Famous French Directors

Luc Besson is a French film director, producer, and screenwriter. He started working in the film industry as an assistant to famous directors and learned the nuances of direction. He then moved on to direct films and launched his own production company. He is considered a key figure in the Cinéma du look movement. 

The Paris-born French-Swiss director and screenwriter had the reputation of adding new dimensions to filmmaking with his experimentation, a trend which came to be known as the French New Wave. The director of acclaimed films like Breathless, My Life to Live and Pierrot le Fou, Jean-Luc Godard was married to actress Anna Karina. He is regarded as an all-time great director.

Jacques Cousteau was a French explorer, naval officer, filmmaker, conservationist, scientist, photographer, researcher, and author. Renowned for his exploration of various forms of life in water, Jacques Cousteau is credited with pioneering marine conservation and co-developing the Aqua-Lung, the first underwater breathing apparatus to achieve popularity and commercial success.

François Truffaut was a French film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He is credited to be one of the founders of the French New Wave. Beginning his career in the mid-1950s, he was active in the entertainment industry for close to three decades. His film The 400 Blows is considered a defining film of the French New Wave movement. 

Alain Delon is a French actor, screenwriter, singer, filmmaker, and businessman. One of the most prominent actors and sex symbols in Europe during the 1960s and 1970s, Delon achieved critical acclaim for his performance in films like Rocco and His Brothers. In 1985, he was honored with the prestigious César Award for his portrayal of Robert Avranches in Our Story.

A lifelong fan of horror books and movies, especially of Stephen King, three-time Oscar nominated film director and screenwriter Frank Darabont decided to take up film making as his profession after seeing THX 1138. Beginning his career with screenwriting, he debuted as director with Buried Alive, eventually making such magnificent films like Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile and The Mist.

Chilean-French filmmaker and artist, Alejandro Jodorowsky, is best known for his avant-garde films. A multifaceted personality, he is also a novelist, poet, musician, composer, and spiritual guru. His films are filled with surreal images and mysticism. A much-revered figure in international cinema, he is the recipient of the Jack Smith Lifetime Achievement Award from the Chicago Underground Film Festival (CUFF).

After his mother’s death, Kayden Boche was placed in a foster home, where he suffered abuse. The French model was scouted soon after high school and became a sensation after his Dior Addict campaigns for Christian Dior fragrances. He has also directed Jérémy Amelin's single Oh, Oh!

Initially a professional illusionist and later a film director, Georges Méliès became interested in motion pictures after watching the first real film made by Lumière brothers. Realizing the potential of film-making as an art, he soon started experimenting, making technical and narrative developments. Among the 400 films he made were Christ Walking on Water, A Trip to the Moon etc

Jean Renoir was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. The son of the prominent painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean was one of the first filmmakers to be known as an auteur. He started working during the silent film era and made more than 40 silent films. In 1975, he received a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award.

Born into a family of horse breeders, actor, director and screenwriter Guillaume Canet aspired to become a show jumper. However, a fall at the age of eighteen steered his destiny towards acting and very soon he was staring in films like Joyeux Noël and The Beach.  Eventually he also started directing; winning several awards for his 2006 production, Tell No One.  

Louis Malle was a French film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his film Le Monde du silence, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1957. He was also the recipient of two Golden Lion awards, one of the only four directors to have achieved this feat. He was active in both French cinema and Hollywood.

Eric Cantona is a French actor, filmmaker, and former football player. During his playing career, Cantona was a key player for the popular football club Manchester United and is often credited with reviving the club's reputation as a footballing force. Nicknamed King Eric by Manchester United fans, Eric Cantona continues to enjoy an iconic status within the club.

Michel Gondry is a French filmmaker best known for his distinctive manipulation of mise-en-scène and inventive visual style. He came into prominence in 2005, when he won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for his work in the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Michel Gondry is also renowned for his music video collaborations with popular artistes.

Agnes Varda was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, and artist. She was a key figure in the development of the French New Wave film movement of the 1950s and 1960s. She often made films addressing women’s issues and other social justice problems. She was honored with an Academy Honorary Award. She was married to director Jacques Demy. 

Samuel Benchetrit is a French writer, scenarist, actor, and director. Over the years, Benchetrit's achievements as a writer and actor have been overshadowed by his personal life and relationships with popular actresses like Marie Trintignant, Anna Mouglalis, and Vanessa Paradis.

Best known for his starring role in The Dreamers, French actor and filmmaker Louis Garrel in general portrays similar characters, appearing as somebody involved in love triangles or historical figures like Jacques de Bascher, Jean-Luc Godard and Alfred Dreyfus. Since 2006, he has also been making films, screenwriting and directing movies like Two Friends, A Faithful Man, The Crusade etc.

