Vincent Perez
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
A stunningly handsome French actor, Perez quickly won leading roles in his native land in the 1980s and branched out to international work in the 90s. With his sensuous, slightly pouty lips, strong gaze and cleanly sculpted features, Perez has won considerable heartthrob status among French audiences and devotees of the international art-house circuit. So far, he has specialized in soulful, impetuous and idealistic types caught up in the grand romantic sweep of glossy dramas, often period pieces. To his credit, Perez has been able to combine the melodramatic dash the roles require with a more introspective side needed to flesh out his characterizations.
Perez made his film debut in a prominent supporting role in the beguiling comedy-drama, "Gardien de la nuit/Night Guardian" (1985). He spent a good deal of his time in 1987 and 1988 acting in the French theater, testing his range and prowess in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov and Heinrich von Kleist. Perez first played a romantic lead in films opposite Jacqueline Bisset in the rather routine "La Maison de jade/House of Jade" (1988). As would occur in several later roles, he was cast in romantic situations opposite older women, inviting the perhaps inevitable critical brickbat that he would be limited to moody "puppy dog" types who eventually reject attractive middle-aged women.
"Cyrano de Bergerac" (1990) gave its attention to Gerard Depardieu in the title role, but Perez did well as Christian, the callow youth for whom the unhandsome hero pens love letters. Perez had now appeared in a popular international film, and he began appearing in international co-productions with that year's "The Voyage of Captain Fracassa," playing the title role. "Indochine" (1992), set amid the turbulence between the French and the Vietnamese in 1930, gave him one of his best roles to date, as the love object torn between a French stepmother and her Asian daughter. The epic tragedy of the young couple's eventual fate in the film was amplified for Perez in a still larger role for the ascendant actor, as he dashingly portrayed the noble "La Mole" in the 16th century period drama "Queen Margot/La Reine Margot" (1994). Continuing in smaller productions along the way, Perez had caught the attention of Hollywood and 1996 marked the release of his first two American efforts: "Talk of Angels," a small scale period romance set in 1920s Spain; and his bigger-budget presentation to the mainstream US public via "The Crow: City of Angels," the inevitable sequel to the tragic Brandon Lee's hit film from two years earlier.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Life Events
1985
Earliest feature film appearances included a role in "Gardien de la nuit/Night Guardian"
1988
First leading role in a feature, "La maison de jade/House of Jade", opposite Jacqueline Bisset
1990
First international co-production, "The Voyage of Captain Fracassa", a French-Italian co-production, in which he played the title role
1990
First film to get a major art-house release in the USA, "Cyrano de Bergerac", starring Gerard Depardieu in the title role
1992
Directed a short film, "L'Echange"
1994
Had featured role in Patrice Chereau's "La reine Margot/Queen Margot"
1996
First American film, "The Crow: City of Angels" (shot in 1995)
1998
Reteamed with Chereau to portray a transsexual in "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train"
1998
US TV acting debut, the HBO movie "Shot Through the Heart"
1999
Made second short "Rein dire", written by Karine Sylla
1999
Co-starred in "Time Regained", Raul Ruiz's adaptation of Proust's "A la recherche du temps perdu"
2000
Portrayed French philosopher Diederot in "Le Libertin"
2000
Starred opposite Kim Basinger in "I Dreamed of Africa"
2001
Portrayed noted painter Oskar Kokoschka in the biopic of Alma Mahler, "Bride of the Wind"
2002
Feature directorial debut, "Peau d'ange"; also co-wrote screenplay with wife Karine Sylla and Jerome Tonnere
2002
Cast as the centuries old vampire Marius in "Queen of the Damned"
Family
Companions
