Yvan Attal

Born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to Algerian-Jewish parents, he grew up in the outskirts of Paris. His acting debut was in Éric Rochant's Un monde sans pitié (1989), which earned him a César Award for Most Promising Actor. His first feature film as a director was Ma femme est une actrice (2001), which co-starred Charlotte Gainsbourg, Attal's real-life partner.

He directed a segment in the film New York, I Love You, and appeared as an actor in another.

He acted in The Interpreter and Anthony Zimmer, and in Rush Hour 3 he played a French cab driver named George.

Attal's longtime partner is Anglo-French actress-singer Charlotte Gainsbourg, whom he met on the set of the 1991 film Aux yeux du monde. Gainsbourg and Attal are not married, and Gainsbourg has attributed her reluctance to marry to the fact that her parents never married. Attal publicly proposed to Gainsbourg on 19 June 2013 during an awards ceremony when he received the French National Order of Merit. In April 2014, Attal confirmed that they were still unwed with no plans to marry.

Attal has three children with Gainsbourg, including their son Ben Attal, who is also an actor and starred in the film The Accusation (2021). In 2014, following the death of Gainsbourg's sister, photographer Kate Barry, Attal and his family relocated to New York City.