Gaspard Ulliel

Born: November 25 1984
Where: Boulogne Ballancourt, France

The actor attracted international attention when he stepped into Anthony Hopkins' shoes to play serial killer Hannibal Lecter.

The movie - Hannibal Rising - told the story of how the young Lecter became versed in murder following the death of his sister at the hands of Lithuanian renegades during WWII.

Ulliel first gained attention in Michel Blanc's sublime 2002 adaptation of the Joseph Connelly novel Summer Things.

He was twice been nominated as most promising newcomer in the Cesar (French Oscar) awards - for Strayed and Summer Things.

The son of a stylist father and producer mother, Ulliel acquired the trademark scar on his left cheek when he was attacked by a dobermann at the age of six.

When he was 12 a friend of his mother's established a casting agency and asked him to join.

After initially wanting to direct while studying cinema at the University of Saint-Denis, he opted instead to become an actor.

He made his small screen debut - in the TV film Une Femme en blanc - while still at school and went on to work in television.

Roles followed in the short Alias and he also had a supporting role in the horror-thriller The Brotherhood of the Wolves as well as the farce Summer Things.

In 2003, he played Ivan, the boy who leads a teacher (Emmanuelle Beart) and her family away from the Nazis in Strayed.

Peter Greenaway also cast him in his bizarre drama The Tulse Luper Suitcases: Part Two.

In 2004, he landed critical acclaim for the role of Manech, the fiance of Audrey Tautou missing in the Great War trenches after being courtmartialed in A Very Long Engagement.