Jean-Pierre Léaud, ComM is a French actor best known for his portrayal of Antoine Doinel in a series of films by François Truffaut, beginning with The 400 Blows (1959). Léaud is a significant figure of the French New Wave, having also worked with Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, and Jacques Rivette, as well as other notable directors such as Jean Cocteau, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Bernardo Bertolucci, Catherine Breillat, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Aki Kaurismäki.
Léaud at the 2000 César Awards
Léaud at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
Antoine Doinel is a fictional character created by François Truffaut and portrayed by actor Jean-Pierre Léaud in five films directed by Truffaut. Doinel is to a great extent an alter ego for Truffaut; they share many of the same childhood experiences, look somewhat alike and are even mistaken for one another on the street. Although Truffaut did not initially plan for Doinel to be a recurring character, he eventually returned to the character in one short and three features after introducing him in his debut film The 400 Blows (1959). In all, Truffaut followed the fictional life of Antoine Doinel for over 20 years, depicting his romance with Christine in Stolen Kisses, then Antoine and Christine's marriage in Bed and Board and their subsequent divorce in Love on the Run.
Jean-Pierre Léaud as Antoine Doinel in the final scene of The 400 Blows
François Truffaut and Claude Jade at the Avant-Premiere of their third Doinel film Love on the Run