Born December 27, 1948, in the small country town of Chateauroux in central France, GÉRARD DEPARDIEU is one of the world's most respected and well-known actors.   He has been in 114 films (and counting), including seven in the year 2000.  He has starred in French, British, American, Italian and German productions, and has been called "France's gift to world cinema," "the French De Niro," and the "Gallic giant."

The third of six children of a poor sheet metal worker, Depardieu left school at age twelve and had a troubled youth, the details of which ended up in part in the film Green Card.  He was a petty delinquent, ran away from home and lived with prostitutes.  By chance he ran across a friend training at the Theatre Nationale Populaire (TNP) in Paris.  He tagged along, showed promise, and was offered a position there sans tuition.  He's been acting ever since.

Depardieu has worked in the theater, starring in over 15 plays, including works by Marguerite Duras, Peter Hanke, David Storey, Israel Horowitz, Moliere and Natalie Sarraute, and others.  But it's his motion picture career which is his greatest legacy.

Gérard, 1958, age 10