Vincent Cassel

Vincent Cassel  born Vincent Crochon, 23 November 1966 is a French actor. He first achieved recognition for his performance as a troubled French Jewish youth, in Mathieu Kassovitz’s 1995 film La Haine (Hate), for which he received two César Award nominations. He garnered wide recognition with English-speaking audiences for his performances in Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Ocean’s Thirteen (2007), as well as Eastern Promises (2007), Black Swan (2010), and Jason Bourne (2016). Cassel is also renowned for playing the infamous French bank-robber Jacques Mesrine in Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Mesrine: Public Enemy Number One (both in 2008). In 2020, he portrayed Engerraund Serac in the HBO television series Westworld.

Throughout his career, which spans more than three decades, Cassel has earned critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including a César Award in 2009 and a Canadian Screen Award in 2016.

Early life and family

Cassel was born in Paris, France, to journalist Sabine Litique and 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

Early work in France (1990s)

One of Cassel’s first on screen appearances was a bit part in a 1994 Renault Clio advert which was used in the UK.

Cassel’s breakthrough role was in Mathieu Kassovitz’s critically acclaimed film La Haine (1995), in which he portrayed a troubled youth living in the deprived outskirts of Paris. For his role in La Haine, Cassel was nominated for two César Awards, for Best Actor and Most Promising Actor.

Throughout the 1990s and the early 2000s, Cassel performed in a string of French films. In 1996, he starred opposite Monica Bellucci (before they married) in the moody French film L’Appartement. The film was a critical success, winning a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and the first British Independent Film Award for the Best Film in a Foreign Language. The film was also a modest hit in France gaining 55,565 admissions its opening weekend and 152,714 admissions total. Although the film was never released theatrically in the United States, it was released on DVD on August 22, 2006.

In 1998, he portrayed Henry, Duc d’Anjou in Elizabeth. In 1999, he portrayed Gilles de Rais in Luc Besson’s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. Other notable roles during this period of his career include the violent film Dobermann (1997), the genre-bending Le Pacte des Loups (2001), and the highly controversial Irréversible (2002), where he appears fully nude (with Monica Bellucci, after they married).

Transition into English films (2000s)

Since the early 2000s, Cassel has also appeared in a number of English-language films, such as Shrek (as the voice of Monsieur Hood) and Birthday Girl (both 2001) Ocean’s Twelve and Ocean’s Thirteen (2004, 2007), and Derailed (2005). He has also dubbed the voice of Diego (Denis Leary) in the Ice Age franchise and Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) in Robots.

In 2007, Cassel attracted significant critical acclaim for his performance in David Cronenberg’s thriller film Eastern Promises, in which he starred opposite Viggo Mortensen and Naomi Watts. The film premiered September 8, 2007 at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival where it won the Audience Prize for best film on September 15, 2007. Film Journal International critic Doris Toumarkine dubbed Cassel’s performance “particularly delicious”. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice wrote that “Cassel literally flings himself into “.

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 2009. Cassel appeared in a two-part film about Jacques Mesrine, who was France’s “public enemy number one” in the seventies. He won the César Award for Best Actor for his performance as Mesrine. Also that year, he starred in the Portuguese-language, Brazilian film Adrift (À Deriva), and made his debut as a singer on Zap Mama’s album ReCreation, singing alongside them on the singles “Paroles, Paroles” and “Non, Non, Non”.

Later work (2010s)

The following year, in 2010, Cassel played Thomas Leroy in Darren Aronofsky’s critically acclaimed Black Swan (2010), alongside Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, which attracted considerable acclaim. For his performance in Black Swan, was nominated alongside his cast for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

In 2011, Cassel played the lead role in the French-Spanish thriller-drama film The Monk, directed by Dominik Moll. Screen Daily praised his performance, writing that “Cassel exudes otherworldly gravitas and his singular looks are perfect for the role.” That year, he also starred in the German-Canadian historical film A Dangerous Method, directed by David Cronenberg; in the latter, he starred opposite Keira Knightley, Michael Fassbender, and Mortensen (marking their second film together). The film premiered at the 68th Venice Film Festival and was also featured at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2014, he portrayed The Beast opposite Léa Seydoux as Belle in the French-language adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. The film was screened out of competition at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. It was released in France on in February 2014 to positive reviews, becoming a box office success. In Japan, the film topped the box office on its release, making it the first non-English-language foreign film to top the Japanese box office since Red Cliff II in 2009, and the first French film to top the Japanese box office since Mathieu Kassovitz’s The Crimson Rivers in 2001.

