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France Nuyen was born on 31 July 1939 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and South Pacific (1958). She was previously married to Robert Culp and Dr. Thomas Gaspar Morell.

Julia Dietze was born on 9 January 1981 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Iron Sky (2012), Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019) and 1 1/2 Ritter - Auf der Suche nach der hinreißenden Herzelinde (2008).

Eric Cantona is most known for his skill on the soccer field. Starring at Old Trafford, Manchester United's homeground, Cantona got the nickname "The King". The controversial striker has been praised as the one who brought back the trophies to one of the world's most famous soccer clubs. Cantona is well-known for being banned from playing soccer for 8 months after kicking a fan during a match. His career at Old Trafford was like a marriage: filled with passion, and turbulent. And just as shocking as his arrival, was his departure. Out of the blue, Man Utd called for a press conferance during the summer of 1997 announcing Cantona's retirement. He felt it was time to concentrate on acting and painting. The controversial Frenchman is a gifted individual, who always will go his own ways.

Louis Jourdan was born Louis Robert Gendre in Marseille, France to Yvonne (née Jourdan) and hotel owner Henry Gendre. He was educated in France, Britain, and Turkey. He trained as an actor with René Simon at the École Dramatique. He debuted on screen in 1939, going on to play cultivated, polished, dashing lead roles in a number of French romantic comedies and dramas.

After his father, the manager of the Cannes Grand Hôtel, was arrested by the Gestapo during World War II, Louis and his two brothers (Pierre Jourdan and Robert Gendre, both of whom became film directors) joined the French underground; his film career came to a halt when he refused to act in Nazi propaganda films.

In 1948, David O. Selznick invited him to Hollywood to appear in The Paradine Case (1947); he remained in the USA and went on to star in a number of Hollywood films. After 1953, he appeared in international productions and, in 1958, appeared in Gigi (1958), his best-known film by American audiences. He also made numerous appearances on American television.

Jourdan died at his home in Beverly Hills, California in 2015, at age 93.

French/US actress, Roxane Mesquida grew up in Le Pradet, a little town in the South of France. At the age of 11, while walking with her mother, writer Francoise Mesquida, she was spotted by director Manuel Pradal who cast her in Mary from the Bay of Angels (Marie Baie de Anges). In 1998, she played opposite Isabelle Huppert in Benoit Jacquot's The School of Flesh (L'ecole de la Chair) which was presented at that year's Cannes Film Festival. A few years later, she crossed paths with the renowned and provocative director Catherine Breillat. Not only did the director bring Roxane to international attention, she taught the actress her craft. In 2001, their first film Fat Girl (A ma soeur!) was presented at festivals around the world including Berlin and Toronto. The following year, the director and her actress collaborated on Sex is a Comedy which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival, 2002. They worked together again on The Last Mistress (Une vieille maitresse) with Asia Argento. The film was presented in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, after making Sheitan with Vincent Cassel directed by Kim Chapiron, Mesquida moved to the United States. She spent several months in New York attending The Barrow Group, a prestigious non-profit Off-Broadway Theatre Company and acting School before settling in Los Angeles. In 2010, two of her films were presented at Cannes: Kaboom by independent filmmaker Gregg Araki and Rubber by Quentin Dupieux a.k.a Mr. Oizo (a corruption of the French word for "bird"). She also starred three music videos: Buck 65's "Paper Airplane", Grudd Rhys's "Shark Ridden Waters" and Marilyn Manson's "No Reflection" in 2012. 2011 was a very busy year for Mesquida who played Beatrice, the sister of Louis Grimaldi in TV series Gossip Girl and appeared in the features The Most Fun You Can Have Dying by Kirstin Marcon, Kiss of the Damned by Alexandra Cassavetes (daughter of John Cassavetes) and Homesick by young independent filmmaker Frederic Da. She also appeared in the art video for Opening Ceremony.

When she was 14, Mesquida was spotted by Elite Model Management and she has been working as a model ever since. She is signed by worldwide modeling agency IMG Modelssince 2008.

