---
name: "Jean-Pierre Léaud"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/jean-pierre-leaud"
fi1m_id: "jean-pierre-leaud"
imdb_id: "nm0529543"
tmdb_id: 1653
wikidata_id: "Q295834"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "28 May 1944"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 6
average_fi1m_score: 84
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 3
updated: "2026-09-27T08:16:41.844957+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Jean-Pierre Léaud

## Identity

Jean-Pierre Léaud

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/jean-pierre-leaud
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** jean-pierre-leaud
- **IMDb ID:** nm0529543
- **TMDB ID:** 1653
- **Wikidata ID:** Q295834
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295834, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0529543/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1653

Actor. Born 28 May 1944 in Paris, France.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 28 May 1944, Paris, France
- **Active:** 1959–2011
- **Also known as:** Jean Pierre Leaud
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 6: 3 acting, 1 crew, 2 other
- **Frequently works with:** [François Truffaut](https://film.one/person/francois-truffaut.md)
- **Berlin International Film Festival:** 1 Berlin prize (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 84, as actor, over 3 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 91 (1), 1960s 78 (3), 1970s 86 (1), 1990s 82 (1)
- **Score spread:** 2 at 80+, 1 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 3 of 3 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Drama 3, Romance 2
- **Screen time:** 7 hours of reviewed films
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q295834, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0529543/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/1653

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The 400 Blows*](https://film.one/film/the-400-blows.md) (91), [*Masculin Féminin*](https://film.one/film/masculin-feminin.md) (76)
- **MUBI:** [*Alphaville*](https://film.one/film/alphaville.md) (78)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Jean-Pierre Léaud

> Jean-Pierre Léaud lets difficult people be difficult and still earns our affection. We value the vulnerability beneath his defiance, especially with François Truffaut, though his emphatic gestures and delivery can also become mannered.

In *The 400 Blows* (1959), Jean-Pierre Léaud lets Antoine Doinel be a nuisance. The boy lies and skips school, and Léaud gives him enough defiance for us to understand why the adults lose patience. We were hurt by their neglect because he makes Antoine vulnerable without asking us to excuse everything he does. François Truffaut allows us to find the boy difficult, which makes the affection the performance earns more convincing. Jean Constantin’s music sometimes presses for sympathy, but Léaud has already given us reason enough to care.

Truffaut kept returning to Doinel, and Léaud played him in four further films through 1979. *Stolen Kisses* (1968) takes the adult Antoine through work and romance; the Doinel films draw on Léaud’s comic timing as well as his vulnerability. The appeal of that continuing role is easy to understand after *The 400 Blows*: we have been allowed to care about someone without being assured that he will behave himself. Léaud’s gestures and emphatic delivery are distinctive, though neither is what makes that first performance matter.

With Jean-Luc Godard, the emphasis shifts towards feverish speech and verbal precision, as in *Masculin Féminin* (1966). Jean Eustache’s *The Mother and the Whore* (1973), with Léaud as Alexandre, offers another substantial role outside Doinel. His declamatory style can become mannered, and we would not pretend that every eccentric flourish is revealing. The useful distinction is there in Antoine: Léaud’s defiance tells us something about the boy, rather than simply giving us something to notice about the actor.

His work continued beyond the New Wave years, with directors including Olivier Assayas, Bertrand Bonello and Albert Serra, into the 2010s. Yet Truffaut remains our starting point, partly because the Doinel films allow Léaud to be funny without dismissing his confusion. There are limits to that closeness: in *The 400 Blows*, the adults sometimes seem less fully understood than Antoine, despite Claire Maurier and Albert Rémy resisting easy villainy. Begin there, and give the boy the patience the adults struggle to find.

## Biography

Jean-Pierre Léaud is a French actor. He made his screen debut as a child and was cast at the age of 14 as Antoine Doinel in François Truffaut's *The 400 Blows* (1959).

Léaud reprised the role of Doinel in four further Truffaut films spanning two decades: the short *Antoine and Colette* (1962), *Stolen Kisses* (1968), *Bed and Board* (1970) and *Love on the Run* (1979). He appeared in multiple films by Jean-Luc Godard, including *Masculin Féminin* (1966) and *La Chinoise* (1967), and worked with directors including Jacques Rivette, Jean Eustache and Aki Kaurismäki.

