Vincent Cassel Biography

VINCENT CASSEL

Date of Birth: November 23, 1966

Born in Paris, France, Cassel is the son of legendary French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, who made a career out of playing seductive bourgeois men. Since both his parents objected to the idea that he become an actor like his father, Cassel went to circus school at the age of 17 and spent the next few years avoiding acting.

By the late '80s however, he took up the art when he landed a small role in Les Cigognes n'en font qu'à leur tête (1989) followed by Les Clés du paradis (1991). Two years later, Cassel joined forces with actor/director Mathieu Kassovitz (whom he had first met in theater school) in the first of many films Metisse (1993). His collaboration with Kassovitz would prove fruitful as with each film they did together, Cassel became more and more popular.

After completing his first English-speaking film, Jefferson in Paris (1995), he starred in the romantic comedy L'Appartment (1996) where he first met and played opposite his future wife, Italian actress Monica Bellucci.

Continuing his rise in popularity, Cassel worked on popular English and French-speaking films such as Elizabeth (1998) as the Queen's potential husband, Duc d'Anjou; The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999); Les Riviéres pourpres (2000); The Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001) playing Jean-François de Morangias; and Ocean's Twelve (2004). In 2009, he won a César award as Best Actor for his work in Public Enemy No. 1. In 2011, he played the role of the frisky ballet teacher in the Oscar-nominated film Black Swan. Cassel also stars in the Freud film A Dangerous Method (2012). More recently, he was seen in Jason Bourne (2016) and playing the title role in Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti (2018).

Cassel was married to Monica Bellucci from August 1999 to August 2013. They have two children together.

Filmography:

Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti (2018)
The Great Mystical Circus (2018)
Black Tide (2018)
The World is Yours (2018)
The Movie of My Life (2017)
It's Only the End of the World (2016)
Jason Bourne (2016)
Le Petit Prince (2016)
Child 44 (2015)
Partisan (2015)
Rio, I Love You (2014)
La Belle et la Bête (2014)
Trance (2013)
A Dangerous Method (2011)
Le moine (2011)
Notre jour viendra (2010)
Black Swan (2010)
A Deriva (2009)
L’ennemi public no 1 (2008)
L’instinct de mort (2008)
Eastern Promises (2007)
Sa Majesté Minor (2007)
Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
Derailed (2005)
Ocean’s Twelve (2004)
Agents secrets (2004)
Blueberry (2004)
The Reckoning (2003)
Nadia (2003)
Irréversible (2002)
Sur mes lèvres (2001)
Birthday Girl (2001)
Shrek (2001) (voice)
Le pacte des loups (2001)
Féroce (2000)
Les rivières pourpres (2000)
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
Méditerranées (1998)
Elizabeth (1998)
Le plaisir (et ses petits tracas) (1998)
Dobermann (1997)
Come mi vuoi (1996)
L'appartement (1996)
L'élève (1996)
Blood of the Hunter (1995)
La haine (1995)
Adultère (mode d'emploi) (1995)
Jefferson in Paris (1995)
Ainsi soient-elles (1995)
3000 scénarios contre un virus (1994)
Métisse (1993)
Amour et chocolat (1992)
Les clés du paradis (1991)
Les cigognes n'en font qu’à leur tête (1989)