# Melvil Poupaud

Melvil Matthias Julien Poupaud (born 26 January 1973) is a French actor.

## Early life

Poupaud was born in Paris, the son of Michel Poupaud and publicist Chantal Poupaud. He has an elder brother, Yarol, who is a musician.

## Career

Poupaud made his film debut at the age of 10 in Raúl Ruiz's City of Pirates (1983), whom he met through his mother. He subsequently appeared in nine more of Ruiz's films, including The Insomniac on the Bridge (1985), Treasure Island (1986), Genealogies of a Crime (1997), Time Regained (1999) and Love Torn in a Dream (2000). For his roles in Jacques Doillon's The 15 Year Old Girl (1989) and Laurence Ferreira Barbosa's Normal People Are Nothing Exceptional (1993), Poupaud received two nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actor.
He starred in François Ozon's Time to Leave, and co-starred with Parker Posey in Zoe Cassavetes' Broken English.
He also appeared in films such as Eric Rohmer's A Summer's Tale, Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale, and François Ozon's The Refuge.
He co-starred with Suzanne Clément in Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways.

## Personal life

Poupaud dated actress Chiara Mastroianni for four years from the age of 16 to 20. Though the two split up they remained friends and collaborators for decades with Mastroianni crediting Poupaud with encouraging her to pursue acting as a career and Poupaud crediting Mastroianni for his friendship with her ex-husband Benjamin Biolay.
Poupaud was previously married to writer Georgina Tacou, with whom he has a daughter.

