ĭepardieu at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival Acting career Īt the age of sixteen, Depardieu left Châteauroux for Paris. He also acted as a bodyguard for prostitutes who came down from Paris on weekends, the GIs' payday. ĭuring a difficult adolescence, he "got by", through committing theft and smuggling all kinds of goods ( cigarettes, alcohol), among others with the GIs of the important American air base of Châteauroux-Déols. Practically illiterate and half stammering, he learned to read only later. He spent more time on the streets than in school, leaving at the age of 13. Gérard helped his mother in the deliveries of his younger brothers and sisters. Gérard Depardieu grew up in poverty in a two-room apartment at 39 rue du Maréchal-Joffre, Châteauroux, in a proletarian family with five brothers and sisters. He also became involved in selling stolen goods, and was put on probation. After leaving school at the age of thirteen, he worked at a printworks. He is one of the five children of Anne Jeanne Josèphe (née Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu, a metal worker and volunteer fireman. Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France. He co-starred in Peter Weir's comedy Green Card (1991), winning a Golden Globe Award, and later acted in many big budget Hollywood movies including Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996), Randall Wallace's The Man in the Iron Mask (1998), and Ang Lee's Life of Pi (2012). He has received acclaim for his performances in The Last Metro (1980), for which he won the César Award for Best Actor, in Police (1985), for which he won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor, Jean de Florette (1986), and Cyrano de Bergerac (1990), for which he won the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival and his second César Award for Best Actor as well as garnering a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was granted citizenship of Russia in January 2013 (officially adopted name in Russian: Жерар Депардьё, romanized: Zherar Depardyo), and became a cultural ambassador of Montenegro during the same month. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur and Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite. Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu, CQ ( UK: / ˈ d ɛ p ɑːr d j ɜː, ˌ d ɛ p ɑːr ˈ d j ɜː/, US: /- ˈ d j ʌ, ˌ d eɪ p ɑːr ˈ dj uː/, French: ( listen) born 27 December 1948) is a French actor.