Guillaume Canet

Born on April 10, 1973 in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Guillaume Canet is part of a family of horse breeders. He himself tried to become a show jockey, but a fall from his horse forced him to abandon this dream. Determined to become an actor, he enrolled at the Cours Florent drama school. In 1994 he appeared in a famous Parisian theater interpreting “The city where the prince is a child”, by Henry de Montherlant.

He made many telefilms and the short Fils unique , before making his debut in the thriller Barracuda . He was a hitchhiker in Those Who Love Me Will Catch the Train , before playing a tourist in Thailand who decides with his girlfriend to accompany Leonardo DiCaprio , in The Beach . He was also the biographer of the protagonist, Gérard Depardieu , in Vidocq , a cook in Together, Nothing More , and the man he loved in the past, the character of Keira Knightley , in Last Night .

After spending two years dating the German actress and model Diane Kruger , he married her in 2001. Kruger starred under Canet’s direction in the film Mon idole , his directorial debut (for the second, Ne le dis à personne , he won the César for Best Director). Canet and Kruger were part of the cast of Merry Christmas , which recreated the true story of the cessation of hostilities on Christmas Eve, during World War I.

But the marriage failed. “We were always apart shooting in different parts of the world,” says Kruger. After the split, Canet began dating Marion Cotillard , his co-star from Love Me If You Dare . Together they would appear on the screen again in The Last Flight , and in addition, Cotillard was one of the protagonists of his film as director Small Lies Without Importance , about a group that spends a few days off, despite the fact that one of their friends remains hospitalized after suffering a serious accident. Canet had a son with Cotillard, whom they have named Marcel, on May 20, 2011.