Luc Besson
Birthdate: Mar 18, 1959
Birthplace: Paris, France
Luc Besson (birthname: Luc Paul Maurice Besson) has forged a unique position in European and English-language cinema as a director, writer, and producer of visually flashy genre-based movies that draw on commercial Hollywood elements, as well as having created EuropaCorp as a studio and distributor. Besson, after serving as an assistant director in Paris, had his filmmaking debut as director/co-writer/producer of the post-apocalyptic movie, Le Dernier Combat (1983), co-starring Pierre Jolivet (who also co-wrote and produced), Jean Bouise, Fritz Wepper, and Besson regular Jean Reno, and produced via Besson’s first film company, Les Films du Loup.
Besson was director/co-writer/producer of his first hit, the thriller Subway (1985), starring Isabelle Adjani, Christopher Lambert, Richard Bohringer, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Jean Reno, Michael Galabru, and Jean Bouise, grossing over $22 million. Besson enjoyed one of his biggest successes with his third feature as director/co-writer of The Big Blue (1988), with the international cast of Rosanna Arquette, Jean-Marc Barr, Reno, Paul Shenar, Sergio Castellitto and Griffin Dunne, and which delivered a huge 9.2 million admissions in the French market, making it one of the most popular French movies in history.
Luc Besson was director/writer of one of his best-received movies, La Femme Nikita (1990), starring Anne Parillaud, Jean-Hugues Anglade, Tcheky Karyo, Jeanne Moreau, Jean Bouise and Jean Reno, and which had such a widespread commercial success that it had a Hong Kong remake (Black Cat (1991)), an American remake (Point of No Return (1993)) and two TV series spinoffs--La Femme Nikita on Canadian television (1997) and Nikita on The CW network (2010). Besson then made his first non-fiction feature as director/writer/producer/co-cinematographer/editor of the oceanic venture, Atlantis (1991), co-photographed with Christian Petron.
Besson was director/writer of his first totally English-language movie starring Jean Reno, Leon: The Professional (1994), co-starring Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman (in her feature debut), and Danny Aiello, produced and released in France by Gaumont, and grossing over $45 million worldwide. Besson had one of his biggest commercial hits as director/co-writer of the English-language, French-produced sci-fi movie, The Fifth Element (1997), starring Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker and Milla Jovovich, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival (as opening film) and delivering a $264 million gross for distributors Columbia Pictures-Sony Pictures Releasing (U.S.)/Gaumont Buena Vista International (International).
Luc Besson was director/co-writer (with Andrew Birkin) of the English-language French historical epic, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999), starring Milla Jovovich (as Joan), John Malkovich, Faye Dunaway and Dustin Hoffman, but which failed to turn a profit with a weak $67 million global box-office for Gaumont Buena Vista International/Columbia Pictures-Sony Pictures Releasing. Besson, via his production/distribution company EuropaCorp, was director/writer/producer of the French romantic fantasy, Angel-A (2005), with Jamel Debbouze, Rie Rasmussen, Gilbert Melki, and Serge Riaboukine, and earned a profitable (based on estimated costs) $10 million return.
Besson launched his first franchise as director/co-writer/producer of the animated fantasy based on his book, Arthur and the Minimoys (2006), with the live-action actors Freddie Highmore and Mia Farrow and voice actors Madonna, Robert De Niro, Chazz Palminteri, Snoop Dogg and David Bowie, followed by the sequels, Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard (2009, with new cast members Selena Gomez, Lou Reed, william and Fergie), Arthur 3: The War of Two Worlds (2010), as well as the Besson-written and produced spinoff, Arthur, Malediction (2022), grossing a cumulative $218.2 million for EuropaCorp. Besson continued in the fantasy genre mode as director/writer of The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec (2010), based on Jacques Tardi’s comic book series, starring Louise Bourgoin, Mathieu Amalric, Phillippe Nahon, and Gilles Lellouche, grossing a poor $34 million (based on estimated costs) for producer-distributor EuropaCorp.
Luc Besson took a director-only credit for his first biopic, the commercial bomb The Lady (2011), written by Rebecca Frayn and co-starring Michelle Yeoh (as Burmese Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi), David Thewlis, Jonathan Woodhouse, and Jonathan Raggett, premiering at the Toronto Film Festival and grossing a poor $7.8 million globally. Besson, as director/co-writer, made one of his first comedies and first U.S.-based narratives, the Mafia-themed The Family (2013), based on Tonino Benacquista’s 2004 novel Malavita, starring Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones, and produced and released by Relativity Media (U.S.) and EuropaCorp (International).
Besson was director/writer of one of his biggest box-office hits with the French-produced sci-fi action movie, Lucy (2014), starring Scarlett Johansson (as a woman with psychokinetic powers), Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik and Amr Waked, with English/Taiwanese Mandarin/Korean/French dialogue and delivering a knockout $469 million return for distributor-producer EuropaCorp and international distributor Universal Pictures. Besson followed this huge hit by personally funding the massively expensive commercial bomb (based on estimated costs), Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), based on Pierre Christin’s French science fiction comics series, co-starring Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu and Rutger Hauer, and which marked a rare co-production between France, U.S., China, Germany, Belgium and the UAE.
Luc Besson was director/writer/producer of another action thriller featuring a female hero, the France/U.S.-backed Anna (2019), with Sasha Luss (in the title role), Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, and Helen Mirren, earning a poor $31.6 million for distributors Pathe Distribution (France)/Lionsgate (International). Besson was again director/writer of a French-produced and English-language thriller, Dogman (2023), starring Caleb Landry Jones, Jojo T. Gibbs, and Christopher Denham, premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival, and which grossed over $4 million for EuropaCorp/Apollo Films.
Besson shifted as director/writer/producer to an ultra-low-budget production mode (shot during the COVID-19 pandemic) for his Los Angeles-shot rom-com, June and John (2025), with Matilda Price and Luke Stanton Eddy, and produced by EuropaCorp. Besson was director/writer of the far more expensive (based on estimated costs) version of Dracula (2025), starring Caleb Landry Jones (as Dracula), Christoph Waltz, Zoe Bleu, Matilda De Angelis and Guillaume de Tonquedec, backed by Luc Besson Production/EuropaCorp/TF1 Films Production/SND and opening wide in the U.S. in early 2026 after grossing $28 million in France in 2025 via distributor SND.
Luc Besson has a long roster of credits as writer/producer, starting in 1986 with Kamikaze, continuing with Taxi (1998), Taxi 2 (2000), The Dancer (2000), Kiss of the Dragon (2001), Wasabi (2001), The Transporter (2002), Taxi 3 (2003), Fanfan la Tulipe (2003), Michel Vaillant (2003), District 13 (2004), Unleashed (2005), Transporter 2 (2005), Revolver (2005), Bandidas (2006), Taxi 4 (2007), Taken (2008), Transporter 3 (2008), District 13: Ultimatum (2009), From Paris with Love (2010), Columbiana (2011), Lockout (2012), Taken 2 (2012), 3 Days to Kill (2014), Brick Mansions (2014), Taken 3 (2014), The Transporter Refueled (2015), The Warriors Gate (2016), Renegades (2017), Taxi 5 (2018), Weekend in Taipei (2024) and the action thriller, Father Joe (date to be announced), starring Al Pacino, Kiefer Sutherland, Erik Palladino, Michael Rispoli under Barthelemy Grossmann’s direction, and which was produced by EuropaCorp/L.B. Production. Besson has also been a producer on 26 features since 1991, including Nil by Mouth (1997), Taxi (2004), Tell No One (2006), Staten Island (2009), and two movies directed, written, and starring Tommy Lee Jones, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) and The Homesman (2014).
Personal life
Luc Besson was born in Paris and raised in several Mediterranean locations by his parents, who were scuba diving instructors with the resort company, Club Med. His parents divorced when he was ten years old, after his family had returned to life in France. Besson relocated to his Paris hometown when he was 18 years old to pursue a filmmaking career, working as an assistant director to directors Claude Faraldo and Patrick Grandperret. Besson was married to actor Anne Parillaud from 1986 to 1991, when they divorced; the couple had one daughter, Juliette. Besson was married to director/actor Maiwenn Le Besco from 1992 to 1997, when they divorced; the couple has one daughter, Shanna. Besson was married to actor Milla Jovovich from 1997 to 1999, when they divorced. Besson has been married to French film producer Virginie Silla since 2004; the couple has three children, including a daughter named Thalia. Besson’s height is 5’ 7 ¾”. Besson’s estimated net worth is $100 million.
Known For
Luc Besson Movies
director
Upcoming (1)
Previous (5)
- 2024 |
- 2019 |
- 2017 |
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
- 2014 |
- 1997 |
The Fifth Element
In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
actor
Previous (61)
producer
Previous (7)
- 2024 |
Weekend in Taipei
A former DEA agent and a former undercover operative revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.
- 2015 |
The Transporter Refueled
In the south of France, former special-ops mercenary Frank Martin enters into a game of chess with a femme-fatale and her three sidekicks who are looking for revenge against a sinister Russian kingpin.
- 2015 |
- 2015 |
- 2014 |
Brick Mansions
An undercover Detroit cop navigates a dangerous neighborhood that's surrounded by a containment wall with the help of an ex-con in order to bring down a crime lord and his plot to devastate the entire city.
- 2012 |
- 2002 |
The Transporter
Frank Martin, who "transports" packages for unknown clients, is asked to move a package that soon begins moving, and complications arise.
writer
Previous (3)
- 2024 |
- 2014 |
3 Days to Kill
A dying CIA agent trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter is offered an experimental drug that could save his life in exchange for one last assignment.
- 2012 |
Facts About Luc Besson
Accident: Luc Besson had planned to work in marine biology (due to his parents’ experience as scuba divers), but a diving accident at age 17 altered his plans toward filmmaking.
The “Look”: Besson was labelled by critic Raphael Bassan in La Revue du Cinema film journal as one of the filmmakers of the so-called “Cinema du look” style, grouped with such disparate filmmakers as Jean-Jacques Beineix and Leos Carax, favoring style over subject and narrative. It was a label that the filmmakers themselves generally rejected.
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