Vincent Cassel

London Academy of Media Film TV

Vincent Cassel was once quoted: “I am a little angry in life”. In Hollywood, given Cassel’s choice of tough, villainous, and often arrogant supporting acts, an American audience would be forgiven associating this sentiment with his ease of transition into these roles on the screen. In his native France however, Cassel is a highly recognised leading man bringing to life, with conviction, an array of characters in a multitude of differing films.

EARLY LIFE

Son of journalist Sabine Litique and famous French actor Jean-Pierre Cassel, Vincent Cassel was born in 1966 in Paris. Exposed to the art of acting in the environment he was raised in, Cassel decided at a very young age that this would be his profession. At 17, he joined circus school in experimentation of the art of performance, but also in part to avoid the acting world of his father, who advised Vincent not to get involved. However Cassel eventually decided this was the path for him and was pulled into the profession he would later be extremely successful and respected in. He also has a sister, Olivia, and a half sister, Cécile Cassel, who is an actress. His brother Mathias is a rapper with the group ‘Assassin’.

BREAKTHROUGH

Acting through the late 80s and early 90s in TV films, shorts and mini-series Cassels’ breakthrough role was in Matheiu Kassovitz’ La Hain (1995). His performance in the film as a troubled youth from the outskirts of Paris earned him a César nomination for best actor. Given that Cassel was raised in an upper class lifestyle, his ability to express the despair of social class suburban living in this gritty drama is all the more impressive.

CAREER

In 1998, Cassel made his English-language film debut as Duc d’Anjou in Elizabeth (1998). He would later go on to play many notable characters in international cinema including Kirill in David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (2007) and the arrogant but very charismatic rival thief of George Clooney in Ocean’s Twelve(2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007). This would also be a chance to demonstrate his love and skill in the art of the Brazilian dance fighting style of Capoeira.

He went on to act in a variety of films such as the moody mystery drama L’Appartment (1996) alongside his future wife, Monica Bellucci. Never shy to demonstrate his endless energy through his eclectic choice of roles, Cassel impressed immensely in Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible in 2002. Dealing with issues of rape, the film was highly controversial, examining the destructive nature of ‘cause and effect’’.

Other notable Cassel performances are as the young detective Max Kerkerian in The Crimson Rivers (2000) alongside Jean Reno and as Jean Francois in the genre-bending Le Pacte des Loups or as it was known on English screens: The Brotherhood of the Wolf (2001). In 2008 Cassel won the best actor César for his role as the infamous thief Jacques Mesrine in the two-part feature about Frances’ Public enemy No1, directed by Jean-Francois Richet.  More recently he can be found in Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed Black Swan (2010) as the intimidating ballet director Thomas Leroy, who uses his sexuality to direct Natalie Portman’s character in her pursuit of the perfect performace as the Black Swan.

Vincent Cassel

PERSONAL LIFE

Cassel loves break-dancing, rap and Brazil, which he travels to frequently, subsequently learning Portuguese. Vincent Cassel describes himself as “more vulnerable than people imagine”. A family man, he married actress Monica Bellucci on August 3rd, 1999, and they have two daughters together: Deva and Léonie.

Do you have a villainous side?– try acting today at London Academy

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