Niels Arestrup

European screen performer Niels Arestrup grew up in a middle-class family of Danish extraction, and gravitated toward acting as a young man, studying under the aegis of legendary drama instructor Tania Balachova. He took his initial foray into acting on-stage, but quickly moved into filmed work as well, in such noteworthy big-screen productions as Chantal Akerman's Je Tu Il Elle (1974), Alain Resnais' Stavisky (1974), and Jeanne Moreau's Lumière (1976). Arestrup's heavy involvement in theater continued over the following several decades, yet he remained extremely prolific on film, reaching memorable high points with leads in Marco Ferreri's unusual, provocative erotic drama The Future Is Woman (1984) and István Szabó's Karin Anderson biopic Meeting Venus (1991). In 2007, Arestrup achieved some international crossover success with his supporting contribution to Julian Schnabel's acclaimed Jean-Dominique Bauby biopic The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. - Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide