Hugo Becker

In 2010, French actor Hugo Becker was selected for Jeunes Espoirs--the Cannes Film Festival's showcase for young talent--based on a promising performance in a short film from writer-director Flavia Coste. The occasion marked his first taste of recognition after spending his youth absorbed with theater performances and intense training at the likes of the Conservatoir de Lille and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At Cannes, a casting agent invited him to read for "Gossip Girl," the CW's teen soap based on the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar. After an impressive audition in a tuxedo, the young actor--who had dreamed of owning a Triumph TR4 as a child--landed the role of the dashing, lovesick Prince Louis Grimaldi of Monaco for the show's fourth season. Hugo won fans in "Gossip Girl"'s young audience for his performance as the globe-trotting and exceedingly well-dressed heir. In a move that capitalized on the actor's growing talent and sophisticated screen persona, luxury brand Cartier pegged Becker to co-star in one of a series of Xan Cassavettes-scripted shorts directed by Luca Guadagnino, the Italian filmmaker behind 2010's critically acclaimed "I Am Love." In 2011, he appeared in the independent tragicomic romance "Damsels in Distress," the project that marked 1990s auteur Whit Stillman's return to film-making after an absence of more than a decade.