Anna Karina was a Danish-French film actress, singer, and director. She often collaborated with French New Wave director Jean-Luc Godard and appeared in many of his films, including My Life to Live and Bande à part. She set up her own production company in 1972 and made her directorial debut with Vivre ensemble. She was also a published author. 

Roger Vadim was a French film director, producer, screenwriter, and artist. He is remembered for his visually aesthetic movies with erotic qualities. He was also popular for his relationships with beautiful actresses like Catherine Deneuve, Cindy Pickett, and Margaret Markov. Also an author, Vadim wrote several books, including his autobiography, From One Star to the Next.

Michel Houellebecq is a French author known for his novels, essays, and poems. He also occasionally makes films. As controversial as he is popular, he has been accused of obscenity, misogyny, racism, and Islamophobia. His works generally receive positive responses and some critics consider him one of the greatest living authors today. He is a recipient of the Prix Goncourt. 

Pressured by her mother, actress-cum-filmmaker Maiwenn began her acting career at a very tender age, making her mark with the role of Elle, as a child, in One Deadly Summer. Continuing to perform, she took a hiatus after her marriage, eventually returning to acting, starring in movies like High Tension before venturing into film-direction; she quickly achieved international recognition with Polisse

Joséphine de La Baume is a French actress, model, film director, and singer. She is credited with founding a rock and garage group called Film Noir in 2018. The group's debut EP Vertiges, which released in 2019, was met with critical success. She is also an important member of an indie band named Singtank. 

Antonin Artaud was a French writer, poet, dramatist, and theater director. Known for his raw, surreal, and transgressive themes, he was a major figure in 20th-century theater. He outlined his theories in the Theatre of Cruelty movement, expressed in the form of essays and plays. He died of cancer at the age of 51.  

Greek-born French actor and director Ariane Labed is best known for her Volpi Cup-winning debut role in Attenberg. She initially co-created the Vasistas theater troupe and was associated with the National Theater of Greece. She later won the Locarno, César, and Lumières awards for her performance in Fidelio: Alice's Odyssey.

Mathieu Kassovitz is a French actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter. He has won the prestigious César Award on three occasions so far. He has also received nominations for Lumières Awards and Palme d'Or. Mathieu Kassovitz is credited with founding the film production company, MNP Entreprise.

Jean-Pierre Jeunet is a French film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for combining elements like fantasy, science fiction, and realism into his films to create idealized realities. He achieved international fame in 2001, when his film Amélie received widespread acclaim. Jean-Pierre Jeunet is counted among the most important and influential directors in modern French cinema.

Claire Denis is a French filmmaker and writer. She is best known for her 1999 film Beau Travail, which is often counted among the greatest movies of the 1990s. She is also known for directing the 2022 romantic drama film Both Sides of the Blade, which earned her the prestigious Silver Bear Award for Best Director.

Jamel Debbouze is a French-Moroccan comedian, actor, film producer, director, and screenwriter. Renowned for his stand-up comedy sketches, Debbouze is also known for his collaboration with notable French humourists like Fred Testot, Florence Foresti, and Gad Elmaleh. Jamel Debbouze is credited with creating the popular television show Jamel Comedy Club.

After working odd jobs as a bartender and a policeman, Pierre Woodman began his career as a fashion photographer. He then stepped into porn film direction and launched the longest-running porn series in the world, Casting X. Woodman is his pseudonym, which he earned for his love for climbing trees.

Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novelist, illustrator, cartoonist, children's book author, and film director. Satrapi achieved international recognition in the early-2000s after releasing her critically acclaimed graphic novels. She is best known for writing and directing an animated biographical drama film titled Persepolis, which received nominations at prestigious award ceremonies, such as the Academy Awards, BAFTA Awards, and Golden Globes.

Costa Gavras is a Greek-French screenwriter and filmmaker best known for making movies with social and political themes. His 1969 political thriller film Z, which earned him an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, was the first movie to receive nominations for both the Best Foreign Language Film and Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

French actor Jean Marais was not only a long-time collaborator of director Jean Cocteau but was also his lover. After being rejected by the Paris Conservatory, he studied photography and later got only small roles, until Cocteau roped him in for lead roles in films such as Beauty and the Beast.

Jean-Jacques Annaud is a French film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing critically acclaimed films like Quest for Fire, The Name of the Rose, The Bear, and The Lover. Over the course of his career, Jean-Jacques Annaud has won several prestigious awards, such as César Awards and National Academy of Cinema Award.