Nicolas Giraud

Born in the town of Saintes, Charente-Maritime, French actor Nicolas Giraud took up masonry before switching over to dentistry as a profession. In 1999, he and his friend impulsively attended a casting call for the Bruno Podalydès comedy "Liberté-Oléron." After being cast in a small role, the experience compelled Giraud to quit his occupation as a dental technician and move to Paris to pursue performance. While his first recognizable role came from the small screen, playing Thomas Delauney in the police procedural "Femmes de loi" (TF1 2004-07), 2004 also marked the year that Giraud first worked with writer/director David Oelhoffen. This collaboration would prove fruitful over one short film, "Sous le bleu" (2004), and two critically acclaimed feature films, 2007's tense family drama "In Your Wake" and the Viggo Mortensen-starring Algerian War movie "Far From Men" (2014). Among his other work, Giraud proved his ability to jump from blockbuster to art house film with ease. Along with survivalist monster movie "High Lane" (2009), he collaborated with director Luc Besson, playing the man who kidnaps Liam Neeson's daughter in the international hit thriller "Taken" (2008). He also made several films with multifaceted auteur René Féret, including "Like a Star Shining in the Night" (2008), "Mozart's Sister" (2010), and the starring role in "Anton Tchékhov 1890" (2014). Giraud also wrote, directed, edited, and starred in his own short film, "Faiblesses" (2009).