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Suave sophistication and boyish charm seep gently from every movement as Jean Paul Belmondo caresses first his top and then his bottom lip. A move he repeats periodically through out his time on the screen in his first major role, “A bout de Souffle” (1960). The audience knows he’s no good, the girl is pretty sure he’s no good, but neither cares. As they debate the way to light a cigarette the playful tension mounts and his bad ways are almost revealed.

Likeable cad escapism characters repeat in several of Belmondo’s film roles as he becomes an icon of the French New Wave. A genre that captured much of the world in the 1950′s and 1960′s. A complex turn of influences including the Italian Neorealism and 1940′s Hollywood enveloped French filmmakers. This in turn influenced a new idea of American Independent film making.

Belmondo has made several films a year from 1956 until 2000. Moving easily from romantic quirky, comedy, science fiction and edgy political characters his roles are fluid and smooth. Working with brilliant writers and directors over the decades, such as Francois Truffant and Alain Resnais, Jean Paul Belmondo has solidified a character actor and leading man status.