Jean-Marc Barr
Barr in 2012
Born (1960-09-27) September 27, 1960
Bitburg, West Germany
Alma materGuildhall School of Music and Drama
Occupation(s)Film, stage, television actor, director, screenwriter, film producer
Years active1985 - present
SpouseIrina Dečermić (divorced)

Jean-Marc Barr (born September 27, 1960) is a French-American film actor and director. He is best known for working on several films from Danish film director and frequent collaborator Lars von Trier since Europa (1991).

Early life and education

Barr was born to a French mother and an American father working in the United States Armed Forces. He is fluent in both French and English. Barr was born in West Germany where his father was stationed, and lived an itinerant childhood. His family moved to France in 1968, then to California in 1974.[1][2]

Barr's parents wished for him to join the armed forces, but he was unwilling to follow in his father's footsteps. He studied philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, then at the Paris Conservatoire and the Sorbonne. He moved to London to pursue an education in drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.[1][2]

Career

Barr began working in theatre in France in 1986. After finding work in television (including a small role in Hotel du Lac (1986), the BBC's version of the Booker prize-winning novel by Anita Brookner), and film (in particular Hope and Glory (1987) by John Boorman), he was cast in the tremendously successful The Big Blue (1988). Luc Besson cast him in the role of French diver Jacques Mayol, alongside Rosanna Arquette and Jean Reno. The Big Blue was the most financially successful film in France in the 1980s.

In 1991, Barr starred in Danish director Lars von Trier's Europa, marking the beginning of a long friendship (he is the godfather of von Trier's children) as well as a significant professional relationship. He went on to appear in von Trier's Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2004), Manderlay (2005), The Boss of It All (2006) and Nymph()maniac (2013). In 2005 he starred in the French film Crustacés et Coquillages. In 1999 he starred in the French cinéma du corps/cinema of the body drama film, Don't Let Me Die on a Sunday (French: J'aimerais pas crever un dimanche), directed by Didier Le Pêcheur.

Barr's collaboration with von Trier put him on track to start directing his own work. He debuted in 1999 as a director, screenwriter and producer with the intimate love story Lovers. The film became the first part of a trilogy; the films that followed were the drama Too Much Flesh (2000) and the comedy Being Light (2001), which he co-directed with Pascal Arnold. Barr and Pascal also directed the 2006 film Chacun sa nuit (eng: One to another), where they first discovered Lizzie Brocher, Arthur Dupont and Karl E. Landler. This was followed by another collaboration in 2012, Sexual Chronicles of a French Family.[3]

In 1997, Barr appeared in The Scarlet Tunic, produced by Zigi Kamasa. He appeared as Hugo in The Red Siren in 2002 and played divorce lawyer Maître Bertram in the 2003 Merchant Ivory film le Divorce. He appeared as the titular character in the video for Blur's 1996 single, "Charmless Man".[4][5]

In 2010, he starred in Kim Nguyen's film City of Shadows (La Cité).[6] Barr played author Jack Kerouac in the 2013 film adaptation of the Beat Generation autobiographical novel Big Sur.[7]

