Frédéric Pierrot originally set out to be a math teacher in the United States, but promptly returned to his native France and got hired to play a small part in the short film "Manège," setting in motion a prolific career in the French cinema in which he has often played the role of a slighty askew, distinguished-looking gentleman. Throughout his film work, Pierrot has frequently collaborated with the brilliant French auteur Bertrand Tavernier who cast him in several roles including as Chef de train in the war drama "Captain Conan" and as Xavier in "Holy Lola," a moving drama about a couple's attempt to adopt a Cambodian child. Pierrot also worked with a number of other acclaimed directors. He played Jerome, an actor in a French theater troupe trying to perform a play in Bosnia, in Jean-Luc Godard's "For Ever Mozart" and Bernard Goujon in Ken Loach's historical war drama "Land and Freedom," which accorded an intimate view of the British working class. Later roles included Jacques, a man who valiantly struggles to make sense of his losses, in Laurence Ferreira Barbosa's "La vie moderne" and Capitaine Fauré, a parole officer with a heart of gold, in Philippe Claudel's "I've Loved You So Long."