* 1952, Frankrijk

This French actor-writer-regisseur's international reputation grew steadily in the 1990s, particularly after the release of GROSSE FATIGUE (1994), a comedy about a leading actor whose life is turned macabre when a look-a-like wreaks havoc. Key to the twist in the film was that "auteur" Michel Blanc used real actors and personalities, such as Charlotte Gainsbourg and Roman Polanski, portraying themselves, yet in scripted roles. The film won Blanc the Best Screenplay award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Like many actors of the past 20 years, in France, Hollywood and elsewhere, Michel Blanc might not have been considered "movie star" material in the Golden Age of the 1930s. Not handsome, bald and diminutive, he has nevertheless become one of France's leading screen stars, and occasionally appears in English-language films as well. Starting out with an acting troupe called "Le Splendide," which he helped to found, Blanc was in motion pictures by the time he was 23, including LA MEILLEURE FACON DE MARCHER/THE BEST WAY TO WALK, a 1975 film in which a teen at a summer camp is toughened up by his camp counselor. Blanc worked steadily after that, including roles in Polanski's THE TENANT (1976) and L'ADOLESCENTE (1979), directed by Jeanne Moreau.

By the '80s, he was writing screenplays in which he could star. His first two scripts were directed by Patrice Leconte: VIENS CHEZ MOI, J'HABITE CHEZ UNE COPINE/COME TO MY PLACE, I'M LIVING AT MY GIRL-FRIEND'S (1980), in which Blanc played a self-centered womanizer whose temporary move to a friend's apartment becomes permanent, and MA FEMME S'APPELLE REVIENS/SINGLES (1982) about neighbors who discover they make better friends than lovers. Two years later, he made his regisseurial debut with MARCHE A L'OMBRE/WALK IN THE SHADOW, a fluffy buddy picture. While a household face as a light comedian in France by the mid-'80s, Blanc had yet to flex his dramatic acting muscle. That came with MENAGE (1986), in which he was a weak-willed husband drawn into a gay liaison by Gerard Depardieu. His performance won the Best Actor honors at the Cannes Film Festival. Three years later, Blanc was again the toast of the French film industry with the release of MONSIEUR HIRE, a thriller in which he played a lonely tailor obsessively watching a woman through his window. It was also in 1989 that Blanc had some exposure to American audiences—besides those who seek out foreign films—as the Hotel Manager in STRIKE IT RICH, a Molly Ringwald comedy. In 1991, he was Alonso, under the tutelage of John Gielgud in Peter Greenaway's PROSPERO'S BOOKS, a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

He subsequently appeared as an assistant prefect to police, smelling something amiss, in Robert Altman's READY TO WEAR (PRÊT-À-PORTER) (1994).

Despite appearances in English language films, Blanc had not left France for the lure of international films, as GROSSE FATIGUE (also 1994) attested. In this comedy, written and directed by Blanc, he was a popular French comic actor whose reputation is threatened by a lookalike imposter. Part of the joke of the film is seeing known actors (like Philippe Noiret, Carole Bouquet and Charlotte Gainsbourg) play scripted versions of themselves. He also appeared in Roberto Benigni's THE MONSTER (1996)/IL MOSTRO (filmed in 1994) as a criminal psychiatrist on the trail of a serial killer.

On the heels of the success of GROSSE FATIGUE, Blanc spent much of 1995 appearing on stage as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice in Nantes, followed by Art, a comedy by Yasmina Reza, in Paris.

Filmania

1974   LET JOY REIGN SUPREME/QUE LA FÊTE COMMENCE       

1975   ATTENTION LES YEUX/WATCH OUT FOR THE EYES       

1975   THE BEST WAY TO WALK/LA MEILLEURE FAÇON DE MARCHER   

1975   JE T'AIME MOI NON PLUS/I LOVE YOU ME NO LONGER    

1976   ON AURA TOUT VU/WE'VE SEEN EVERYTHING     

1976   THE TENANT/LE LOCATAIRE

1977   LE DIABLE DANS LA BOÎTE/THE DEVIL IN THE BOX        

1977   LE POINT DE MIRE/FOCAL POINT   

1977   SPOILED CHILDREN/DES ENFANTS GÂTÉS 

1977   VOUS N'AUREZ PAS L'ALSACE ET LA LORRAINE / YOU WON'T HAVE ALSACE-LORRAINE     

1978   LE BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU EST ARRIVE / THE NEW BEAUJOLAIS WINE HAS ARRIVED       

1978   LES BRONZES/THE SUNTANNED ONES      

1978   LES HÉROS N'ONT PAS FROID AUX OREILLES / HEROES ARE NOT WET BEHIND THE EARS     

1978   LIKE A TURTLE ON ITS BACK/LA TORTUE SUR LE DOS    

1979   THE HORSE OF PRIDE/LE CHEVAL D'ORGUEIL       

1979   L'ADOLESCENTE/THE ADOLESCENT

1979   LA GUEULE DE L'AUTRE/THE OTHER ONE'S MUG   

1979   LES BRONZES FONT DU SKI

1979   RIEN NE VA PLUS/OUT OF WHACK 

1980   THE BEST WAY       

1980   VIENS CHEZ MOI J'HABITE CHEZ UNE COPINE / COME TO MY PLACE, I'M LIVING AT MY GIRL-FRIEND'S                                                                         screenplay,

1982   MA FEMME S'APPELLE REVIENS/SINGLES                      screenplay,

1983   CIRCULEZ Y'A RIEN À VOIR/MOVE ALONG, THERE'S NOTHING TO SEE

1983   NEMO 

1983   PAPY FAIT DE LA RÉSISTANCE      

1983   RETENEZ MOI… OU JE FAIS UN MALHEUR/TO CATCH A COP      

1984   LES SPECIALISTES   screenplay

1984   MARCHE A L'OMBRE/WALK IN THE SHADOW     regisseur, screenplay,

1985   DROLE DE SAMEDI/SATURDAY, SATURDAY

1986   I HATE ACTORS/JE HAIS LES ACTEURS    

1986   LES FUGITIFS/THE FUGITIVES      

1986   MENAGE/TENUE DE SOIRÉE/EVENING DRESS       

1988   SANS PEUR ET SANS REPROCHE    

1988   THE STORY OF WOMEN/UNE AFFAIRE DE FEMMES        

1988   UNE NUIT À L'ASSEMBLÉE NATIONALE / A NIGHT AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY    

1989   CHAMBRE À PART    

1989   MONSIEUR HIRE      

1990   STRIKE IT RICH       

1991   THE FAVOR, THE WATCH, AND THE VERY BIG FISH       

1991   LES SECRETS PROFESSIONNELS DU DOCTEUR APFELGLUCK      

1991   MERCI, LA VIE/THANK YOU, LIFE   

1991   PROSPERO'S BOOKS 

1991   URANUS       

1993   TOXIC AFFAIR        

1994   GROSSE FATIGUE/DEAD TIRED       regisseur, screenwriter,

1994   THE MONSTER                            screenplay,

1994   READY TO WEAR (PRÊT-À-PORTER)