Born in Paris in 1944, Léaud is the son of actress Jacqueline Pierreux and screenwriter Pierre Léaud. He has received awards including the Silver Bear for Best Actor for *Masculin Féminin* and an Honorary César.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (6)

### Performed in (3) — the average rests on these

- *The Mother and the Whore* (1973), Fi1m 86, as Alexandre — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mother-and-the-whore.md)
- *Masculin Féminin* (1966), Fi1m 76, as Paul — [page](https://film.one/film/masculin-feminin.md)
- *The 400 Blows* (1959), Fi1m 91, as Antoine Doinel — [page](https://film.one/film/the-400-blows.md)

### Crew (1)

- *Alphaville* (1965), Fi1m 78, as Breakfast Waiter (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/alphaville.md)

### Also credited (2) — thanks, archive footage, uncredited

- *Elizabeth* (1998), Fi1m 82, as (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/elizabeth.md)
- *Weekend* (1967), Fi1m 81, as Saint-Just / Le Jeune Minet du 16ème (uncredited) — [page](https://film.one/film/weekend-1967.md)

## Complete filmography (102)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Jean-Pierre Léaud: The Child of Cinema* (2024), Thanks
- *Morceaux de Cannes* (2021), Actor
- *Alien Crystal Palace* (2018), as Horus
- *The Lion Sleeps Tonight* (2018), as Jean
- *M* (2017), as Le père de Lila
- *The Death of Louis XIV* (2016), as Louis XIV
- *El Brujo* (2016), Actor
- *Camille Rewinds* (2012), as Monsieur Dupont - l'horloger
- *Le Havre* (2011), as The Whistleblower
- *The Chalk Circle Man* (2009), as Le Nermord
- *Visage* (2009), as Antoine / King Herode
- *I Saw Ben Barka Get Killed* (2005), as Georges Franju
- *A Wonderful Spell* (2004), as Fernand
- *The Dreamers* (2003), as Jean-Pierre Léaud
- *In the Darkness of Time* (2002), as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *The War in Paris* (2002), as Haut Placé
- *The Pornographer* (2001), as Jacques Laurent
- *What Time Is It There?* (2001), as Man at Cemetery
- *The Marcorelle Affair* (2000), as François Marcorelle
- *A Matter of Taste* (2000), as Investigating judge
- *Innocent* (1999), as Le poète
- *Elizabeth* (1998), as (uncredited) — Fi1m 82, [page](https://film.one/film/elizabeth.md)
- *Just for Laughs* (1997), as Nicolas Gardinier
- *Irma Vep* (1996), as René Vidal
- *Diary of a Seducer* (1996), as Hugo
- *My Man* (1996), as Client
- *One Hundred and One Nights* (1995), as The Second Jean-Pierre (uncredited)
- *Nobody Loves Me* (1994), as Lucien
- *The Birth of Love* (1993), as Marcus
- *La Vie de Bohème* (1992), as Blancheron
- *Paris Awakens* (1991), as Clément
- *C'est la vie* (1991), Actor
- *Out 1* (1990), as Colin
- *I Hired a Contract Killer* (1990), as Henri
- *Paperback Woman* (1989), as Marc
- *Bunker Palace Hotel* (1989), as Solal
- *The Color of the Wind* (1988), as Decourt
- *36 Fillette* (1988), as Boris Golovine
- *Jane B. by Agnès V.* (1988), as The Angry Lover
- *Lady Cops* (1987), as Commissaire Bouvreuil
- *Boran -Time to Aim* (1987), as Assistant
- *Ossegg oder Die Wahrheit über Hänsel und Gretel* (1987), as Georg Ossegg
- *Rise and Fall of a Small Film Company* (1986), as Gaspard Bazin
- *With All Hands* (1986), as Marcel
- *Treasure Island* (1986), as Midas
- *Just a Movie* (1985), as Péter - a rendezõ
- *L'Herbe rouge* (1985), as Lazuli
- *Detective* (1985), as Inspector Neveu
- *Rebelote* (1984), as Rémi Chauveau
- *Paris Seen By... 20 Years After* (1984), as René (segment 3)
- *La cassure* (1984), as Police Commissioner Rauffast
- *Série noire* (1984), series, as Gaspard Bazin
- *Mersonne ne m'aime* (1982), as Daniel Flipo-Risq
- *Pour Bonnie* (1982), as Charles Blaine
- *Véra* (1982), Actor
- *Help Me Dream* (1981), as Mario
- *Parano* (1981), as Ignazio
- *Le petit Pommier* (1981), as Le vendeur de La Belle Aubaine
- *Love on the Run* (1979), as Antoine Doinel
- *Lola's Lolos* (1976), as Bernard Dubois
- *Hugs and Other Things* (1976), as Tom
- *De quoi s'agit-il?* (1974), Director
- *Out 1: Spectre* (1973), as Colin
- *Day for Night* (1973), as Alphonse
- *The Mother and the Whore* (1973), as Alexandre — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mother-and-the-whore.md)
- *L'Éducation sentimentale* (1973), series, as Frédéric Moreau
- *Last Tango in Paris* (1972), as Tom
- *Two English Girls* (1971), as Claude Roc
- *Out 1* (1971), series, as Colin
- *The Lion Has Seven Heads* (1971), as Preacher
- *A Girl Is a Gun* (1971), as Billy le Kid
- *The Heirs* (1970), as Danton
- *Bed and Board* (1970), as Antoine Doinel
- *The Wild Child* (1970), Thanks
- *Paul* (1969), as Paul
- *Pigsty* (1969), as Julian Klotz
- *Joy of Learning* (1969), as Émile Rousseau (uncredited)
- *Bad Company* (1969), as Daniel (archive footage)
- *Dialogue 20-40-60* (1968), as Adamík (segment "The Twenty-Year-Olds")
- *The Twenty-Year-Olds* (1968), as Adamik
- *Concentration* (1968), Actor
- *Stolen Kisses* (1968), as Antoine Doinel
- *Weekend* (1967), as Saint-Just / Le Jeune Minet du 16ème (uncredited) — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/weekend-1967.md)
- *La Chinoise* (1967), as Guillaume
- *The Oldest Profession* (1967), as The Bellhop (segment "Anticipation") (uncredited)
- *Anticipation, or Love in the Year 2000* (1967), as The Bellboy
- *The Departure* (1967), as Marc
- *Made in U.S.A* (1967), as Donald Siegel · Assistant Director
- *Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes* (1966), as Daniel
- *Masculin Féminin* (1966), as Paul — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/film/masculin-feminin.md)
- *Pierrot le Fou* (1965), as Young Man in Cinema (uncredited) · Assistant Director
- *Alphaville* (1965), as Breakfast Waiter (uncredited) · Assistant Director — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/alphaville.md)
- *Love at Sea* (1965), as The Boy at the Exit of the Cinema
- *The Married Woman* (1964), Assistant Director
- *The Soft Skin* (1964), Assistant Director Trainee
- *Mata Hari, Agent H21* (1964), as Absalon · Assistant Director
- *Antoine and Colette* (1962), as Antoine Doinel
- *Love at Twenty* (1962), as Antoine Doinel (segment "Antoine et Colette")
- *Boulevard* (1960), as Georges Castagnier, dit "Jojo"
- *Testament of Orpheus* (1960), as Dargelos, l'écolier
- *The 400 Blows* (1959), as Antoine Doinel — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/the-400-blows.md)
- *King on Horseback* (1958), as Pierrot

