Emerging from a theatrical lineage in Lausanne, where his mother Jacqueline Porel and grandmother Gabrielle Réjane were prominent French performers, he stepped onto the screen at eighteen with Costa-Gavras' Shock Troops. Early French productions such as The Sicilian Clan and La Horse placed him alongside Jean Gabin, while The Road to Salina and leading parts in The Most Gentle Confessions and Un p…
