Fabrice Luchini was born in Paris, into an Italian immigrant family from Assisi[1] who were greengrocers.

He grew up around the neighbourhood of Goutte d'Or in Paris's 18th arrondissement.

His first film role was in Tout peut arriver in 1969, directed by Philippe Labro.

He then appeared in Éric Rohmer's Le Genou de Claire in 1970 playing a small role as an adolescent.

He went on to appear in Rohmer's Perceval le Gallois and Les Nuits de la pleine lune, and also in films directed by Walerian Borowczyk, Nagisa Oshima, Claude Chabrol, Claude Lelouch, Cedric Klapisch and Édouard Molinaro.