Guillaume Canet - biography

1973-

Biography

One of French cinema’s most talented and likeable stars, Guillaume Canet appears to have an affinity for the weird and unfamiliar. Seldom is he to be found in banal rom-coms or routine dramas; instead he is more likely to be encountered adorning off-the-wall oddities directed by novice filmmakers, rather like his personal idol Patrick Dewaere. Now that he has become a film director in his own right, he shows little sign of kowtowing to convention and seems to prefer blazing his own trail rather than going down the more well-trodden path where the outcome is more certain and infinitely duller. Canet isn’t so much an enfant terrible as an enfant curieux.

Guillaume Canet was born on 10th April 1973 at Boulogne-Billancourt, just outside Paris in France. His parents, Algerian Pieds-Noirs, were horsebreeders and from an early age Canet had high hopes of becoming a professional showjumper. These ambitions were cruelly dashed when, at the age of 18, he was thrown from his horse and suffered injuries which put paid to a horseriding career. Instead, he opted to train as an actor. Having completed his drama studies at the Cours Florent European Acting School in Paris, Canet made his screen debut in Philippe Landoulsi’s short film Le Fils Unique (1995) and appeared in several movies and series for French television. In 1997, he had his first substantial film role, playing opposite Jean Rochefort in Philippe Haïm’s delightfully weird black comedy Barracuda.

Canet’s acting career suddenly took off after he appeared in Pierre Jolivet’s En plein coeur (1998) and Rémi Waterhouse’s Je règle mon pas sur le pas de mon père (1999). Now rated as one of France’s most promising young actors, Canet had his first international break when he starred in Danny Boyle’s The Beach (2000), alongside Leonardo DiCaprio. Preferring to work in France instead of pursuing a career in Hollywood, Canet had the freedom to choose subjects that were of interest to him and thereby develop his repertoire. The range of films he has worked on is remarkably diverse, from the experimental fantasy thriller Vidocq (2001) to the idiosyncratic romantic comedy Jeux d’enfants (2003) (in which he appeared for the first time with his future partner Marion Cotillard) and the even more off-the-wall sci-fi comedy Un ticket pour l’espace (2006). In Christian Carion’s Joyeux Noël (2005) he shared the billing with his then wife Diane Kruger and in Ensemble, c’est tout (2007), director Claude Berri’s last film, he starred opposite the ever-popular Audrey Tautou. With his boyish good looks and gentle personality, Canet is most successful in the role of the likeable innocent, but he has tackled tougher roles, notably in Jacques Maillot’s Les Liens du sang (2008) and Christian Carion’s L’Affaire Farewell (2009), and in Christine Carrière’s Darling (2007) he was finally able to shatter his nice guy image.

Not only is Guillaume Canet one of France’s best-known actors, he also shows great promise as a film director. He made his directing debut in 2002 with Mon Idole, a tongue-in-cheek and incisive satire on the self-obsessed world of show business. As entertaining and acerbic as this film is, it was not until Canet made his second film, Ne le dis à personne (a.k.a. Tell No One) (2006), that he came to be taken seriously as a filmmaker. A slick, masterfully constructed thriller starring François Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas, the film was a major hit, both at home and in the US, and was nominated for nine Césars, winning in four categories (including Best Director and Best Actor). Canet was in fact the youngest film director ever to win the Best Director César. His third film, Les Petits mouchoirs (a.k.a. Little White Lies) (2010), was also critically acclaimed and proved be the most successful French film of the year, attracting an audience of over five million. With Blood Ties (2013), an American remake of Des liens du sang starring Mark Wahlberg and Marion Cotillard, Canet has made a promising directing debut in Hollywood and looks set for a long and illustrious career, on both sides of the camera.

© filmsdefrance.com 2012

Guillaume Canet is best-known for the following films: