Biography
Known in his native France as a famous voice as well as a famous face, actor André Dussollier got his first taste of the stage in a school production of "L'Enfant et la Rivière" at age ten. Born in Annecy, France in 1946, Dussollier discovered that acting offered an outlet from the pressures of post-war society to remain stoic and unemotional. His parents both worked for the French Treasury, and were of a practical disposition. They were encouraging when Dussollier enrolled at the University of Grenoble; through he would find success in academics, eventually earning a Master's Degree in Modern Languages, Dussollier decided after graduating to take a leap of faith and moved to Paris to pursue an acting career. He was accepted to study acting at the renowned Conservatoire de Paris, an institution with a notoriously competitive and extremely selective admissions process. Two years later, in 1972, he was awarded a residency at the Comédie-Française ou Théâtre-Français. Dussollier was appearing in a stage production of "Léonce et Léna" (1972) when he was noticed by a prominent audience member, film director François Truffaut. Truffaut cast Dussollier in his film "A Gorgeous Girl Like Me" (1972). In the years to come, he appeared in a number of acclaimed roles in films like Claude Lelouch's "And Now My Love" (1974) and Claude Chabrol's "Alice or the Last Escapade" (1977). He caught the attention of the French public at large with his performance in the comedy hit "Three Men and a Cradle" (1985), which proved such a hit that it was remade in America as "Three Men and a Baby" (1987). Both a critical and commercial success, Dussollier settled into a long and distinguished career in film and television, ranging from historical epics like "Colonel Chabert" (1994) to madcap comedies such as "The Children" (1985). One of his most notable roles came when he provided the whimsical narration for the international hit "Amelie" (2001). His collaboration with that film's director, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, continued with prominent roles in "A Very Long Engagement" (2004) and the antic dark comedy "Micmacs" (2009). He also starred in films ranging from the unsettling drama "Unforgiveable" (2011) to the broad comedy "Wrestling Queens" (2013). In 2014, he starred as Swedish consul-general Raoul Nordling in Volker Schlöndorff's World War II drama "Diplomatie" (2014).