Peter Paul Wyngarde was born at the home of an aunt in Marseille, Southern France, and is the son of an English father and French mother. Owing to his father's work as a member of the British Diplomatic Service, Peter spent much of his early childhood moving from one country to another, and was educated in a number of different schools.

One city which left a lasting impression on him was Shanghai, where he had been temporarily left in the care of a Swiss family whilst his father was away in India on business. The year was 1941, and amid a mass of turmoil and confusion, news broke that the Japanese had captured the city, and before long, Peter and his surrogate family found themselves in Lunghua concentration camp.

Confined in these desperately brutal conditions for four years, Peter struggled to prevent his family and friends from dying at the hands of the cruel and barbaric soldiers who governed the camp, and on one occasion while running errands between accommodation huts, he was discovered and punished by having both his feet broken with a rifle butt, and then put into solitary confinement for two weeks.

During better times however, the young Mr. Wyngarde worked in the camp laundry and gardens, and began to write and appear in plays staged by, and for, his fellow inmates, making his acting debut in his own production of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. When the camp was finally liberated in 1945 Peter, who was then suffering from malnutrition, beriberi and malaria, was taken to a sanatorium in the Swiss mountains where he remained for the next two years.

After completing his education in Switzerland, France and England, Peter reluctantly honored his parents' wishes, and entered university, where he began studying law, but soon dropped the idea in favor of a career in advertising. After a brief spell with an agency in London, he walked into an audition, read the part, and was cast as the understudy for the lead in a play in Brighton.

His first role on the London stage, however, was with the Nottingham Repertory Company at the Embassy Theatre as Cassio in Othello. From there, he moved to the world famous Old Vic in Bristol, where he not only took the lead role in such classics as Cyrano de Bergerac and Taming of the Shrew, but also tried his hand at directing, most notably with Long Day's Journey Into Night.

In 1956, Peter was invited over to the United States to take a screen test for the part of Pausanius in Robert Rosen's epic feature film, Alexander the Great opposite Richard Burton and Fredric March, but after almost a year's work on location in Spain, he watched in horror as his role was cut almost out of existence.

Disillusioned with Hollywood, Peter returned to his first love - the British stage, where he took the role of Yang Sun, a Chinese fighter pilot, in Bertold Brecht's, The Good Woman of Setzuan, at the Royal Court Theatre in London's West End. It was here that he first made the acquaintance of the Oliviers - Laurence and his wife, Vivien Leigh, the latter of whom he later played opposite in the critically acclaimed Duel of Angels.

Following the plays hugely successful run at the Apollo Theatre in London in 1958 Ms Leigh, who had since become a close friend of Peter's, begged her leading man to join her in the New York production of the play. Although reluctant at first, Peter was at last persuaded to reprise his role as Count Marcellus, and he made his Broadway debut at the Helen Hayes Theatre in 1959, taking the coveted award for Best Actor in a Foreign Play.

On his triumphant return to Britain in 1960, he was almost immediately cast as the enigmatic Peter the Painter in Monty Barman's production of The Siege of Sidney Street - a film which was based on the true story of the British Governments legendary battle with a notorious gang of Slavonic anarchist, whose reputation throughout Europe for robbery and murder lead to one of the bloodiest confrontations in British criminal history.

Between numerous starring roles in television productions such as Independent Televisions popular Armchair Theatre and Play of the Week, Peter made two more big screen appearances - both Albert Fennell productions.

The first, in 1961, was The Innocents - a feature-length adaptation of the Henry James novella The Turn of the Screw, which was followed in 1962 by the classic supernatural thriller, Night of the Eagle (aka Burn, Witch, Burn) which was once again based on a novel - this time Fritz Leiber's Conjure Wife.

