Hippolyte Girardot

Hippolyte Girardot (born Frédéric Girardot; 10 October 1955) is a French actor, film director and screenwriter. A loner, Hippolyte Girardot set out to be an illustrator. He dreamt of working as production designer on the film set and tempted his chance at the entrance exam to the Arts Déco.

While there, he was offered the project of a series of shorts working with a group of adolescents from the suburbs in a workshop setting. Even if he made his first appearance on the silver screen as the son of actor Claude Rich in "John's Wife" by Yannick Bellon, who was a friend of his mother's, he still had no intention of becoming an actor and continued to take on the various jobs proposed. Hippolyte Girardot developed a taste for acting while filming "The Destiny of Juliette" (1983) by Aline Issermann, and again with the same director for "L'Amant magnifique".

He got his first nods from the profession when he was nominated for Most Promising Young Actor in 1985 for "Le Bon Plaisir", continuing his career with Godard ("First Name: Carmen") and other A film projects, notably in "Fort Saganne" and "Jean de Florette II" in which he plays a school teacher in love with Emmanuelle Beart. His film acclaim arrived in 1990 with "A World Without Pity", a disenchanted observation of society by Eric Rochant; his character Hippo resonated with an entire generation: ironically aimless yet charming.