Filmography

Barr at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1985 King David Absalom
1986 The Frog Prince James
1987 Hope and Glory Bruce
1987 Maurice French Colleague Uncredited
1988 The Big Blue Jacques Mayol
1991 Le brasier Victor
1991 Europa Leopold Kessler
1992 The Plague Jean Tarrou
1994 Iron Horsemen Robert
1994 Les faussaires Baker
1994 The Favourite Son Philippe
1996 L'échappée belle Emmanuel Barnes
1996 Marching in Darkness Silvio Roatta
1996 Breaking the Waves Terry
1996 Mo' Sam Follow
1998 The Scarlet Tunic Matthaus Singer
1998 Préférence Simon
1998 Folle d'elle Marc
1998 Ça ne se refuse pas Alex
1998 Don't Let Me Die on a Sunday Ben
1998 St. Ives Jacques de Keroual de Saint-Yves
2000 Dancer in the Dark Norman
2000 Too Much Flesh Lyle
2001 Being Light Jack Lesterhoof
2002 Marie's Sons Paul
2002 The Red Siren Hugo Cornelius Toorop
2003 Dogville The Man with the Big Hat
2003 Saltimbank Frédéric Saltim
2003 The Divorce Maitre Bertram
2003 The Car Keys Un comédien
2004 CQ2 (Seek You Too) Steven
2005 Crustacés & Coquillages Didier
2005 Manderlay Mr. Robinsson
2005 Tara Road Andy Vine
2006 One to Another Phillipe
2006 The Boss of It All Spencer
2008 Baby Blues Dan
2008 The Anarchist's Wife Pierre
2008 Parc Paul Marteau
2008 Nucingen House William Henry James III
2009 Making Plans for Lena Nigel
2010 The City of Shadows Maxime Vincent
2011 His Mother's Eyes Jean-Paul Tremazan
2011 American Translation William
2011 Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying Brian
2012 Niccolò Machiavelli il Principe della politica Niccolò Machiavelli
2012 They Call It Summer Dino
2013 Big Sur Jack Kerouac
2013 Manhattan Romance Alex
2013 Vandal Paul, l'oncle
2013 Nymphomaniac Debtor Gentleman
2014 The Last Mirage Justin Livingstone
2015 WAX: We Are the X Jean-Christophe Touchalier
2017 uk18 The Foreigner
2017 After the War Jérome
2017 Grain Erol
2017 Cut Off Trevor De Blanc
2018 The Cellar Milan
2018 The House that Jack Built Leopold Kessler Archive footage only; uncredited
2020 My Best Part Le réalisateur
2021 Aleksandar od Jugoslavije Ferdinand Foch
2021 Silent Land Arnaud
TBA The Pod Generation The Founder Post-production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1985 Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story Scott Television film
1986 Screen Two Alain Episode: "Hotel du Lac"
1996 Reckoning Patrick LeMay Television film
1997 Les Infidèles Farid
1997 Balkan Island: The Last Story of the Century Addy
2005 Venus and Apollo Vincent Episode: "Soin pare chocs"
2007 Martin Paris Martin Paris Television film
2011 XIII: The Series Prêtre 2 episodes
2011 The Wyvern's Lair Paul Pratt 4 episodes
2011–2016 Blood on the Docks Capitaine Richard Faraday 12 episodes
2018 The Miracle Serge Episode: "La Conservazione della Materia"
2018–2020 Bad Banks Robert Khano 12 episodes
2020 Little Birds Secretary Pierre Vaney 6 episodes
2021 Kralj Ferdinand Foch 3 episodes
2021 The Rope Serge Morel[8][9]
2022 Je te promets Jean-Marc Barr Episode: "L'Idole de la Famille"

References

  1. 1 2 Jean-Marc Barr at franceinter.fr
  2. 1 2 An Interview with the Fabulous Jean-Marc Barr Archived 2014-08-14 at the Wayback Machine, Beachcomber, 16 January 2014
  3. ↑ "Sexual Chronicles of a French Family (Chroniques sexuelles d'une famille d'aujourd'hui)". mubi.com. MUBI. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  4. ↑ "the charmless man-blur". Archived from the original on 2021-12-21 – via YouTube.
  5. ↑ AlloCine. "Playlist : Blur au cinéma, c'était ça !". AlloCiné (in French). Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  6. ↑ Odile Tremblay, "Kim Nguyen - Au Sahara quand la cité vacille". Le Devoir, April 3, 2010.
  7. ↑ "Jack Kerouac's Big Sur heads to the big screen". the Guardian. April 18, 2011.
  8. ↑ ""La corde", sur Arte : un thriller fantastique qui suit le fil de notre soif de savoir". Radio France (in French). January 24, 2022. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  9. ↑ Laurent Valière (January 16, 2022). ""La Corde", thriller métaphysique en Norvège". France Info (in French). Retrieved October 30, 2022.
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