Early life and family

Cassel was born on 23 November 1966 in Paris, France, to Sabine Litique, and French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel (born Jean-Pierre Crochon). Cassel's brother, Mathias, is a rapper with the group Assassin under the name "Rockin' Squat". His half-sister, Cécile Cassel, is an actress.

Career

Cassel's breakthrough role was in Mathieu Kassovitz's critically acclaimed film La Haine where he played a troubled youth from the deprived outskirts of Paris. He has gone on to act in a variety of films such as the moody L'Appartement (with Monica Bellucci before they married), the violent Dobermann, the genre-bending Le Pacte des Loups (in English, Brotherhood of the Wolf), and the highly controversial Irréversible, where he appears fully nude (with Monica Bellucci after they married).

Cassel has also done a number of English-language films, such as Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, Derailed, Birthday Girl, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Elizabeth, Eastern Promises, and Shrek (as the voice of Monsieur Hood), and in the Portuguese-language, Brazilian film Adrift (À Deriva). In 2006, he appeared in Sheitan, in which he played a shepherd who carries out satanic rituals. In 2008, he appeared in two movies about Jacques Mesrine, who was France's "public enemy number one" in the seventies. Cassel received the 2009 Cesar award for best actor for his performance in Mesrine directed by Jean-Francois Richet.

An early appearance on British television was as Nicole's boyfriend in the 1994 Renault Clio advert which was used in the UK.

In October 2008, Cassel was signed to be the face of a new Yves Saint Laurent men's fragrance. The new fragrance, La Nuit de l'Homme, was launched worldwide in March 2009.

French film historian Tim Palmer describes Cassel as one of the most charismatic and idiosyncratic of all France's contemporary stars, working in both popular and more intellectual modes of cinema, typically playing characters that veer unpredictably between positive/alluring and negative/grotesque—often, in fact, within a single role and performance.

In 2009, he made his debut as a singer on Zap Mama's album ReCreation, singing alongside them on the singles "Paroles, Paroles" and "Non, Non, Non".

He played Thomas Leroy in Darren Aronofsky's critically acclaimed Black Swan (2010), alongside Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis. He will play Zumi in Rupert Sanders's samurai adventure fantasy film The Lost Sea Horizon, opposite Sandra Bullock and Fan Bingbing.

Personal life

Cassel met Italian actress Monica Bellucci on the set of their 1996 film The Apartment. They married in 1999, and have two daughters, Deva (born 12 September 2004) and Léonie (born 21 May 2010). Cassel and Bellucci announced their separation on 26 August 2013.

Cassel has a passion for the martial art of capoeira and displayed his talent in the movie Ocean's Twelve. He also trains in wing chun.

Besides his native French, Cassel speaks English, Portuguese, Italian and basic conversational Russian which he learned for his role in Eastern Promises.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	Métisse	Max
1995	Adultery: A User's Guide
1995	La Haine	Vinz	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor Nominated - César Award for Most Promising Actor
1995	Jefferson in Paris	Camille Desmoulins
1996	L'élève	Julien
1996	L'Appartement	Max
1997	Dobermann	Yann le Pentrec (Dobermann)
1997	Come mi vuoi	Pasquale
1998	Elizabeth	Duc d'Anjou
1999	Méditerranées	Pitou
1999	The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc	Gilles de Rais
1999	Guest House Paradiso	Gino Bolognese
2000	Crimson Rivers	Max Kerkerian
2001	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Jean-François de Morangias
2001	Shrek	Monsieur Hood	Voice only
2001	Birthday Girl	Alexei
2001	Sur mes lèvres	Paul	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor
2002	Ice Age	Diego	Voice only (French-language version)
2002	Irréversible	Marcus	Also co-producer
2003	The Reckoning	Lord De Guise
2004	Blueberry	Mike S. Blueberry
2004	Secret Agents	Brisseau
2004	Ocean's Twelve	François Toulour
2005	Derailed	LaRoche
2006	Sheitan	Joseph	Also producer
2007	Ocean's Thirteen	François Toulour
2007	Eastern Promises	Kirill
2007	Sa Majesté Minor	Satyre
2008	Mesrine	Jacques Mesrine	César Award for Best Actor Lumières Award for Best Actor Étoiles d'Or Award for Best Actor Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2009	Lascars	Tony Merguez	Voice only
2009	Adrift (À Deriva)	Matias
2010	Our Day Will Come	Patrick	Also producer
2010	Black Swan	Thomas Leroy	Nominated - Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2011	The Monk	Capucino Ambrosio
2011	A Dangerous Method	Otto Gross
2013	Trance	Franck
2014	Rio, I Love You	Zé
2014	Beauty and the Beast	The Beast / The Prince
2015	Child 44	Major Kuzmin
2015	Partisan	Gregori
2015	Tale of Tales	King of Strongcliff
2015	Mon roi	Georgio	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor
2015	One Wild Moment	Laurent
2015	The Little Prince	The Fox	French voice
2015	Violence en réunion	Vince	Short film
2016	It's Only the End of the World	Antoine
2016	Jason Bourne		Filming
2016	A Movie Life	Tony's father
2016	The Great Mystical Circus	Jean-Paul

[ Source: Wikipedia ]