
Jean-Marc Barr
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean-Marc Barr (born on 27 September 1960 in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany) is a French-American film actor and director. His mother is French. His American father was in the US Air Force and served in the Second World War. Jean-Marc Barr is primarily known as an actor, but is also a film director, screenwriter and producer. Barr is bilingual in French and English: he speaks French with a nasal, hybrid accent, reminiscent of his American upbringing - with a slight American accent and occasional anglicisms in interviews - and English with a Mid-Atlantic accent.
He studied philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Paris Conservatoire and the Sorbonne. He went on to pursue an education in drama at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. In London he met his future wife, a pianist and composer Irina Dečermić.
Jean-Marc Barr began working in theatre in France in 1986. After some television roles and film work, in particular, Hope and Glory (1987) by John Boorman, he was cast in the tremendously successful The Big Blue (1988). Luc Besson cast him in the role of French diver Jacques Mayol. He played in the role opposite Rosanna Arquette and Jean Reno. The Big Blue was the most financially successful film in France in the 1980s.
In 1991, he starred in Danish director Lars von Trier's Europa, marking the beginning of a long friendship (he is the godfather of von Trier's children) as well as a significant professional relationship. He went on to appear in von Trier’s Europa (1991), Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000), Dogville (2004) and Manderlay (2005). Also in 2005 he starred in the French film Crustacés et Coquillages.
His collaboration with von Trier put him on track to start directing his own work. He debuted in 1999 as a director, screenwriter and producer with the intimate love story Lovers. This film became the first part of a trilogy; the two subsequent parts being the drama Too Much Flesh (2000) and the comedy Being Light (2001) which he co-directed with Pascal Arnold.
He may also be recognized for his role as the attractive divorce lawyer, Maitre Bertram in the Merchant Ivory film le Divorce (2003). He appeared as Hugo in The Red Siren in 2002. He appeared as the main character in the video for Blur's 1995 single, "Charmless Man".
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Acting (77 movies)

Dancer in the Dark
2000

Breaking the Waves
1996

The Big Blue
1988

Cockles and Muscles
2005

Dogville
2003

Being Light
2001

Tara Road
2005

The Boss of It All
2006

This Is the End
2023

Making Plans for Lena
2009

Hope and Glory
1987

Europa
1991

Baby Blues
2008

City of Shadows
2010

Iron Horsemen
1995

His Mother's Eyes
2011

Le fils préféré
1994

St. Ives
1998

Tranceformer: A Portrait of Lars von Trier
1997

Don't Let Me Die on a Sunday
1998

American Translation
2011

The Car Keys
2003

The Red Siren
2002

What I Did for Love
1998

Too Much Flesh
2000

Big Sur
2013

Parc
2009

And They Call It Summer
2012

Vandal
2013

Nucingen House
2009

Manhattan Romance
2013

Blaze
1991

The Pod Generation
2023

Here’s Looking at You, Boy
2007

Fantasmes ! Sexe, fiction et tentations
2013

Heavy Rain
2010

CQ2 (Seek You Too)
2004

Mary's Sons
2002

Nymphomaniac: Vol. II
2013

The Anarchist's Wife
2008

The Plague
1992

Silent Land
2022

Table ronde autour de Lars von Trier
2023

Practical Guide to Belgrade with Singing and Crying
2011

Buğday
2017

Homme et Dauphin : Mode d’emploi
1997

The Rebellious
2024

Hotel du Lac
1986

The Name of This Film Is Dogme95
2000

Marching in Darkness
1996

Wax - We Are The X
2016

The Academy
2025

Les Faussaires
1994

UK18
2017

Maurice
1987

Dolphin Man
2017

After the War
2017

The Call
2018

The Cellar
2018

FreeDogme
2000

Manderlay
2005

The Infidels
1997

Dimension
2010

My Best Part
2020

Cut Off
2018

Whoever Was Using This Bed
2016

Le Divorce
2003

The Last Mirage
2014

Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story
1985

Lifeline
1996

King David
1985

L'Échappée belle
1996

Meurtres en dentelles
2025

Death of a World Star
1994

blur | The Best Of
2000

The Big Blue Adventure
1988

Army of Lovers
2025
Directing (7 movies)
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Lovers | 1999 | Producer |
| Lovers | 1999 | Writer |
| Too Much Flesh | 2000 | Writer |
| Being Light | 2001 | Executive Producer |
| Being Light | 2001 | Writer |
| American Translation | 2011 | Producer |
| Sexual Chronicles of a French Family | 2012 | Producer |
| The Rebellious | 2024 | Screenplay |


