Meet Francois Arnaud: sinfully good bad boy of 'The Borgias'. As Showtime's original series The Borgias proves, boys will be boys -- even in Renaissance-era Vatican City. One particular face on the new show caught the Ministry's eye: Francois Arnaud, who plays the violent, dashing and cavalier son of Jeremy Irons' Pope Alexander VI. While the 25-year-old Montreal native is a new face stateside, he occupies quite a bit of small-screen real estate as Cesare Borgia. The essentials on Arnaud include ... Cesare, I am your father: The actor counts legendary Irons as a major scene partner, which he calls intimidating at the very least. One source of comfort in building their necessary bond: Irons is almost identical to Arnaud's own dad. I thought, 'He looks exactly like my father.' Uncanny.