Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant ([tʁɛ̃tiɲɑ̃]; born 11 December 1930) is a French actor, screenwriter and director who has enjoyed international acclaim. He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival as well as the Best Actor Award at the César Awards 2013.

Biography

Trintignant comes from a wealthy family. He is the nephew of race car driver, Louis Trintignant, who was killed in 1933 while practicing on the Péronne racetrack in Picardy. Another uncle, Maurice Trintignant (1917–2005), was a Formula One driver who twice won the Monaco Grand Prix as well as the 24 hours of Le Mans. Raised in and around automobile racing, Jean-Louis Trintignant was the natural choice of film director Claude Lelouch for the starring role of race car driver in the 1966 film, A Man and a Woman. He suffered a leg injury from a motorcycle accident in June 2007.

His first wife was actress Stéphane Audran. His second wife, Nadine Marquand, was also an actress as well as a screenwriter and director. They had three children: Vincent Trintignant, Pauline (who died of crib death in 1969) and Marie Trintignant (21 January 1962 – 1 August 2003). At the age of 17, Marie performed in La terrazza alongside her father and later became a successful actress in her own right. She was killed at the age of 41 by her boyfriend, singer Bertrand Cantat, in a hotel room in Vilnius, Lithuania.

Trintignant is good friends with Anouk Aimée. It was he who recommended Aimée to film director Claude Lelouch for the female lead in A Man and a Woman.

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