Daniel Auteuil

One of the most beloved French actors of his generation, Daniel Auteuil spent over ten years acting on stage and screen before his breakthrough role in Claude Berri's 1986 adaptations of Marcel Pagnol's Jean de Florette — for which he was awarded the Best Actor César — and Manon of the Spring. Since then, Auteuil has worked with internationally-acclaimed directors as varied as Claude Sautet (A Heart in Winter), Andre Techiné (My Favorite Season), Patrice Chereau (Queen Margot), Patrice Leconte (Girl on the Bridge, for which he won his second César) and Michael Haneke (Caché); he has been nominated for ten additional Césars, and he won the award for Best Actor at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival for his role in Jaco Van Dormael's The Eighth Day. The Well-Digger's Daughter, Auteuil's directorial debut, is the first in a series of planned Pagnol adaptations; his remakes of Marius and Franny (the first two parts of Pagnol's "Fanny Trilogy") are now in production in France.