Jacques Villeret
Jacques Villeret (French pronunciation: [ʒak vilʁɛ]; 6 February 1951 – 28 January 2005) was a French actor, best known internationally for his role as François Pignon in the comedy Le Dîner de Cons. During his career, he earned many awards including the prestigious medal and title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Jacques Villeret

Paul kiujcom · Own work / personnalités publiques photographiées lors d'une manifestation publique · Public domain
- Full name
- Jacky Boufroura.
- Born
- 1951. · Tours.
- Died
- 2005. · Évreux.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- actor, film producer and singer.
- Education
- Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique and Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Tours.
- Honours
- Knight of the Legion of Honour, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, César Award for Best Supporting Actor, César Award for Best Actor and Lumière Award for Best Actor.
- Languages
- French.
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Jacques Villeret (French pronunciation: [ʒak vilʁɛ]; 6 February 1951 – 28 January 2005) was a French actor, best known internationally for his role as François Pignon in the comedy Le Dîner de Cons. During his career, he earned many awards including the prestigious medal and title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
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Note VALÉORINE
Jacques Villeret (1951–2005) was an actor, film actor and film producer, among other activities, of French nationality. The actor was born Jacky Boufroura in Tours and died in Évreux. Jacques Villeret was educated at Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Tours and Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique.
Languages used include French. Honours include César Award for Best Actor, César Award for Best Supporting Actor and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, among others.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q267244 · wikipedia · Jacques Villeret
In this article
Life and career
Life and career
Jacques Villeret studied at Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique and Conservatoire à rayonnement régional de Tours. The recorded working language is French. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, César Award for Best Supporting Actor and César Award for Best Actor.
Villeret was born Jacky Boufroura in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France, to an Algerian father and a French mother. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris (CNSAD), where Louis Seigner, the grandfather of Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathilde Seigner, was one of his teachers. While he was most famous for his role as François Pignon in Le Dîner de Cons; both on the stage and in the film, his other celebrated roles included the extra terrestrial in La soupe aux choux, the autistic Mo in L'été en pente douce, and marshal Ludwig von Apfelstrudel in Papy fait de la résistance. At the time of making the film Un aller simple directed by Laurent Heynemann – a film about integration and racism and the clash of generations – Villeret said that watching the young actors in the film, Barbara Schulz and Lorant Deutsch, reminded him of the insouciance he had had as a young man with his friends at the Conservatoire. When his career was at its height, with the success of Le Dîner de Cons, everything collapsed in a tragedy mirroring the plot of the film. Villeret separated from his wife and suffered an enormous financial downfall due to tax issues, plunging him into depression. Villeret turned to alcohol for comfort, and became an alcoholic. He isolated himself and hid away for long periods. He later said: "Alcohol is a friend, but a friend who means you harm." Villeret's love of his profession helped to bring his career back from the brink. In an interview in 2001 he spoke of his admiration for performers like Johnny Hallyday and Jacques Brel for their level of commitment, and quoted the author Louis-Ferdinand Céline: "When I write, I put my balls on the table." In 1979 Villeret married Irina Tarassov, an actress and writer. They separated in 1998. Tarassov wrote about their life together in her book Un jour, tout ira bien. (One day, everything will go well). In 2002 Villeret met Seny, a Senegalese-French widow descended through her grandfather, Mor Diarra N'Dao, from a long line of Sérès nobles of the ancient Kingdom of Saloum, and they fell instantly and deeply in love. They were partners for three years, and she was about to move to Paris to be with him when he died in Évreux on 28 January 2005 of a liver haemorrhage. Seny wrote a memoir of their life together, Jacques Villeret, mon bébé blanc, which was published in Paris by Le Cherche Midi in 2005.
Theatre
Theatre
1990: La Contrebasse 1993: Le Dîner de cons 2000: Jeffrey Bernard est souffrant
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Tours.
Birth place
Évreux.
Death place
Awards
1979: César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Robert et Robert 1999: César Award for Best Actor for Le Dîner de cons 1999: Lumière Award for Best Actor for Le Dîner de cons Chevalier des Arts et Lettres Légion d'honneur
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Jacques Villeret - Biography
- 2.Jacques Villeret - News & actus people sur Premiere
- 3.Paris Match, 14 June 2001
- 4.Paris Match, 14 June 2001
- 5.Irina Tarassov-Villeret, Un jour, tout ira bien,
- 6.Seny.
- 7.Blom, Philipp. Jacques Villeret Obituary. The Guardian. 3 February 2015.
- 8.The funeral of French actor Jacques Villeret. Abaca Press. 4 February 2005.
References
Citations
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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