After training at the École nationale des arts appliqués, François Beaulieu chose acting and enrolled at the Conservatoire national supérieur d’art dramatique (National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts of Paris) before joining the Troupe of the Comédie-Française on January 1, 1968. He was appointed as a sociétaire on January 1, 1974 and a sociétaire honoraire in January 2003.

He constantly strove for the betterment of his performance and language, systematically seeking to quench his thirst for knowledge and culture. In the early days of his acting career he played Racine, Corneille, Marivaux and Giraudoux and interpreted major roles from the Repertoire, such as Alceste in Molière’s The Misanthrope, Don Rodrigue in Corneille’s Le Cid as well as the title roles in Victor Hugo’s Hernani and Ruy Blas and in Corneille’s Cinna, etc. He played under the direction of Jacques Sereys, Jean-Marie Serreau, Terry Hands, Jacques Charon and Robert Hossein. In 1985, he took part in Georges Feydeau’s Hortense Says « I Don’t Give a Damn! » staged by Stuart Seide, then in Pinter’s One for the Road put on stage by Bernard Murat in 1987, in Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo staged by Antoine Vitez in 1989, in Georges Feydeau’s Occupe-toi d'Amélie staged by Roger Planchon, in Molière’s The Misanthrope staged by Simon Eine in 1995, in Corneille’s Suréna staged by Anne Delbée, in Yves Lebeau’s Le Chant de la baleine put on stage by Jacques Rosner in 1999, and in Michel de Ghelderode’s Escorial and Trois Acteurs, un drame… put on stage by Vincent Boussard in 2000. In 1980, he produced Alfred de Musset’s The Moods of Marianne.

In the movies, he played under the direction of Raymond Rouleau in Ruy Blas adapted from Victor Hugo and of Pierre Badel in Molière’s Tartuffe, along with Michel Duchaussoy. Furthermore, François Beaulieu took part in some productions combining music and literature, notably with the European Romantic Orchestra and the pianist Romain Hervé.