Francis Huster was born in
Neuilly-sur-Seine. His father is Charles Huster, commercial director at
Lancia, and his Polish Jewish mother is Suzette Cwajbaum—who, during the Nazi era succeeded in persuading the Gestapo commandant in Paris to release her father, who had been arrested. However, her father refused to leave Paris, and was shot dead by the SS in
Auschwitz as Soviet troops approached at the end of the war. He has two siblings; his older brother Jean-Pierre is a noted writer, and his younger sister, Muriel, is an actress, photographer and songwriter. He studied acting at the
Conservatoire of the
17th arrondissement of
Paris, at the
Cours Florent and at the
Conservatoire national (1968), where he had
René Simon and later
Antoine Vitez as teachers. In the Cours Florent, later, he was teacher. Among his students, there was actor & photographer
Gregory Herpe, director of the Comédie Française
Eric Ruf, actors
Jeanne Balibar,
Elsa Zylberstein,
Sandrine Kiberlain. He joined the
Comédie-Française in 1971, became
sociétaire in 1977, and left this institution in 1982. He later founded the theater group
Compagnie Francis Huster, of which the following actors have been members:
Clotilde Courau,
Valérie Crunchant,
Cristiana Reali,
Estelle Skornik,
Valentine Varela,
Olivier Martinez,
Mathieu Carrière. ==Awards==