Niels Arestrup
French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter (1949–2024)
title: "Niels Arestrup" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1949-births", "2024-deaths", "french-male-film-actors", "french-male-television-actors", "french-people-of-danish-descent", "officers-of-the-ordre-national-du-mérite", "french-film-directors", "french-male-screenwriters", "20th-century-french-male-actors", "21st-century-french-male-actors", "male-actors-from-paris", "best-supporting-actor-césar-award-winners", "20th-century-french-screenwriters", "21st-century-french-screenwriters", "20th-century-french-male-writers", "21st-century-french-male-writers"] description: "French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter (1949–2024)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Arestrup" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter (1949–2024) ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Niels Arestrup |
| image | Niels Arestrup Césars 2014.jpg |
| caption | Arestrup at the 2014 César Awards |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Montreuil, France |
| death_date | |
| death_place | Ville-d'Avray, France |
| occupation | |
| years_active | 1960s–2023 |
| spouse | |
| children | 2 |
| :: |
|name = Niels Arestrup |image = Niels Arestrup Césars 2014.jpg |caption = Arestrup at the 2014 César Awards |birth_date = |birth_place = Montreuil, France |death_date = |death_place = Ville-d'Avray, France |occupation = |years_active = 1960s–2023 |spouse = |children = 2
Niels Arestrup (; 8 February 1949 – 1 December 2024) was a French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter.
Early life and career
Arestrup was born in Paris on 8 February 1949, into a family of modest means; his father was Danish and his mother was Breton. In his youth, he studied at Tania Balachova's acting courses. He began his acting career in the theatre.
Arestrup won three César Awards for Best Supporting Actor for The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, then Quai d'Orsay. The two first films were directed by Jacques Audiard.
In 2017, he won the Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work on Acting and in 2019, he won the Molière Award for Best Actor for his work on Red. He was previously nominated in this same category in 2000 for Copenhagen, in 2006 for Letters to a Young Poet and in 2012 for Diplomacy.
Personal life and death
In 2012, after ten years together, Arestrup married the actress, screenwriter and author Isabelle Le Nouvel. The same year, they had twins, a boy and a girl.
Arestrup died following a long illness in Ville-d'Avray, France, on 1 December 2024 at the age of 75.
Theatre
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Filmography
Cinema
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Television
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| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | La dernière carte | Wilhem Kasda | TV movie | |
| Messieurs les jurés | Jean-Roger Pasquier | André Michel | TV series (1 episode) | |
| 1977 | ** | Jean-Luc | Markus Imhoof | TV movie |
| Cinéma 16 | Brandy | Bernard Dubois | TV series (1 episode) | |
| 1978 | Lulu | Schwarz | Marcel Bluwal | TV movie |
| 1979 | Le tourbillon des jours | Germain | Jacques Doniol-Valcroze | TV mini-series |
| 1980 | Bruges la morte | Hugues Viane | TV movie | |
| Le petit théâtre d'Antenne 2 | The client | TV series (1 episode) | ||
| 1981 | Les héritiers | Serge | Bruno Gantillon | TV series (1 episode) |
| Mon meilleur Noël | The father | Gabriel Axel | TV series (1 episode) | |
| 1982 | La cerisaie | Lopakhine | Peter Brook | TV movie |
| La danse de mort | Kurt | Claude Chabrol | TV movie | |
| Le retour d'Elisabeth Wolff | Stan Pilgrim | Josée Dayan | TV movie | |
| Les secrets de la princesse de Cadignan | Rastignac | Jacques Deray | TV movie | |
| 1983 | Les poneys sauvages | Ben | TV mini-series | |
| 1984 | Mademoiselle Julie | Jean | Yves-André Hubert | TV movie |
| 1987 | Série noire | Angelo | Daniel Duval | TV series (1 episode) |
| 1988 | La ruelle au clair de lune | Professor Hans Klemm | Édouard Molinaro | TV movie |
| 1989 | Manon Roland | Danton | Édouard Molinaro | TV movie |
| The Post Office Girl | Ferdinand Farner | Édouard Molinaro | TV mini-series | |
| 1991 | La grande dune | Keiser | Bernard Stora | TV movie |
| 1992 | La femme abandonnée | Oskar de Wilno | Édouard Molinaro | TV movie |
| 1993 | Albert Savarus | Albert Savarus | Alexandre Astruc | TV movie |
| 1995 | Les derniers jours de la victime | Mendizabal | Bruno Gantillon | TV movie |
| 2000 | La part de l'ombre | Charles Oberlé | Philippe Venault | TV movie |
| Fernando Krapp m'a écrit cette lettre | Fernando Krapp | Yves di Tullio & Bernard Murat | TV movie | |
| 2002 | Les enquêtes d'Éloïse Rome | Van Rooten | TV series (1 episode) | |
| 2006 | Le Rainbow Warrior | The Duke | Pierre Boutron | TV movie |
| 2009 | Suite noire | Gérard | Emmanuelle Bercot | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2016 | Republican Gangsters | Francis Laugier | Ziad Doueiri | TV series (8 episodes) |
| 2017 | Capitaine Marleau | Hervé Gerfaut | Josée Dayan | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2019 | Calls | Adam | Timothée Hochet | TV series (1 episode) |
| 2022 | Black Butterflies | Albert Desiderio | Olivier Abbou | TV series (6 episodes) |
| :: |
As director/writer
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Niels_Arestrup.jpg" caption="Niels Arestrup in 2010 to the [[35th César Awards"] ::
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| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Du blues dans la tête | Writer |
| 2007 | The Candidate | Director and writer |
| :: |
Accolades
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References
References
- (10 April 2007). "Lassez-moi tranquille".
- Caroline Bodinat. (12 April 2014). "Niels Arestrup, le magnétique". [[Le Figaro]].
- (12 April 2014). "Niels Arestrup, le magnétique".
- (1 December 2024). "L'acteur Niels Arestrup, figure de films de Jacques Audiard et grand homme de théâtre, est mort". Le Monde.
- (December 2024). "Niels Arestrup, one of Jacques Audiard's leading men, has died aged 75". Le Monde.
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