The French-Danish actor who played ‘A Prophet,’ was 75
Niels Arestrup (75), a French-Danish actor and director, who won Cesar awards for his performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Stopped and A Prophet and was known for his Cesar award-winning performances, died at his Paris home at the age 75.
Isabelle Le Nouvel, an actress, screenwriter, and author, announced the death of Arestrup on Sunday.
The actor has won three French Cesars in his career, the last one for Bertrand Tavernier’s political satire The French Minister.
Arestrup grew up with a Danish dad and a French mother from Brittany. He was born in Paris to humble parents. After failing his high school exams, he worked odd jobs before slowly moving into television and drama.
In A Prophet Arestrup played the ruthless Corsican gangster Cesar Luciani who introduces Malik (Tahar Rahim) to a criminal life in exchange for his protection.
Arestrup also had a career highlight in Volker Schlondorff’s Diplomacy in which he played Dietrich von Choltitz – the real-life German military Governor of occupied Paris during WWII – opposite Andre Dussollier, who played Swedish consul-general Raoul Nordling as he attempted to save the town from destruction.
Arestrup’s most recent appearances include Baron Noir by Ziad Doueiri and Les Papillons Noirs.
His first love was theatre, and he had a long career in the field. He won a Moliere Award for Best Actor for a production of John Logan’s play Red, about Rothko.
