Romain Duris
Romain Duris is a French actor.
He is best known for his role in Cédric Klapisch's Spanish Apartment trilogy, which consists of L'Auberge Espagnole, Russian Dolls, and Chinese Puzzle. He has also gained wide recognition for The Beat That My Heart Skipped, and various other roles since then.
Personal life and education
Duris was born in Paris, son of a father who is an engineer-architect and a mother who is a dancer. His father is related to Armand-Gaston Camus, an archivist who founded the Archives nationales. His mother is a descendant of 18th-century Swedish painter Alexander Roslin and his wife. Duris has a sister, pianist Caroline Duris, who played on the soundtrack of the film The Beat That My Heart Skipped, in which he acted.Duris studied arts at university but first decided to follow a career in music, forming a jazz-funk band. Music remains a major interest. Before going into acting, he started an acid-jazz band in which he was a drummer. In 1995, he was featured in a pop video for singer Princess Erika, "Faut qu'j'travaille", where he played the role of a small-time gangster.
Duris lives in Paris near La Bastille, with his actress girlfriend Olivia Bonamy. They have two sons.
Film career
In 1993, Duris was noticed by a casting director who saw him waiting in a queue. He offered the younger man a part in the Cédric Klapisch film Le péril jeune.Duris's additional collaborations with Klapisch include the Spanish Apartment Trilogy. He played a French exchange student Xavier Rousseau, which was one of his best-known roles because of the trilogy.
Duris gained international recognition for his performance in the film The Beat That My Heart Skipped, directed by Jacques Audiard. He won the Lumière Award for Best Actor and received his first nomination for the César Award for Best Actor.
He has since gone onto become a major star in the French film industry and has starred in many successful and critically acclaimed films: Dans Paris, Paris, Heartbreaker, The [Big Picture (2010 film)|The Big Picture], Populaire, Mood Indigo, The New Girlfriend, All the Money in the World, The Animal Kingdom, The Three Musketeers: D'Artagnan and The Three Musketeers: Milady.
His roles have ranged from gangsters, as in [Dobermann (film)|Dobermann] through romantic leads as in Heartbreaker, to action heroes as in Arsène Lupin.