Niels Arestrup
Highest Rated: 100% I, You, She, He (1974)
Lowest Rated: 34% By the Sea (2015)
Birthday: Feb 08, 1949
Birthplace: Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France
Since the 1960s, French-Danish actor Niels Arestrup has played shady and corrupt characters in everything from theatrical stage productions to feature films. After graduating from high school, Arestrup trained at the prestigious drama academy founded by Russian actress Tania Balachova. He began acting in the theater, and by the early 1970s had transitioned to film and TV with a steady stream of supporting roles in films like "Stavisky...," about a charismatic con man who almost touches off a civil war in 1930s France; and the political comedy thriller "The Sorcerer's Apprentice." By the end of the '80s, he had moved on from background supporting roles to more substantial parts: he was cast as an antagonistic mercenary in the "Dirty Dozen"-inspired action adventure film "Les loups entre eux," and played a fascist-sympathizing police commander in the political thriller "La Rumba." After spending several years appearing in made-for-TV movies and low-profile thrillers, Arestrup reignited his career in 2005 with a searing performance in Jacques Audiard's BAFTA-winning crime film "The Beat that My Heart Skipped." Arestrup brought a weary toughness to his role as Robert Seyr, a career criminal and deadbeat landlord who forces his son to serve as his enforcer. He later portrayed a viciously cunning Corsican crime boss in Audiard's critically-acclaimed prison drama "A Prophet," and has also appeared as a former hostage victim in the 2007 biopic "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and as a kindly grandfather in Steven Spielberg's World War I epic "War Horse."
Photos
Highest Rated Movies
Filmography
Movies
| Credit | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Case | Unknown (Character) | - | 2019 |
| 79% | 64% | At Eternity's Gate | Madman (Character) | $2.3M | 2018 |
| 46% | 50% | Return to Montauk | Unknown (Character) | - | 2017 |
| 94% | 82% | See You up There | Marcel Péricourt (Character) | - | 2017 |
| 34% | 28% | By the Sea | Michel (Character) | $531K | 2015 |
| 94% | 81% | Diplomacy | Général von Choltitz (Character) | $230.9K | 2014 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | So Long, Africa | Jacques (Character) | - | 2013 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Dune | Reuven (Character) | - | 2013 |
| 62% | 54% | The French Minister | Claude Maupas (Character) | $3.8K | 2013 |
| 93% | 69% | Our Children | André Pinget (Character) | $5.5K | 2012 |
| 74% | 74% | War Horse | Grandfather (Character) | $79.9M | 2011 |
| 89% | 69% | You Will Be My Son | Paul (Character) | $221.2K | 2011 |
| No Score Yet | 62% | Small World | Thomas Senn (Character) | - | 2010 |
| 72% | 82% | Sarah's Key | Jules Dufaure (Character) | $7.7M | 2010 |
| 86% | 63% | The Big Picture | Bartholomé (Character) | $158.4K | 2010 |
| 97% | 89% | A Prophet | César Luciani (Character) | $2.1M | 2009 |
| 86% | 76% | Farewell | Vallier (Character) | - | 2009 |
| 94% | 92% | The Diving Bell and the Butterfly | Roussin (Character) | $6M | 2007 |
| No Score Yet | 33% | The Candidate |
Unknown (Character), Director |
- | 2007 |
| 86% | 84% | The Beat That My Heart Skipped | Robert (Character) | $1M | 2005 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Lulu Kreutz's Picnic | Jascha Steg (Character) | $4.8K | 2000 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Last Secret | Unknown (Character) | - | 1998 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sacrifice for Love | Oskar de Wilno (Character) | - | 1992 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | La Danse de Mort | Kurt (Character) | - | 1991 |
| 100% | 75% | Meeting Venus | Zoltan Szanto (Character) | $940.1K | 1991 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Sincerely Charlotte | Mathieu (Character) | $372.6K | 1985 |
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Second Chance | Henri Lanot (Character) | - | 1976 |
| 100% | 67% | I, You, She, He | Truck Driver (Character) | - | 1974 |
TV
| Credit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Captain Marleau | Director | 2017 |
QUOTES FROM Niels Arestrup CHARACTERS
Grandfather says: Maybe there are different ways to be brave. Did you know the French have the best carrier pigeons? And this could be the difference in the war - our messages getting through.
Emilie says: I don't want to hear about the birds.
Grandfather says: They are released at the front and told to go home - this is all they know. But to get there they must fly over war. Can you imagine such a thing? Here you are flying over so much pain and terror - and you know you can never look down. You have to look forward or you'll never get home. I ask you - what could be braver than that?
Grandfather says: Maybe there are different ways to be brave. Did you know the French have the best carrier pigeons? And this could be the difference in the war. Our messages getting through. There are released from the front and told to go home. This is all they know. But to get there they must fly over a war. It's like... you are flying over so much pain and terror... and you know you can never look down. You have to look forward, or you'll never get home. I ask you, what could be braver than that?
Roussin says: Hold fast to the human inside of you, and you'll survive.
Grandfather says: "Emile. Her name was Emile."
Grandfather says: Emilie. Her name was Emilie.
Grandfather says: Can you imagine flying over a war and you know you can never look down? You have to look forward, or you'll never get home. What could be braver than that?