Between July of 1960 and March of 1969, Peter appeared in no less than thirty television plays, and guest starred in such classic series as The Avengers, I Love Lucy, The Baron, The Saint, The Champions and The Prisoner. In 1969, Peter was cast in what was undoubtedly his most famous role as the legendary author-cum-investigator, Jason King, in the ITC action series, Department S, and soon became the idol of thousands of women the world over. So overwhelming was his effect on television viewers that in 1971, a brand new series - Jason King - was devised, which allowed the handsome novelist to go adventuring without restriction.

Following the cancellation of the series at the end of 1972, Peter decided to return to the theatre, and after being greeted at Melbourne Airport by more than 30,000 screaming fans, he took the city by storm in the world premiere of Butley before packed houses every night. Once back in London, Peter took the lead role in Charles Dyers Mother Adam at the Hampstead Theatre, and then went on to tour Britain in the lead role of the King in Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I opposite Sally Ann Howes. The following year, he once again took up the mantle of actor/director with Present Laughter, stopping off along the way to host the 1974 Miss Television Contest.

In 1975, Peter headed out to Austria to work at the English Theatre in Vienna, to both act in and direct productions of The Merchant of Venice and Big Toys, before returning to the big screen in an Austrian film (Himmel, Scheich Und Wolkenbrunch) in the role of a latter-day Rudolph Valentino. The following year, he returned to the British stage in the Lawrence Parnes production of Anastasia, and then on to the big screen courtesy of Dino De Laurentiis' lavish 1980s sci-fi blockbuster, Flash Gordon, in which he was cast in the role of General Klytus. It was then back to the stage for a nine-months' tour of South Africa in Deathtrap.

In 1984, after an absence of almost 12 years, Peter returned to the small screen with a rare television appearance in the four-part Doctor Who installment, Planet of Fire, which was followed in short succession by the Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense story, And The Wall Came Tumbling Down, and a memorable guest-starring role in Granada Television's Bulman.

Having been cast as the somewhat unsavory character of Sir Robert Knights in the stylish, yet overtly violent British thriller, Tank Malling in 1989 Peter, who scarcely ever agrees to be interviewed, consented to appear on SKY TV's Jameson Show, plus a hearing on Channel 4s Right To Reply and the BBC's daytime magazine, Pebble Mill. More recently, Peter appeared in 1994 in Granada Televisions popular Sherlock Holmes series opposite Jeremy Brett, playing the newspaper gossip-columnist, Langdale Pike, in The Three Gables.

The long-overdue release of both Department S and Jason King on video in 1993 helped rekindle huge interest in the debonair Mr Wyngarde, with repeats of the series being shown on satellite and cable channels, and public pressure resulting in the re-release of his infamous 1970 album on CD.

In recent years, Peter has made numerous TV appearances, which include Astleys Way, Dee Time, 100 Greatest TV Characters, Don't Knock Yourself Out and narrated the acclaimed Timeshift documentary, The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes in 2014.

Peter remains one of the most popular British actors of the past 50 years, with a thriving fan club and devoted worldwide following. His appearances at TV and Sci-Fi conventions have drawn thousands of attendees, eager to meet him and to shake the hand of a true acting legend.

Zita Hanrot was born on 7 December 1989 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress and director, known for Paul Sanchez Is Back! (2018), Fatima (2015) and School Life (2019).

Emmanuel Mouret was born on 30 June 1970 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. He is a director and writer, known for The Things We Say, the Things We Do (2020), Lady J (2018) and The Art of Love (2011).

Stéphane Caillard was born on 1 October 1988 in Marseille, France. She is an actress, known for The Take (2016), Lucienne mange une auto (2019) and Ad Vitam (2025).

Diminutive, fiery-tempered Simone Simon was born in France, but spent much of her early childhood in Madagascar, where her father managed a graphite mine. Her schooling was somewhat unsettled, her family moving from city to city (Berlin, Budapest, Turin) before finally establishing themselves in Paris in 1930. Simone started as a dress designer, fashion model and occasional performer in stage musicals. She eventually met the director Marc Allégret, who took her under his wing. Her film debut was in 1931 and she had her first major hit as Jean Gabin's co-star in The Human Beast (1938), directed by Jean Renoir.

