He joined the Comédie-Française (English: French comedy) in 1990 as a boarder. He became its 489th member in 1994. He interpreted many prestigious roles including Scapin, Lorenzaccio, Hamlet, Henry V, Tartuffe and George Dandin. Honored with the Gérard-Philipe Prize for the city of Paris, he played the title role of the film "Captain Conan" by Bertrand Tavernier, evoking a little-known episode of the First World War. For this performance, he was awarded the César for best actor in 1997. It was during the performance of Le Malade imaginaire (English: The Imaginary Sickness) in 1991 that he was spotted by Bertrand Tavernier, who offered him the role of Antoine in L.627, released in 1992. A committed actor, he interpreted in 1999, again for Tavernier, the role of a nursery school director faced with social misery in the present.
Since leaving the Comédie-Française in 1999, he has pursued a rich career in theater, but also in cinema and television. He was again nominated for the César for best actor in 2012 for his performance in Presumed Guilty. In 2018, he published a collection of short stories We Who Have Become the Bad Weather. Philippe Torreton is a knight in the Order of Arts and Letters.