## Gallery

- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-51eb2b9467ea.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_C%C3%A9sars.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Bertrand Bonello et Jean-Pierre Léaud présentant "Le Pornographe" à la Cinémathèque française, en mars 2024.](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-eb5cfe810ba8.jpg) Bertrand Bonello et Jean-Pierre Léaud présentant "Le Pornographe" à la Cinémathèque française, en mars 2024. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Bertrand_Bonello_et_Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_2024.jpg/1280px-Bertrand_Bonello_et_Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- !["Les Quatre Cents Coups" (1959)](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-f244a6547fcf.jpg) "Les Quatre Cents Coups" (1959) — 宝石社, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/Japanese-edition-of-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Mystery-Magazine-1960-January-3.jpg/1280px-Japanese-edition-of-Alfred-Hitchcocks-Mystery-Magazine-1960-January-3.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud présentant "Le Pornographe" de Bertrand Bonello à la Cinémathèque française, en mars 2024.](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-ca8cf127c4b8.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud présentant "Le Pornographe" de Bertrand Bonello à la Cinémathèque française, en mars 2024. — ManoSolo13241324, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/78/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_2024.jpg/1280px-Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_2024.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-1e62bedb28e7.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-c8b362a351f6.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-ff88fd163757.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB
- ![چهارمین روز سی و ششمین جشنواره جهانی فیلم فجر (2018)](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-8deb82d04073.jpg) چهارمین روز سی و ششمین جشنواره جهانی فیلم فجر (2018) — Mehdi Bolourian, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Jean-Pierre_L%C3%A9aud_at_36th_fajr_international_film_festival.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- !["Les Quatre Cents Coups" (1959)](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-0c95cb5bdc3f.jpg) "Les Quatre Cents Coups" (1959) — キネマ旬報社, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3a/Kinema-Junpo-1960-February-late-2.jpg/1280px-Kinema-Junpo-1960-February-late-2.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-675f90f33d79.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-5036e15d5355.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB
- ![Jean-Pierre Léaud](https://film.one/media/person/60018/gallery-14c5768d3f17.jpg) Jean-Pierre Léaud — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### BAFTA Film Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1961: Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles (nominated), for *The 400 Blows*

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 1964: Best Actor (won), for *Masculin Féminin*

### Other awards — 2 won, 2 nominated

- Honorary Palme d'Or 2016: Honorary Palme d'Or (won)
- FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes 2001: FIPRESCI Prize of the Festival de Cannes (nominated), for *The Pornographer*
- Honorary César 2000: Honorary César (won)
- César Award for Best Supporting Actor 1988: César Award for Best Supporting Actor (nominated), for *Lady Cops*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/jean-pierre-leaud