Celebrity Biographies
Dominique Pinon
A favorite actor for Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Dominique Pinon has a particular physique that he has been able to exploit to portray bizarre and unconventional characters. His face looks like rubber because he is capable of putting on the most outlandish faces.
Born in Saumur (France) on March 4, 1955, he began offering himself to numerous young filmmakers for their shorts. His first feature was the thriller La Diva , where he briefly appeared as a priest, and shortly after he was one of Gérard Depardieu ‘s neighbors , in The Return of Martin Guerre . He also appeared briefly in Roman Polanski ‘s Frenético , opposite Harrison Ford .
Among his first roles, the old acquaintance of the protagonist who asks him for money to avoid jail stands out, in The Legend of the Holy Drinker , by Ermanno Olmi . Furthermore, since the 1980s, Pinon has lavished himself on the theater, with great success.
Dominique Pinon seemed destined to play supporting roles all his life until in 1991 he was chosen by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro to play the lead, a circus performer who moves into a suspicious building in a Delicatessen . His singular appearance suited the surreal atmosphere of the film.
Since he proved to be ideal for the filmmakers’ quirky characters, he was re-recruited by the two to play the clones in City of Lost Children . Under Jeunet alone, he was a wheelchair-bound mercenary in Alien Resurrection , and did memorable work as the jealous ex-boyfriend of a waitress, who spends all day spying on her at the bar, in Amelie . Of course, Jeunet is unable to clap the clapperboard without him, as if his absence would bring him bad luck, making him the uncle of Audrey Tautou ‘s character in Long Engagement and Fracasse, the guy obsessed with beating. the man cannonball record, at Micmacs .
For her part, Caro also recruited Pinon for her unsuccessful solo debut, the futuristic film Dante 01 .
Outside of the particular universe of these filmmakers, Pinon’s career has not shined in the same way. Sometimes directors clearly influenced by Jeunet’s aesthetics have chosen him, such as Javier Fesser , who gave him the role of super agent Fredy Mazas, in The Great Adventure of Mortadelo and Filemón , or the brothers Esteban and José Miguel Ibarretxe , who played him out. of the army in Sabotage! , failed comedy in times of Napoleon. Other Spaniards have given him roles, such as Álex de la Iglesia , in The Oxford Murders , and Madrid’s Grojo, in La luna en botella .