Life and career

Trintignant was born in Piolenc, Vaucluse, France, the son of Claire (née Tourtin) and Raoul Trintignant, an industrialist. At the age of twenty, Trintignant moved to Paris to study drama, and made his theatrical debut in 1951 going on to be seen as one of the most gifted French actors of the post-war era. After touring in the early 1950s in several theater productions, his first motion picture appearance came in 1955 and the following year he gained stardom with his performance opposite Brigitte Bardot in Roger Vadim's And God Created Woman.

Trintignant’s acting was interrupted for several years by mandatory military service. After serving in Algiers, he returned to Paris and resumed his work in film. He had the leading male role in the classic A Man and a Woman, which at the time was the most successful French film ever screened in the foreign market.

In Italy, he was always dubbed into Italian, and his work stretched into collaborations with renowned Italian directors, including Sergio Corbucci in The Great Silence, Valerio Zurlini in Violent Summer and The Desert of the Tartars, Ettore Scola in La terrazza, Bernardo Bertolucci in The Conformist, and Dino Risi in the cult film The Easy Life.

Throughout the 1970s, Trintignant starred in numerous films and in 1983 he made his first English language feature film, Under Fire. Following this, he starred in François Truffaut's final film, Confidentially Yours, and reprised his best-known role in the sequel A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later.

In 1994, he starred in Krzysztof Kieślowski's last film, Three Colors: Red.

Though he takes an occasional film role, he has, as of late, been focusing essentially on his stage work.

After a 14-year gap, Trintignant came back on screen for Michael Haneke's film Amour. Haneke had sent Trintignant the script, which had been written specifically for him. Trintignant said that he chooses which films he works in on the basis of the director, and said of Haneke that "he has the most complete mastery of the cinematic discipline, from technical aspects like sound and photography to the way he handles actors".

Personal life

Trintignant comes from a wealthy family. He is the nephew of race car driver, Louis Trintignant, who was killed in 1933 while practicing on the Péronne racetrack in Picardy. Another uncle, Maurice Trintignant (1917-2005), was a Formula One driver who twice won the Monaco Grand Prix as well as the 24 hours of Le Mans. Raised in and around automobile racing, Jean-Louis Trintignant was the natural choice of film director Claude Lelouch for the starring role of race car driver in the 1966 film, A Man and a Woman. He suffered a leg injury from a motorcycle accident in June 2007.

