# Niels Schneider

Niels Schneider (French:; born 18 June 1987) is a French-Canadian actor. He had his breakthrough role in Xavier Dolan's film I Killed My Mother (2009), and gained international recognition in Dolan's Heartbeats (2010). In 2011, he won the Trophée Chopard Award for Male Revelation of the Year at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2017, he won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his performance in Dark Inclusion (2016). In 2019, he was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. He has been living and working based in Paris for most of his career.

## Early life

Born in Paris,the second of five boys, he had an older brother and has three younger brothers. Schneider was 9 years old when his family moved to Montreal. He later became a naturalized citizen. He started his acting career doing voice-over jobs. His father, Jean-Paul Schneider, was an actor, and his mother, Isabelle Schneider, was a model. His paternal grandmother was a Russian Jewish immigrant to France, who came with her family as a child when they fled the Russian Revolution in 1920.
He has four brothers, including actors Aliocha, Volodiya, and Vassili Schneider. On 8 September 2003, their eldest brother, actor Vadim Schneider, and co-star Jaclyn Linetsky, both 17 years old, died as a result of a road accident while they were driving to the filming of an episode of 15/Love. Their minivan lost control and collided with oncoming traffic.

## Career

Schneider had his breakthrough role in Xavier Dolan's directorial debut film, I Killed My Mother (2009), and gained international recognition in Dolan's second feature film, Heartbeats (2010). In 2011, he won the Trophée Chopard Award for Male Revelation of the Year at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 2017, he won the César Award for Most Promising Actor for his performance in Dark Inclusion (2016).
In 2023, he starred in the television series Of Money and Blood, directed by Xavier Giannoli
His plays General Leclerc in a two-part biopic of Charles de Gaulle filmed in 2023 and 2024.

## Personal life

Schneider is an atheist.
Since 2017, Schneider has been in a relationship with actress Virginie Efira, with whom he co-starred in the films An Impossible Love (2018) and Sibyl (2019). Their first child, a son, was born on 28 August 2023. They live in the 11th arrondissement of Paris.
In 2019, Schneider was named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.
In June 2024, Schneider signed a petition addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron demanding France to officially recognize the State of Palestine.

## Filmography

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | The Taste of Nothingness | Ami de Julien | |
| 2008 | Everything Is Fine | Sasha | |
| 2009 | I Killed My Mother | Éric | |
| 2009 | Taking the Plunge 2 | Frère d'Anna | |
| 2009 | Les chroniques de l'autre | Louis | Short film |
| 2010 | Snow Hides the Shade of Fig Trees (La neige cache l'ombre des figuiers) | Sacha adulte | |
| 2010 | Heartbeats | Nicolas | |
| 2010 | Fatal | Le baveux en voiture | |
| 2010 | 2 Frogs in the West (2 Frogs dans l'Ouest) | Max | |
| 2011 | Bonne journée | Nick | Short film |
| 2011 | The Howling: Reborn | Roland | |
| 2011 | Un autre monde | Louis | TV film |
| 2011 | Val d'or | Théo | TV film |
| 2011 | Toy Soldier | Aubrey | Short film |
| 2012 | L'âge atomique | Theo | |
| 2012 | Clash | Raphaël | TV series |
| 2012 | Les ravissements | Etienne | |
| 2012 | Chaos | Thibaut | Nominated—Lumières Award for Best Male Revelation |
| 2013 | Nous irons ensemble | Lo | Short film |
| 2013 | You and the Night | Matthias | |
| 2013 | Opium | Maurice Sachs | |
| 2013 | Odysseus | Télémaque | TV series |
| 2013 | Libre et assoupi | | |
| 2014 | Quantum Love | Hugo | |
| 2014 | Métamorphose | Le Désenchanté / Le Monstre | |
| 2014 | Collisions | Henri | Short film |
| 2014 | Voice Over (La voz en off) | Antoine | |
| 2014 | Gemma Bovery | Hervé de Bressigny | |
| 2015 | The Art Dealer | Klaus | |
| 2016 | Dark Inclusion | Pier Ulmann | César Award for Most Promising Actor Nominated—Lumières Award for Best Male Revelation |
| 2016 | Polina | Adrien | |
| 2017 | Dalida | Jean Sobieski | |
| 2018 | The Black Book | Marquis Lusault | |
| 2018 | An Impossible Love | Philippe Arnold | |
| 2018 | The Most Assassinated Woman in the World | Jean | |
| 2019 | Curiosa | Pierre Louÿs | |
| 2019 | A Brother's Love | Alex | |
| 2019 | Sibyl | Gabriel | |
| 2019 | Back Home | Thomas Moreno | |
| 2019 | Sympathy for the Devil | Paul Marchand | |
| 2020 | Love Affair(s) | Maxime | |
| 2021 | Totems | Francis Mareuil | TV series |
| 2023 | Of Money and Blood | Jérôme Attias | TV series |
| 2023 | Coup de chance | Alain |
| Spirit of Ecstasy (Original title: La Vénus d'argent) | Aurélien |

## Decorations

* Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters (2019)