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Jean-Gaspard Deburau, born as Jan Kaspar Dvorak 31 July 1796, in Kolín, Bohemia (Czech Republic now), died 17 June 1846, Paris, France, was the French actor and mime who adapted the conventions of Italian commedia dell'arte to Parisian tastes. He performed in Paris at the Théâtre des Funambules, which was immortalized in Marcel Carné's poetic realist film Les Enfants du Paradis ("Children of Paradise"), 1945. His most famous mime character was Pierrot, whose classic image Debureau fixed, a moonstruck tragic silent suffering lover in a flowing white smock and pantaloons.
Deburau is buried at the famous Parisian cemetary of Père Lachaise. After his death his son Charles Durburau took up his school and established the modern tradition of whiteface French mime, personified for many English speakers by Marcel Marceau.
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