In 1977, the actor-in-training, who spoke fluent English and a little Russian, joined the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique in Paris, where he studied under Jean-Pierre Miquel and Antoine Vitez.
Finding art-house cinema appealing to him, he worked with Philippe Garrel on Emergency Kisses (Les baisers de secours), and with Laurence Ferreira Barbosa on Modern Life.
The actor rose to fame in 2001 thanks to Laurent Cantet's Time Out (L'Emploi du Temps), in which he plays a man who invents a false life to avoid having to tell his friends and family that he has been fired from his job.
Lending his talents to a number of unusual projects, in 2006 he portrayed a gamblers in 13 Tzameti, Géla Babluani's black-and-white thriller, and also appeared in Forgive Me (Pardonnez-moi), Maïwenn's home-movie style drama.
In the same year, the physically imposing actor found himself transported back to 1914 France in Fragments of Antonin, and then to 1959 Kabylia in Florent Emilio Siri's Intimate Enemies.