R.I.P. Gaspard Ulliel, French actor and Moon Knight star
The 37-year-old actor died following a ski accident in France
Gaspard Ulliel, the French actor perhaps best known to US audiences for his roles in Hannibal Rising and for his upcoming role in Disney+’s Moon Knight, has died after a ski accident. The news was confirmed by AFP, per Deadline. He was 37.
Ulliel was skiing in the Savoie region of France when he and another skier collided at an intersection between two slopes. He was taken to the hospital via helicopter on Tuesday and, local French broadcaster France Bleu said he was in serious condition and sustained a skull injury, per ABC News. According to the Savoie prosecutor’s office, an investigation into the accident has been launched.
Conditions out on the slope have been treacherous due to the weather conditions in the area. According to ABC News, the mountain police have had to organize “five or six rescues per day in recent days as the snow has hardened.”
Ulliel was born in the suburbs of France to a runway show producer mother and a stylist father. He studied cinema at the University of Saint-Denis, and he got started on his acting career while he was still in school.
During the late ‘90s and early ‘oos, he appeared in a slew of made-for-TV movies and began solidifying his role in the French acting world. However, he achieved international success in 2007 with Hannibal Rising, his first English-language film.
Ulliel was thrice nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actor in 2002, 2003, 2004, when he won for his role in A Very Long Engagement with Audrey Tautou. In 2017, he won the César Award for Best Actor for his role in Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End Of The World, which costarred Vincent Cassel, Marion Cotillard, and Léa Seydoux.
Ulliel was also the face of Chanel’s men’s fragrance, Bleu de Chanel, since the cologne’s launch in 2010.
Most recently, Ulliel filmed a role in Marvel’s Moon Knight series for Disney+. In the six-episode series, set to be released this March, Ulliel was cast as Midnight Man, often portrayed in the comics as a thief and archrival of Moon Knight.
Ulliel is survived by his partner Gaëlle Piétri and their son.