffer; in August, he co-starred with Ludivine Sagnier for A Girl Cut in Two, by Claude Chabrol; in October, he reunited with Florent-Emilio Siri for the Algerian War drama Intimate Enemies; and in December, he plays in the multi-narrative drama 24 Mesures, by Jalil Lespert. In 2008, the novelist Michel Houellebecq directed Magimel in a film adaptation of one of his bestsellers, The Possibility of an Island. Magimel also traveled to Japan to star in Barbet Schroeder's mystery thriller Inju: The Beast in the Shadow, based on the novel by Edogawa Ranpo. In 2010, he co-starred in the crime thriller Sans laisser de traces with François-Xavier Demaison and played the title lawyer in Cédric Anger's thriller L'Avocat. The year also marked his return to the comedy genre with two new films.