There were two halves to Simone's history in Hollywood. In 1936, Darryl F. Zanuck signed her to a contract at 20th Century Fox on the strength of a picture she had made two years earlier, Allegret's Ladies Lake (1934). She was launched with an expensive publicity campaign which accentuated her continental allure, particularly, her 'sexy pout'. During her tenure, problems surfaced regarding her command of English and also her limited singing skills. Dissatisfied with the roles she was given, Simone returned to France and 'La Bete Humaine'. She made a second attempt at Hollywood, acting in William Dieterle's The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) as Belle, the devil's handmaiden. The New York Times review of October 17 considered her 'completely out of key'. Simone's best work, however, was to come in the shape of the cult horror classic Cat People (1942). Producer Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur used her triangular-faced feline qualities to best effect in the story of a girl who obsesses about an ancient Balkan curse turning her into a panther. The film was stylish and subtle, creating imagined rather than actual menace. Simone's performance was commensurate with perfectly studied cat-like mannerisms. During the production of 'Cat People', Simone was under FBI surveillance because of her relationship with MI5 spy Dusko Popov. She made two further, less successful, films at RKO, then returned to France for good. Simone made several films there and worked on the stage. In spite of many affairs and relationships, she never married.

Christian Marquand was born on 15 March 1927 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was an actor and director, known for Apocalypse Now (1979), The Longest Day (1962) and The Flight of the Phoenix (1965). He was married to Tina Aumont. He died on 22 November 2000 in Ivry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, France.

Jean Sorel was born on 25 September 1934 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He is an actor, known for The Day of the Jackal (1973), Belle de Jour (1967) and Sandra (1965). He has been married to Patricia Balme since 2018. He was previously married to Anna Maria Ferrero.

Géraldine Pailhas was born on 8 January 1971 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Young & Beautiful (2013) and La neige et le feu (1991). She is married to Christopher Thompson. They have two children.

The apocryphal biography of Fernand Contandin tells the invention of his artistic name Fernandel by his sister-in-law ("Voici le Fernand d'elles"). At the beginning of the thirties he became a typical actor of the comedy genre: popular, common, likable and with a concealed grain of drama. Marc Allégret was the director of his first successful film La meilleure bobonne (1931). He tried to work as director twice during World War II but was unsuccessful.

Robert Guédiguian was born on 3 December 1953 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He is a producer and writer, known for The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011), Marius and Jeannette (1997) and La ville est tranquille (2000). He has been married to Ariane Ascaride since 1975.

Leading French actress, born Catherine Vitale in Marseille, first trained as a dancer at fourteen. She subsequently attended the Institut cinématographique de Marseille and began on stage from 1956. She has acted in plays by Molière, Achard, Dostoievsky, Tolstoy, Anouilh, Shaw and Guitry. With Marie-France Boyer she co-founded the Théâtre du quotidien. Catherine Rouvel is best known on the screen for her roles in Jean Renoir's Picnic on the Grass (1959), Marcel Carné's Les assassins de l'ordre (1971), Jacques Deray's classic gangster film Borsalino (1970) and Jean-Jacques Annaud's Black and White in Color (1976).

Yvette Duguay was born on 24 June 1932 in Marseille, France. She was an actress, known for The Cimarron Kid (1952), The Shanghai Story (1954) and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1943). She was married to Robert C. Anderson, John F. Sheeley and Hal Paiss. She died on 14 October 1986 in Marina del Rey, California, USA.

Ariane Ascaride was born on 10 October 1954 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress and director, known for Marius and Jeannette (1997), Le voyage en Arménie (2006) and La ville est tranquille (2000). She has been married to Robert Guédiguian since 1975. They have two children.

Cédric Jimenez (born 26 June 1976) is a French film producer, film director and screenwriter. He is married to the screenwriter and journalist Audrey Diwan, with whom he has two children.

