François Arnaud

It took him almost fifteen years to go from Renaissance prince to streaming phenomenon, but the wait was worth it. François Arnaud was born in Montreal on 5 July 1985, studied at the prestigious Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf and trained as an actor at the city's Conservatoire d'art dramatique. Raised in French, he works seamlessly in English and even gets by in Spanish, a versatility that explains a career split between Quebec and Hollywood.

Xavier Dolan's leading man

His calling card could hardly have been better: he starred opposite Xavier Dolan in the Quebec enfant terrible's debut, I Killed My Mother (2009), which dazzled Cannes and won him the Vancouver critics' award for best supporting actor in Canadian film.

Cesare Borgia, the role that launched him

International stardom arrived in 2011 with 'The Borgias', the sumptuous Showtime series in which he played the ambitious Cesare Borgia across three seasons, son to the corrupt pope of Jeremy Irons. That lethal, magnetic prince made his face recognisable around the world.

A stretch as a television all-rounder followed: he was the mysterious Oscar of Blindspot, led the supernatural Midnight, Texas (2017-2018) as the psychic Manfred, did comedy alongside Denis Leary in 'The Moodys' and left his mark as Paul, the coach's partner, in the acclaimed Yellowjackets.

On film he played the future Swedish king in The Girl King (2015), tested a couple's limits in Permission (2017), joined the noir Marlowe (2022), by Neil Jordan with Liam Neeson, and appeared in Twinless (2025), alongside Dylan O'Brien, one of the sensations of Sundance.

'Heated Rivalry', the unexpected phenomenon

His sweetest moment has arrived at forty. In November 2025 came Heated Rivalry, the adaptation of Rachel Reid's hockey romance novels, in which he plays Scott Hunter, captain of the New York Admirals hiding his relationship with a young barista. The series, where his storyline runs alongside that of Hudson Williams, became an instant, critically adored phenomenon, and its return is already in the works. Arnaud himself has admitted he had never experienced fame like it.

Bisexual visibility

Something makes that role special: in 2020, Arnaud came out as bisexual with a pointed statement against the stereotypes weighing on bi men, becoming one of the industry's clearest voices for that visibility. Since 2022 he has been in a relationship with the actor Marc Bendavid.

Playing queer athletes and characters as an openly bisexual actor has closed a circle he himself embraces. From the Borgia pope's son to the Admirals' captain: few careers have joined two such different phenomena with the same elegance.

The earliest credit MovieNCo has for François Arnaud is I killed my Mother (2009); in all, 5 films and 5 TV shows over 16 years. Their title most voted by MovieNCo readers is Blindspot (2015), with 63 votes. Their busiest decade is the 2010s, with 6 titles.