His first wife was actress Stéphane Audran. His second wife, Nadine Marquand, was also an actress as well as a screenwriter and director. They had three children: Vincent Trintignant, Pauline (who died of crib death in 1969) and Marie Trintignant (21 January 1962 - 1 August 2003). At the age of 17, Marie performed in La terrazza alongside her father and later became a successful actress in her own right. She was killed at the age of 41 by her boyfriend, singer Bertrand Cantat, in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Trintignant is good friends with Anouk Aimée. It was he who recommended Aimée to film director Claude Lelouch for the female lead in A Man and a Woman.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1955	If All the Guys in the World	Jean-Louis	Christian-Jaque
1956	La Loi des rues	Yves Tréguier	Ralph Habib
	And God Created Woman	Michel Tardieu	Roger Vadim
	Club de femmes (fr)	Michel	Ralph Habib
1959	Les liaisons dangereuses	Danceny	Roger Vadim
	Violent Summer	Carlo Caremoli	Valerio Zurlini
1960	Austerlitz	Ségur junior	Abel Gance
1961	Pleins feux sur l'assassin (fr)	Jean-Marie de Kerloguen	Georges Franju
	L'Atlantide (fr)	Pierre	Edgar G. Ulmer
1962	Horace 62 (fr)	Joseph Fabiani	André Versini (fr)
	Le Combat dans l'île (fr)	Clément Lesser	Alain Cavalier
	Il Sorpasso	Roberto Mariani	Dino Risi
1963	Château en Suède (fr)	Éric	Roger Vadim
1964	Mata Hari, Agent H21	François Lasalle	Jean-Louis Richard
1965	The Sleeping Car Murders	Éric Grandin	Costa Gavras
1966	A Man and a Woman	Jean-Louis Duroc	Claude Lelouch
	Diamond Safari	Raphaële Vincente	Michel Drach
	La Longue Marche (fr)	Philippe	Alexandre Astruc
	Trans-Europ-Express	Elias	Alain Robbe-Grillet
1967	Un homme à abattre (fr)	Raphaël	Philippe Condroyer (fr)
	Col cuore in gola	Bernard	Tinto Brass
	My Love, My Love	Vincent Falaise	Nadine Trintignant
1968	La morte ha fatto l'uovo	Marco	Giulio Questi
	Les Biches	Paul Thomas	Claude Chabrol
	The Man Who Lies	Jan Robin / Boris Varissa	Alain Robbe-Grillet	Berlin Film Festival — Silver Bear for Best Actor
	The Great Silence	Silence	Sergio Corbucci
	The Libertine	Carlo De Marchi	Pasquale Festa Campanile
1969	Z	Christos Sartzetakis	Costa Gavras	Cannes Film Festival Best Actor
	Metti, una sera a cena	Michele	Giuseppe Patroni Griffi
	My Night at Maud's	Jean-Louis	Éric Rohmer
	L'Américain (fr)	Bruno	Marcel Bozzuffi
	So Sweet... So Perverse	Jean Reynaud	Umberto Lenzi
1970	The Conformist	Marcello Clerici	Bernardo Bertolucci
	Le Voyou	Simon Duroc	Claude Lelouch
1971	Ramparts of Clay	the entrepreneur	Jean-Louis Bertucelli
	L'Opium et le Bâton	Chaudier	Ahmed Rachedi
	Without Apparent Motive	Stéphane Carella	Philippe Labro
1972	...and Hope to Die (fr)	Antoine Cardot	René Clément
	Plot	François Darien	Yves Boisset
	The Outside Man	Lucien Bellon	Jacques Deray
1973	The Train	Julien Maroyeur	Pierre Granier-Deferre
1974	Violins at the Ball	Michel	Michel Drach
	Successive Slidings of Pleasure	the police officer	Alain Robbe-Grillet
	Le Mouton enragé (fr)	Nicolas Mallet	Michel Deville
	The Secret	David Daguerre	Robert Enrico
1975	L'Agression (fr)	Paul Varlin	Gérard Pirès
	Flic Story	Émile Buisson	Jacques Deray
	Il pleut sur Santiago (fr)	Senator	Helvio Soto (es)
	The Sunday Woman	Massimo Campi	Luigi Comencini
1976	The Desert of the Tartars	Rovin	Valerio Zurlini
1977	The Passengers	Alex Moineau	Serge Leroy
	Repérages	Victor	Michel Soutter
1978	L'Argent des autres	Henri Rainier	Christian de Chalonge
1980	The Lady Banker	Horace Vannister	Francis Girod
	La terrazza	Enrico D'Orsi	Ettore Scola
	Je vous aime	Julien	Claude Berri
1981	Un assassin qui passe (fr)	Ravic	Michel Vianey (fr)
	Passion of Love	the doctor	Ettore Scola
	Malevil	Fulbert	Christian de Chalonge
	Eaux profondes	Vic Allen	Michel Deville
1982	Le Grand Pardon (fr)	Commissaire Duché	Alexandre Arcady
	Boulevard des assassins (fr)	Daniel Salmon	Boramy Tioulong (fr)
	Blow to the Heart	Dario	Gianni Amelio
1983	Confidentially Yours	Julien Vercel	François Truffaut
	La Crime (fr)	Christian Lacassagne	Philippe Labro
	Under Fire	Marcel Jazy	Roger Spottiswoode
1984	Viva la vie!	François Gaucher	Claude Lelouch
1985	Next Summer	Paul	Nadine Trintignant
	Partir, revenir	Roland Rivière	Claude Lelouch
	Rendez-vous	Scrutzler	André Téchiné
	L'Homme aux yeux d'argent (fr)	Mayene	Pierre Granier-Deferre
1986	A Man and a Woman: 20 Years Later	Jean-Louis Duroc	Claude Lelouch
	La Femme de ma vie	Pierre	Régis Wargnier	Nominated — César Award for Best Supporting Actor
1987	La vallée fantôme	Paul	Alain Tanner
1989	Bunker Palace Hôtel	Holm	Enki Bilal
1991	Merci la vie	SS officier	Bertrand Blier
1994	Three Colors: Red	Joseph Kern	Krzysztof Kieślowski	Nominated — César Award for Best Actor
1995	The City of Lost Children	L'oncle Irvin	Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro	Voice Only
	Fiesta (fr)	Colonel Masagual	Pierre Boutron (fr)	Nominated — César Award for Best Actor
1996	A Self Made Hero	Albert Dehousse (the matured one)	Jacques Audiard
1998	Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train	Lucien Emmerich / Jean-Baptiste Emmerich	Patrice Chéreau	Nominated — César Award for Best Supporting Actor
2003	Janis et John (fr)	Monsieur Cannon	Samuel Benchetrit
2012	Amour	Georges	Michael Haneke	César Award for Best Actor European Film Award for Best Actor Lumières Award for Best Actor Nominated—International Cinephile Society Award for Best Actor Nominated—London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year
2017	Happy End		Michael Haneke

Awards

• 1968- Silver Bear for Best Actor for The Man Who Lies
• 1969- Cannes Award for Best Actor for Z
• 1972- David di Donatello - Special Award
• 2012 - European Film Awards - Best Actor for Amour
• 2013 - César Award - Best Actor for Amour

Trintignant was nominated to receive the César five times: in 1987, 1995, 1996, 1999, and in 2013.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]