Pierre Arditi was born on 1 December 1944 in Paris, child of the French paintor Georges Arditi (fr), from Marseille

Marseille

Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...

, and a Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 mother. He is an award-winning French film and stage actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

. He is the brother of French actress Catherine Arditi.

Being born before 1967 from a Belgian mother married to a foreign citizen, he is a famous example of non-transmission of Belgian citizenship

Belgian nationality law

Belgian citizenship is based on a mixture of the principles of Jus sanguinis and Jus soli. In other words, both place of birth and Belgian parentage are relevant for determining whether a person is a Belgian citizen. It is regulated by the Code of Belgian Nationality.In some circumstances...

 by mother's blood.

He has often played romantic, womanizing roles, similar to those played by Marcello Mastroianni

Marcello Mastroianni

Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni, Knight Grand Cross was an Italian film actor. His honours included British Film Academy Awards, Best Actor awards at the Cannes Film Festival and two Golden Globe Awards.- Personal life :...

.

In 1987 he won a César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

César Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role

List of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Supporting Actor .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:-References:...

 for his role in Mélo

Mélo

Mélo is a 1929 play by Henri Bernstein.It was first filmed in 1932 by Paul Czinner.The better-known 1986 French film based on the play was directed by Alain Resnais, and starred Fanny Ardant, André Dussollier, Sabine Azéma and Pierre Arditi...

, and in 1994, a César Award for Best Actor

César Award for Best Actor

This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Best Actor .-1970s:-1980s:-1990s:-2000s:-2010s:...

 for his role in Smoking/No Smoking

Smoking/No Smoking

Smoking/No Smoking is a 1993 French movie. It was directed by Alain Resnais and written by Agnès Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri, from the play Intimate Exchanges by Alan Ayckbourn...

.

Although his work has primarily been in French film and theater, Arditi is known in the Anglophone

English-speaking world

The English-speaking world consists of those countries or regions that use the English language to one degree or another. For more information, please see:Lists:* List of countries by English-speaking population...

 world as the French voice of Christopher Reeve

Christopher Reeve

Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...

. Arditi dubbed Christopher Reeve on the French-language version of the three first Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 movies by Richard Donner

Richard Donner

Richard Donner is an American film director, film producer, and comic book writer.The production company The Donners' Company is owned by Donner and his wife, producer Lauren Shuler Donner. After directing the horror film The Omen, Donner became famous for the hailed creation of the first modern...

 and Richard Lester

Richard Lester

Richard Lester is an American film director based in Britain. Lester is notable for his work with The Beatles in the 1960s and his work on the Superman film series in the 1980s.-Early years and television:...

 (See the French Wikipedia article on Pierre Arditi for more information). Because of the added footage in the DVD Special Edition of Donner's Superman, the movie had to be re-dubbed with a different voice actor, much to the chagrin of the generation of moviegoers who had grown up with the original soundtrack and identified Superman's voice with Arditi's. He also provided the French voice for Reeve in the comedy/whodunit Deathtrap

Deathtrap (film)

Deathtrap is a 1982 thriller film based on Ira Levin's play of the same name.The cast includes Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve, Dyan Cannon, Irene Worth and Henry Jones...

. Finally, he was the voice of the documentary serie Untamed Africa, written and produced by Frederic Lepage

Frederic Lepage

Frederic Lepage is writer and producer of several hundreds of TV shows and documentaries. His first feature film, Sunny and the Elephant, was released in France in december 2008.- Literary career :...

.

He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

 in 2002. He was made Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre national du Mérite

Ordre National du Mérite

The Ordre national du Mérite is an Order of State awarded by the President of the French Republic. It was founded on 3 December 1963 by President Charles de Gaulle...

 on 7 April 1994, and promoted Officier (Officer) in 2005.

External links