Born on September 17, 1931 in Colombières-sur-Orb, France. He is a French novelist, screenwriter, actor, and an Academy Award honoree. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel. He was the president of La Fémis, the French state film school. He published his first novel, ‘’Lézard’’, in 1957. He was introduced to Jacques Tati, who had him write short novels based on his films. Through Tati, he met Pierre Étaix, with whom Carrière wrote and directed several films, including ‘’Heureux Anniversaire’’, which won the academy award for Best Short Subject. His nineteen-year collaboration with Buñuel began with the film
‘’Diary of a Chambermaid’’ (1964); he co-wrote the screenplay with Buñuel and also played the part of a village priest. Carrière and the director would collaborate on the scripts of nearly all Buñuel's later films, including ‘’Belle de Jour’’ (1967), ‘’The Milky Way’’ (1969), ‘’The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’’ (1972), ‘’The Phantom of Liberty’’ (1974) and ‘’That Obscure Object of Desire’’ (1977).
He also wrote screenplays for ‘’The Tin Drum’’ (1979), ‘’Danton’’ (1983), ‘’The Return of Martin Guerre’’ (1982), ‘’La dernière image’’ (1986), ‘’The Unbearable Lightness of Being’’ (1988), ‘’Valmont’’ (1989), ‘’Cyrano de Bergerac’’ (1990), ‘’Birth’’ (2004), and ‘’Goya's Ghosts’’, and co-wrote ‘’Max, Mon Amour’’ (1986) with director Nagisa Oshima. He also collaborated with Peter Brook on a nine-hour stage version of the ancient Sanskrit epic ‘’The Mahabharata’’, and a five-hour film version.