Gaspard Ulliel Biography

When Gaspard Ulliel was 12, a friend of his mother’s who'd just opened a talent agency was looking for kids to represent. Gaspard, who lived in a suburb of Paris, signed up out of curiosity, and began landing small parts in TV movies.

He made his movie debut in the film Alias (1999) and went on to win a Lumiere Award as Most Promising Young Actor and a César Award nomination for his third movie, Embrassez qui vous voudrez (2002). His second César nomination was for Les Egarés (2003).

At 19, he landed a role as Audrey Tautou’s love interest in Un long dimanche de fiançailles/A Very Long Engagement (2004), for which he won a César as Most Promising Actor. The film garnered him international attention, and in 2007, he made his American film debut in the English language prequel Hannibal Rising (2007), as the young Hannibal Lecter.

Over the years, the acclaim and awards have continued to pour in. In 2015 he won Best Actor for his work in Saint Laurent (2014) as well as awards from the International Online Cinema Awards (INOCA), International Cinephile Society Awards and the Lumiere Awards for his role in the same film. Gaspard won a second César Award, this time for his work in To the Ends of the World/Juste la fin du monde (2016).

In 2019, he played a starring role in Un peuple et son roi/One Nation, One King (2019).

In his spare time, Gaspard enjoyed competitive skiing, as well as swimming, waterskiing, skateboarding, rollerblading and tennis.

On January 19, 2022, Gaspard died at the age of 37 in Grenoble, France, following a skiing accident in which he suffered a head injury during a collision on the slopes. He was survived by his six-year-old son with girlfriend Gaëlle Piétri. At the time of his death, he had completed the role of Anton Mogart in the Marvel miniseries Moon Knight, which had not yet aired, as well as the French movie Plus Que Jamais (2022).