Francis Huster is born December 8, 1947 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. His father was a commercial director in important carmanufacturor. His mother owned a sewing atelier. But it was because of his grandmother, a real movie passionate, that Francis was captivated by cinema. His heroes on the big screen were John Wayne, Gary Cooper and Steve McQueen.

Aged 15 he decided to become an actor and studied Dramatic Art at the Cours François Florent. Some years later, Francis Huster was to become a teacher at Florent himself. Maruschka Detmers and his lifepartner Cristiana Reali were some of his pupils. In 1968 Huster went to the National Conservatory. Three years later in 1971, winning a couple of prices in the process, he entered the famous Comédie Française. From then on Huster plays some important roles like Lorenzaccio, Don Juan and Ruy Blas. In the same period (1970) he also played his first movie, La faute de l'Abbé Mouret, directed by Georges Franju.

After 10 years he decided in 1981 to leave the Comédie Française in order to be more then just an old young romantic type. Only the cinema will be his next metier. His goal was to become a big star so he could play the big roles.

First he played 'Qu'est-ce qui fait courir David ?' in 1981. He starred in 'La femme publique', directed by Andrzej Zulawski. Further movies he played in were 'L'amour braque', 'Equateur' (directed by Serge Gainsbourg in 1983), 'Orphée moderne' and 'Parking' in 1984. In 1986 he directed his first movie 'On a volé Charlie Spencer'. In 1997, 'Le dîner de cons', directed by Francis Veber, was a big hit.