Vincent Cassel

Vincent Cassel began his career in France in 1988 starting out with small roles on television and in film. In 1995, he made his mark in Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed film La Haine, where he played a troubled youth from the deprived outskirts of Paris. For his performance, Cassel received his first César Award nominations for Best Actor and Most Promising Newcomer. In 2013, Cassel has been starring in Dominik Moll’s The Monk, an 18th century-set story based on Matthew Lewis’ Gothic novel depicting the rise and tragic downfall of Capucin Ambrosio, a respected Spanish monk. As well, co-starring in Danny Boyle’s much anticipated art heist thriller, Trance, opposite James McAvoy and Rosario Dawson. In 2010, Cassel was seen in Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan, which received a Best Picture Academy Award®, Golden Globe®, Critic’s Choice Award and Independent Spirit Awards nominations as well as Best Ensemble Cast-Screen Actors Guild nomination. Prior to Black Swan, Cassel starred in Jean-Francois Richet’s Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 and Mesrine : Killer Instinct. The two-part films tell the true story of Jacques Mesrine, who became France’s most notorious felon throughout the 1970’s. Arch-fiend to some and folk hero to others, Mesrine’s illegal career spanned nearly two decades of brazen bank robberies, prison breaks, and ingenious identity changes. Critically acclaimed worldwide, the film was a commercial success in France, garnering the country’s highest honor in film, ten César Award nominations and winning the awards for Best Actor and Best Director. For his performance, Cassel went on to receive Best Actor honors at the Lumiere Awards, the Etoile D’Or and the Tokyo International Film Festival. Following this breakthrough performance, Cassel appeared in over thirty-five films in both France and the United States. Notable film credits in France include Gilles Mimouni’s L’Appartement, Gaspar Noe’s Irréversible, Jan Kounen’s Dobermann, and Jacques Audiard’s Sur Mes Lèvres, for which he received his third César Award nomination. Cassel has appeared in various English-language films such as James Ivory’s Jefferson In Paris, Shekhar Kapur’s Elizabeth, Luc Besson’s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Mathieu Kassovitz’s The Crimson Rivers, Christophe Gans’ The Brotherhood of the Wolf, Paul McGuigan’s The Reckoning, Andrew Adamson’s Shrek, Jan Kounen’s Renegade, Mikael Håfström’s Derailed, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises and A Dangerous Method. Cassel also co-starred in Stephen Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Twelve for which he later reprised the role in Ocean’s Thirteen.