## Filmography
### As actor

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1983 | City of Pirates | Malo | |
| 1984 | Qui es-tu Johnny Mac ? | Johnny Mac | Short (also as director and screenwriter) |
| 1985 | Treasure Island | Jim Hawkins | |
| 1985 | The Insomniac on the Bridge | Michel | |
| 1985 | Ces jours où les remords font vraiment mal au cœur | The boy | Short (also as director and screenwriter) |
| 1986 | Dans un miroir | | |
| 1988 | 3 jours... | Melvil | Short (also as director and screenwriter) |
| 1989 | The 15 Year Old Girl | Thomas | Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actor |
| 1992 | Archipel | Michel | |
| 1992 | The Lover | The Younger Brother | |
| 1993 | À la belle étoile | Mathieu | |
| 1993 | Les gens normaux n'ont rien d'exceptionnel | Germain | Also as composer Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actor |
| 1994 | Fado majeur et mineur | Antoine | |
| 1994 | Boulevard Mac Donald | | Short (also as director, screenwriter and composer) |
| 1995 | Élisa | Pharmacist's Son | |
| 1995 | Innocent Lies | Louis Bernard | |
| 1995 | Those Were the Days | Axel | |
| 1995 | Hillbilly Chainsaw Massacre | | Short |
| 1995 | La Vie de Marianne | Valville | TV movie |
| 1995 | 3000 scénarios contre un virus | | TV series (1 episode) |
| 1996 | Souvenir | Charles | |
| 1996 | A Summer's Tale | Gaspard | |
| 1996 | Le journal du séducteur | Gregoire | |
| 1996 | Three Lives and Only One Death | Martin | |
| 1997 | Marianne | Valville | |
| 1997 | Le ciel est à nous | Lenny | |
| 1997 | Genealogies of a Crime | René | |
| 1998 | Les kidnappeurs | Armand Carpentier | |
| 1999 | Time Regained | Prince de Foix | |
| 1999 | Quelque chose | The man | Short (also as director, screenwriter and cinematographer) |
| 2000 | A Raiz do Coração | Vicente Corvo | |
| 2000 | La Chambre obscure | Bertrand | |
| 2000 | Love Torn in a Dream | Paul | |
| 2001 | A Hell of a Day | Ben | |
| 2001 | Rémi | Rémi | Short (also as director and screenwriter) |
| 2003 | Feelings | François | |
| 2003 | Le Divorce | Charles-Henri de Persand | |
| 2003 | Shimkent hôtel | Alex | |
| 2003 | Pronobis | Philippe | Short (also as director and screenwriter) |
| 2004 | Eros thérapie | Bruno | |
| 2004 | Monde extérieur | Régis | Short |
| 2004 | Qui a tué Johnny Mac ? | Johnny Mac | Short (also as director, screenwriter and cinematographer) |
| 2005 | Time to Leave | Romain | Valladolid International Film Festival - Best Actor |
| 2006 | Melvil | Melvil | Also as director, screenwriter, cinematographer and editor |
| 2007 | A Lost Man | Thomas Koré | |
| 2007 | Towards Zero | Guillaume Neuville | |
| 2007 | Broken English | Julien | |
| 2008 | The Broken | Stefan Chambers | |
| 2008 | Speed Racer | Johnny 'Goodboy' Jones | |
| 2008 | A Christmas Tale | Ivan Vuillard | |
| 2008 | Crime Is Our Business | Frédéric Charpentier | |
| 2009 | The Refuge | Louis | |
| 2009 | Lucky Luke | Jesse James | |
| 2009 | 44 Inch Chest | Loverboy | San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble |
| 2010 | La lisière | François | |
| 2010 | Black Heaven | Vincent | |
| 2010 | Mysteries of Lisbon | Colonel Ernesto Lacroze | |
| 2010 | The Counterfeiters | Edouard | TV movie |
| 2011 | L'orpheline avec en plus un bras en moins | Robinson | |
| 2011 | The Argument | Man | Short |
| 2012 | Laurence Anyways | Laurence Alia | Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival - Best Actor Nominated - Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor Nominated - Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in a Canadian Film |
| 2012 | Lines of Wellington | Marechal Massena | |
| 2014 | Fidelio: Alice's Odyssey | Gaël | |
| 2015 | Mad Love | The Priest | |
| 2015 | Face Down | Samy | |
| 2015 | By the Sea | François | |
| 2015 | The Great Game | Pierre Blum | |
| 2016 | In Bed with Victoria | Vincent Kossarski | Nominated — César Award for Best Supporting Actor |
| 2017 | The Lady in the Portrait | Jean Denis Attiret | |
| 2017 | La pimbêche à vélo | Melvil | Short |
| 2018 | La belle et la belle | Marc | |
| 2018 | By the Grace of God | Alexandre Guérin | Nominated — César Award for Best Actor |
| 2018 | Les grands squelettes | | |
| 2018 | Insoupçonnable | Paul Brodsky | TV series (10 episodes) Nominated - ACS Award for Best Actor |
| 2019 | Golden Youth | Hubert Robert | |
| 2019 | J'accuse | Maître Labori | |
| 2020 | Summer of 85 | M. Lefèvre | |
| 2021–2022 | UFOs | Didier Mathure | TV series (24 episodes) ACS Award for Best Actor (2021) Nominated - ACS Award for Best Actor (2022) |
| 2022 | Brother and Sister | Louis | |
| 2022 | One Fine Morning | Clément | |
| 2023 | Jeanne du Barry | Le Comte du Barry | |
| 2023 | Just the Two of Us | Grégoire | |
| 2023 | Coup de chance | Jean | |

### As filmmaker

| Year | Title | Credited as | Credited as | Credited as | Notes |
| Year | Title | Director | Writer | Cinematographer | Notes |
| 1984 | Qui es-tu Johnny Mac ? | Yes | Yes | No | Short |
| 1985 | Ces jours où les remords font vraiment mal au cœur | Yes | Yes | No | Short |
| 1988 | 3 jours… | Yes | Yes | No | Short |
| 1994 | Boulevard Mac Donald | Yes | Yes | No | Short (also as composer) |
| 1999 | Quelque chose | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short |
| 2001 | Rémi | Yes | Yes | No | Short |
| 2003 | Pronobis | Yes | Yes | No | Short |
| 2004 | Qui a tué Johnny Mac ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short |
| 2006 | Melvil | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also as editor |