Melvil Poupaud

Poupaud was born in Paris, the son of Michel Poupaud and filmmaker Chantal Poupaud. He has an elder brother, Yarol, who is a musician.

Poupaud made his film debut at the age of 10 in Raúl Ruiz's City of Pirates (1983), having been introduced to the director by his mother. He subsequently appeared in nine more of Ruiz's films, including The Insomniac on the Bridge (1985), Treasure Island (1986), Genealogies of a Crime (1997), Time Regained (1999) and Love Torn in a Dream (2000). For his roles in Jacques Doillon's The 15 Year Old Girl (1989) and Laurence Ferreira Barbosa's Normal People Are Nothing Exceptional (1993), Poupaud received two nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actor. He starred in François Ozon's Time to Leave, and co-starred with Parker Posey in Zoe Cassavetes' Broken English. He also appeared in films such as Eric Rohmer's A Summer's Tale, Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale, and François Ozon's The Refuge. He co-starred with Suzanne Clément in Xavier Dolan's Laurence Anyways.

Poupaud dated actress Chiara Mastroianni for four years from the age of 16 to 20. Though the two split up they remained friends and collaborators for decades with Mastroianni crediting Poupaud with encouraging her to pursue acting as a career and Poupaud crediting Mastroianni for his friendship with her former husband Benjamin Biolay. Poupaud was previously married to writer Georgina Tacou, with whom he has a daughter.