In 2016, Cassel was featured in American action thriller film Jason Bourne, directed by Paul Greengrass; the film is the fifth installment of the Bourne film series and a direct sequel to The Bourne Ultimatum (2007). Despite mixed reviews, the film was a box office success, grossing more than $400 million worldwide. That year, he also attracted critical acclaim for his performance as Antoine in Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. For his work in the film, Cassel won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor; he also received nominations for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor, the Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actor, and the Jury Prize for Best Actor at the Riviera International Film Festival.

In 2020, he portrayed trillionaire Engerraund Serac, the main antagonist of the third season of the HBO series Westworld.

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 divorce on 26 August 2013.

He married French model Tina Kunakey, who is more than 30 years his junior, on 24 August 2018 in Bidart, France. They have a daughter, Amazonie (born 19 April 2019).

Besides his native French, Cassel speaks English, Portuguese, Italian, and basic conversational Russian, which he learned for his role in Eastern Promises. Cassel lived in Rio de Janeiro for five years, before moving back to Paris in 2018, and he used to have Brazilian citizenship. Cassel is known for having a great identification with Brazil, being a practitioner of the martial art of capoeira; he displayed this talent in the movie Ocean’s Twelve. He also trains in Wing Chun.

Filmography

Live-action

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1993	Métisse	Max	French
1995	Adultery: A User’s Guide	Bruno Corteggiani	French
	La Haine	Vinz	French	Nominated – César Award for Best Actor Nominated – César Award for Most Promising Actor
	Jefferson in Paris	Camille Desmoulins	English
1996	L’élève	Julien	French
	The Apartment	Max	French
1997	Dobermann	Yann le Pentrec (Dobermann)	French
	Come mi vuoi	Pasquale	Italian
1998	Elizabeth	Duc d’Anjou	English
1999	Unruly	Pitou	French
	The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc	Gilles de Rais	English
	Guest House Paradiso	Gino Bolognese	English
2000	The Crimson Rivers	Max Kerkerian	French
2001	Brotherhood of the Wolf	Jean-François de Morangias	French
	Birthday Girl	Alexei	English
	Read My Lips	Paul	French	Nominated – César Award for Best Actor
2002	Irréversible	Marcus	French	Also co-producer
2003	The Reckoning	Lord De Guise	English
2004	Blueberry	Mike S. Blueberry	English
	Secret Agents	Brisseau	French
	Ocean’s Twelve	François Toulour	English
2005	Derailed	LaRoche	English
2006	Sheitan	Joseph	French	Also producer
2007	Ocean’s Thirteen	François Toulour	English
	Eastern Promises	Kirill	English
	His Majesty Minor	Satyre	French
2008	Mesrine	Jacques Mesrine	French	César Award for Best Actor Lumières Award for Best Actor Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actor Étoiles d’Or Award for Best Actor Tokyo International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2009	Adrift	Matias	Portuguese
2010	Our Day Will Come	Patrick	French	Also producer
	Black Swan	Thomas Leroy	English	Nominated – Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
2011	The Monk	Capucino Ambrosio	French
	A Dangerous Method	Otto Gross	English
2013	Trance	Franck	English
2014	Rio, I Love You	Zé	Portuguese
	Beauty and the Beast	Beast/Prince	French
2015	Child 44	Major Kuzmin	English
	Partisan	Gregori	English
	Tale of Tales	King of Strongcliff	English
	My King	Georgio	French	Nominated – César Award for Best Actor
	One Wild Moment	Laurent	French
	Violence en réunion	Vince	French	Short film
2016	It’s Only the End of the World	Antoine	French	Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – César Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated – Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actor Nominated – Jury Prize for Best Actor – Riviera International Film Festival
	Jason Bourne	Asset	English
2017	O Filme da Minha Vida	Nicolas Terranova	Portuguese
	Gauguin – Voyage de Tahiti	Paul Gauguin	French
2018	The World Is Yours	Henri	French
	Black Tide	François Visconti	French
	The Great Mystical Circus	Jean-Paul	Portuguese
	The Emperor of Paris	Eugène François Vidocq	French
	Default	Managing Director of the IMF	Korean
	Porta dos Fundos	James Bond	Portuguese	Episode: “007 in Brazil”
2019	The Specials	Bruno	French	Nominated – César Award for Best Actor
2020	Underwater	Captain Lucien	English
	Westworld	Engerraund Serac	English	TV series

Animated

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2001	Shrek	Monsieur Hood	Original English-language version
2002	Ice Age	Diego	French-language version
2005	Robots	Rodney Copperbottom	French-language version
2006	Ice Age: The Meltdown	Diego	French-language version
2009	Lascars	Tony Merguez	Original French-language version
	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	Diego	French-language version
2012	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Diego	French-language version
2015	The Little Prince	The Fox	French-language version
2016	Ice Age: Collision Course	Diego	French-language version