Jean Dujardin

Biography: life and films

Jean Dujardin was born on 19th June 1972, in Rueil-Malmaison in the western suburbs of Paris. He began his adult life working as a locksmith and glazier in his father's business. After completing his military service, he set out to make his name as a comic performer in the bars and cabarets of Paris. He created a popular band, Nous Ç Nous, with Bruno Salomone, Eric Collado, Eric Massot and Emmanuel Joucla, often appearing on French television in Patrick Sébastien's show Fiesta. His first brush with national fame came via his role Loulou in the television series Un Gars, une Fille, in which he appeared from 1999 to 2003, alongside his future wife, Alexandra Lamy.

Having become a national celebrity through his television work, it was only a matter of time before Dujardin found stardom in French cinema. His first film appearance was in the anthology short, À l'abri des regards indiscrets (2002), followed by a small but memorable role in the comedy Ah! Si j'étais riche (2002). In Nicolas Boukhrief's tough action thriller Le Convoyeur (2004) and Valérie Guignabodet's comedy-romance Mariages! (2004), Dujardin showed he was equally at home in dramatic and comedic roles. Then came his first major film success, Brice de Nice (2005), in which he reprised one of his character creations from his earlier comedy sketches: a gormless surfer suffering from arrested development. Attracting an audience of over four million, this was the film that made Dujardin a star in France.

From Bond Spoof to Silent Hit - and the Oscars

International fame then followed when Jean Dujardin took the lead in Michel Hazanavicius's spy thriller spoof, OSS 117: Le Caire nid d'espions (2006). Not only did this film raise Dujardin's profile outside France, it also earned him his first César nomination. Dujardin appeared to be unspoiled by his snowballing stardom, preferring to lend his services to off-the-wall oddities like Jan Kounen's 99 francs (2007) than more formulaic fare. He played against his comedic persona by taking on more complex dramatic roles, such as the tough but inwardly vulnerable cop in Franck Mancuso's thriller Contre-enquête (2007) and a man haunted by a past love in Nicole Garcia's Un balcon sur la mer (2010). His comedy roles broadened out to include France's best-known comicbook cowboy in James Huth's Lucky Luke (2009) and an alcoholic writer troubled by his cancer (in human form) in Bertrand Blier's Le Bruit des glaçons (2010).

Then came the role that brought Dujardin international acclaim and celebrity - as George Valentin in Michel Hazanavicius's tribute to the Golden Age of Hollywood, The Artist (2011). Despite being a black and white silent film, this was a worldwide hit and won Dujardin a brace of awards, including Best Actor awards at the 2011 Festival de Cannes, the 2012 Golden Globes and 2012 Academy Awards. Dujardin is the first French actor ever to win the Best Actor Oscar (although other Frenchmen, Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier, received honorary Oscars in recognition of their life's work).

In 2012, Jean Dujardin made his directorial debut in Les Infidèles (2012), directing one of a series of provocatively raunchy sketches in which he appears with Gilles Lellouche. Following Eric Rochant's stylish romantic thriller Möbius (2013), Dujardin made his Hollywood debut in 2013, appearing in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) and George Clooney's The Monuments Men (2013). With the actor now only just into his fifth decade, Jean Dujardin's career appears only to have begun...

Filmography

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