Jean-Marc Barr is a French-American film actor and director, born on September 27, 1960, in Bitburg, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, to a French mother and an American father who served in the US Air Force during World War II.
Barr is bilingual, speaking French with a unique hybrid accent and English with a Mid-Atlantic accent, reflecting his American upbringing and French heritage. He studied philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Paris Conservatoire, and the Sorbonne, before pursuing a drama education at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where he met his future wife, pianist and composer Irina Dečermić.
Jean-Marc Barr began his career in French theatre in 1986, before transitioning to television and film roles, including a notable performance in John Boorman's Hope and Glory (1987) and the lead role in Luc Besson's The Big Blue (1988),opposite Rosanna Arquette and Jean Reno, which became the most financially successful film in France during the 1980s.
In 1991, he starred in Lars von Trier's Europa, marking the beginning of a long-term collaboration and friendship, which led to roles in von Trier's subsequent films, including Breaking the Waves (1996),Dancer in the Dark (2000),Dogville (2004),and Manderlay (2005). He also appeared in the French film Crustacés et Coquillages in 2005.
Barr's work with von Trier inspired him to begin directing his own projects. He made his directorial debut in 1999 with the intimate love story Lovers, which became the first part of a trilogy, followed by Too Much Flesh (2000) and Being Light (2001),which he co-directed with Pascal Arnold.
In addition to his film work, Barr may be recognized for his role as the attractive divorce lawyer, Maitre Bertram, in the Merchant Ivory film le Divorce (2003),and his appearance as Hugo in The Red Siren in 2002. He also starred as the main character in the video for Blur's 1995 single, "Charmless Man".
