Jean-Paul Belmondo (born April 9, 1933) is a French actor. He was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France, the son of the Parisian sculptor Paul Belmondo (1898-1982).
His breakthrough role was in Jean-Luc Godard's À bout de souffle (aka Breathless) (1960), which made him a major figure in the French New Wave. Later he played in Jean-Pierre Melville's philosophical movie Léon Morin, Prêtre (Leon Morin, Priest 1960), then in the Noir polar Le Doulos (The Fingerman 1963). With L'homme de Rio (aka That Man From Rio) (1965) he started to switch to commercial mainstream productions, mainly comedies and action films. Until the mid-1980s, Belmondo's typical characters have been either dashing adventurers or more cynical heroes. He was one of France's biggest box-office stars until 1986. As he grew older, Belmondo preferred concentrating on his stage work, where he encountered great success. He suffered a stroke in 2001 and has since been absent from the stage and the screen.
His son, Paul Belmondo (born 1963) was a Formula One driver.
Two Women (1961)
