When you're an actor, actually, you shouldn't come up with too many ideas.

He is the nephew of race car driver Louis Trintignant who was killed in 1933 while practicing on the Péronne racetrack in Picardy. Another uncle Maurice Trintignant (1917–2005) was a Formula One driver who twice won the Monaco Grand Prix as well as the 24 hours of Le Mans. Raised in and around automobile racing Jean-Louis Trintignant was the natural choice of film director Claude Lelouch for the starring role of race car driver in the 1966 film A Man and a Woman.

He won the Best Actor Award at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival as well as the Best Actor Award at the César Awards 2013. Jean-Louis Xavier Trintignant (French pronunciation: ​[tʁɛ̃tiɲɑ̃]; born 11 December 1930) is a French actor who has enjoyed international acclaim.