Poupaud made his film debut at the age of 10 in Raúl Ruiz's City of Pirates (1983), whom he met through his mother.

[1] He subsequently appeared in nine more of Ruiz's films, including The Insomniac on the Bridge (1985), Treasure Island (1986), Genealogies of a Crime (1997), Time Regained (1999) and Love Torn in a Dream (2000).

[2] For his roles in Jacques Doillon's The 15 Year Old Girl (1989) and Laurence Ferreira Barbosa's Normal People Are Nothing Exceptional (1993), Poupaud received two nominations for the César Award for Most Promising Actor.

He starred in François Ozon's Time to Leave,[3] and co-starred with Parker Posey in Zoe Cassavetes' Broken English.

[11] Melvil Poupaud, Quel est Mon noM, Paris, Éditions Stock, coll.