The film career of Cédric Jimenez starts through documentary means. In 2003, back in France after a long stay in New York, he puts his signature on 'Who's The Boss (Boss Of Scandalz Strategyz)', a documentary that follows the famous hip-hop music label which saw the group NTM hatch. He participated some years later to writing 'Scorpion' (signed Julien Seri), on the resurrection of a fallen Thai boxer, played by Clovis Cornillac, and continues to work with the actor in a science fiction film entitled 'Eden Log'.

It was only in 2012 that truly Cédric Jimenez started directing. He co-signs with Arnaud Duprey 'Aux yeux de tous', a feature film as original and ambitious, dipping a couple of terrorists (Mélanie Doutey and Olivier Barthelemy) in turmoil since a hacker hunted by keypad virtuoso. The film picks up an appointment at the International Thriller Film Festival of Beaune.

He takes his camera two years later (in 2014) to oppose Gilles Lellouche to Jean Dujardin in 'The Connection', crime fiction set in Marseille, amid international heroin trafficking, and inspired by the murder of Judge Pierre Michel. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Lara Lamberti was born on 21 March 1967 in Marseille, France. She is an actress and producer, known for Red Sonja (1985), Aenigma (1987) and CiviX.

Bernard d'Ormale was born on 15 August 1941 in Marseille, France. He has been married to Brigitte Bardot since 16 August 1992.

Michèle Perello was born on 28 December 1942 in Marseille, France. She was an actress. She died on 10 January 2004 in Paris, France.

Antonin Artaud was born on 4 September 1896 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. He was an actor and writer, known for The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), Lucrezia Borgia (1935) and Napoleon (1927). He died on 4 March 1948 in Ivry-sur-Seine, Val-de-Marne, France.

Axelle Laffont was born on 24 July 1970 in Marseille, France. She is a director and actress, known for MILF (2018), Addict (2016) and Le raid (2002).

Zinedine Yazid Zidane (born 23 June 1972), nicknamed "Zizou", is a French former professional football player and current manager of Real Madrid. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Zidane was an elite play-maker, renowned for his elegance, vision, ball control and technique, and played as an attacking midfielder for Cannes, Bordeaux, Juventus and Real Madrid. At club level, Zidane won two Serie A league titles with Juventus, before he moved to Real Madrid for a world record fee of EUR77.5 million in 2001, which remained unmatched for the next eight years. In Spain, Zidane won the La Liga title and the UEFA Champions League, with his left-foot volleyed winner in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final considered to be one of the greatest goals in the competition's history. Zidane also won an Intercontinental Cup and a UEFA Super Cup with both teams.

Capped 108 times by France, Zidane won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, scoring twice in the final and being named to the All-Star Team, while also winning UEFA Euro 2000, being named Player of the Tournament. The World Cup triumph made him a national hero in France, and he received the Légion d'honneur in 1998. He also received the Golden Ball for player of the tournament at the 2006 World Cup, despite his infamous sending off in the final against Italy for headbutting Marco Materazzi in the chest. He retired as the fourth-most capped player in France history.

Zidane received many individual accolades as a player, including being named the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003, and winning the 1998 Ballon d'Or. He was Ligue 1 Player of the Year in 1996, Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2001, and La Liga Best Foreign Player in 2002. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players compiled by Pelé, and in the same year was named the best European footballer of the past 50 years in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. Zidane is one of eight players to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the Ballon d'Or, and was the ambassador for Qatar's successful bid to stage the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the first Arab country to host the tournament.

After retiring as a player, Zidane transitioned into coaching, and began as his head coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla. He remained in the position for two years before taking the helm of the first team in January 2016. In his two and a half seasons with Madrid, Zidane won the UEFA Champions League an unprecedented three times consecutively, a La Liga title, a Supercopa de Espana, and the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice each. His success saw him named Best FIFA Men's Coach in 2017, but he resigned in May 2018. Following poor results by Real Madrid in the subsequent months, Zidane returned to the club as manager in March 2019.