French actor, director and film-maker Daniel Auteuil was born in Algiers, Algeria, on January 24, 1950. The son of opera singers, he grew up in Avignon, but regularly followed his parents on tour. The stage naturally attracted him. He expressed himself in theater, enrolling at the Cours Florent in Paris. After a stint on television, he made his film debut in the shadow of Jean-Louis Trintignant and Catherine Deneuve in L'Agression in 1975. His first major role came in Claude Zidi's 1980 comedy Les Sous-Doués . After a few comic roles, he delivered his first outstanding dramatic performance in the diptych Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources, based on Marcel Pagnol, alongside Gérard Depardieu and Yves Montand in 1986. This role won him the César for Best Actor. Ten years later, he won another award at the Cannes Film Festival, alongside Pascal Duquenne, for his performance in Le Huitième Jour. He subsequently alternated between dramatic films, such as Michel Haneke's Caché in 2005, and comedies, such as Le Placard in 2002. Alongside his film career, which made him one of France's most popular actors, he also tried his hand at music, releasing two singles in 1985: "Que la vie me pardonne" and "T'es pas la femme du boulanger" . This single was the theme song for the film L'Amour en douce , in which he co-starred with Emmanuelle Béart. He then released "Où elle est", with "Tu m'as largué Florence" on the B side. Late in life, in 2021, he returned to song, drawing on the arranging skills of Gaëtan Roussel, with whom he recorded the album Si Vous M'Aviez Connu . The following year, he presented it on a tour called Déjeuner en l'air . In 2023, he repeated the experience with the album Si Tu As Peur, N'Aie Pas Peur de l'Amour, on which he reunited with Gaëtan Roussel.
