Born in Jacques Simonet Paris; educated at the Paris Conservatoire. Made his screen debut in 1957 in LES PORTES DE LA NUIT / GATES OF THE NIGHT and appeared in several key French and Italian films of the 1960s, winning the best actor award at the Venice Film Festival for his role in Vittorio De Sica's HALF A MAN (1966). Perrin has appeared in 125 films and television programs, including LA VÉRITÉ / THE TRUTH (1960), LA RAGAZZA CON LA VALIGIA / GIRL WITH A SUITCASE (1960), THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT (1967), Z (1969), ÉTAT DE SIÈGE / STATE OF SIEGE (1973), CINEMA PARADISO (1989) and RANSOM (1990). He began a second career as a producer in 1968, beginning with Costa-Gavras's landmark political thriller, Z (1969). (He had earlier appeared in the director's first film, THE SLEEPING CAR MURDERS, 1965.) Other notable producing credits include LES AJONCS and CAMARADES (both 1970), LA GUERRE D'ALGÉRIE, L'ÉTRANGLEUR and ÊTAT DE SIÈGE (all 1972), PIERRE (1973), SECTION SPÉCIALE (1975), NOIRS ET BLANCS EN COULEUR / BLACK AND WHITE IN COLOR and IL DESERTO DEI TARTARI (both 1976), L'ADOPTION (1979), LES QUARANTIÈMES RUGISSANTS / THE ROARING FORTIES (1982), LE PEUPLE SINGE / THE MONKEY FOLK (1989), HORS LA VIE (1991), GUELWAAR (1992), WOLF-HUNT (1993), LES ENFANTS DE LUMIÈRE / THE CHILDREN OF LUMIERE (1995), MICROCOSMOS: LE PEUPLE DE L'HERBE (1996), PLUS FORT QUE TOUT and HIMALAYA - L'ENFANCE D'UN CHEF (both 1999), LE PEULE MIGRATEUR / WINGED MIGRATION (2001), L'EMPIRE DU MILIEU DU SUD (2002), 11'09'01 - SEPTEMBER 11 (2002), LA VIE COMME ELLE VA / AS LIFE GOES BY (2003), LES CHORISTES / THE CHORUS and LE CARNET ROUGE (both 2004), HÉROS FRAGILE and FAUBOURG 36 (both 2007) and MODERN LOVE (2008). His sister is actress and press attachée Eva Simonet. Sons Mathieu Simonet and Maxence Perrin are also actors.  Nominated for Best Picture 1969: Z - Producer at O.N.C.I.C. (w. Hamed Rachedi)  Nominated for Achievement in Documentary Features 2002: LE PEULE MIGRATEUR (WINGED MIGRATION) - Producer 2 nominations