Antoine Basler

Antoine Basler is a veteran Swiss character actor best known to worldwide audiences for a small but crucial role in the Academy Award-nominated French prison drama "A Prophet" (2009). Basler studied at the Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Geneva from 1981-84, then at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts in Paris from 1984-86. In the '80s, he performed mostly in theatre, but made notable appearances in two films made in Jean-Luc Godard's creative circle: Anne-Marie Miéville's "The Book of Mary" (1985) and Jean-Bernard Menoud's "Jour et nuit" (1986). In the '90s, Basler found a fruitful relationship with Olivier Assayas, appearing in "Paris Wakes Up" (1991), "A New Life" (1993) and "Irma Vep" (1996). His big break came with a key role in Jan Kounen's star-studded French crime movie "Dobermann" (1997), in which he starred alongside Vincent Cassel, Monica Bellucci and Romain Duris. He worked again with Kounen ten years later, in his adaptation of Frédéric Beigbeder's best-selling novel "99 Francs" (2007). Basler's turn in "A Prophet," Jacques Audiard's widely acclaimed and hugely successful prison saga, lead to an appearance in the long-running TV crime series "Night Squad" and a role in the big-budget action movie "The Assault" (2010).