Daniel Russo

Actor · Director

Paris, Ile-de-France, France

May 13, 1948

Biography

Daniel Russo is a French actor and screenwriter born May 13, 1948 in Paris. Originally from Marseille, Daniel Russo was born in Paris during a trip by his parents. These having divorced at the beginning of the 1950s, his mother obtained custody of him but had him placed at the age of four in residential care. His father finally obtained custody in Marseilles where he was brought up. Passionate about drawing and painting, he joined the Boulle school and became an interior decorator, working with his father who intended him to take over the family business. At the same time, he does theater to correct his diction following an accident that broke his jaw at thirteen. Decorating Robert Lamoureux's apartment one day, the latter invites him to see him play and introduces him to the magic of the stage. He then entered the Ecole de la rue Blanche and then the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art (Promo 1974) where he won four prizes. At the same time, he was a rock guitarist in the Magic Stars, then Les Proverbes (pretending to be Antoine's group), performing at rock concerts in the Paris region. He joined Jacques Fabbri's theater company, with whom he appeared on the TV show Tutti Fabbri broadcast on the 1st channel from Sunday January 13, 1974. He appeared for the first time in cinema in 1976 in The Judge and the Assassin by Bertrand Tavernier in a small role as a guard. In the early 1980s, he played on the boards of the Café-Théâtre des Blancs-Manteaux and began to be spotted by certain critics for the excellence of his playing, 'remarkably expressive'. Thereafter, he interpreted many small roles before the public noticed him in Génial, mes parents divorcent!, a success of Patrick Braoudé in 1990, director whom he will find for Neuf mois in 1994. With this resurgence of popularity, he chained roles with Bertrand Tavernier, Étienne Chatiliez or Gérard Oury. The collaboration with Laurent Baffie will be fruitful in the theater: Sex, Shenanigans and General Culture, Toc toc and in the play Jacques Daniel with Claude Brasseur. On television, his performances in On the Edge or in Suzie Berton are noticed. He plays in the series Trois pères à la maison on M6 and La vie est à nous. Then he played Pierre Bérégovoy in the TV movie A Man of Honor in 2009. He lent his voice for many dubs, including the French voices of Harvey Keitel, Danny DeVito, Bob Hoskins, John Travolta, Matt Dillon. He gave up this field in the mid-2000s.