Jean Dujardin
Dujardin at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival
Born Jean Dujardin
19 June 1972 (age 39)
Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France, France
Occupation Actor
Years active 1996–present
Spouse Alexandra
Lamy (25 July 2009–present)
Children 2
from a previous relationship : Simon (2000) and Jules (2001).
Jean Dujardin (born 19 June 1972) is a French actor and
comedian. He has worked notably with director Michel Hazanavicius, starring in his
OSS 117 spy parodies. His starring role in Hazanavicius' silent movie The
Artist, playing actor George Valentin, received widespread acclaim. The role
won him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the BAFTA
Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, the Screen Actors Guild Award for
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role, the Cannes Film
Festival Best Actor Award, and the Academy Award for Best Actor. He is the
first French actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Contents
Early life
Dujardin was born and raised in Rueil-Malmaison
(Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France), a commune in the western suburbs of Paris,
France.[1] After attending high school, he went to work for his parents'
construction company.[2] Dujardin began contemplating a career in acting while
serving his mandatory military service a few years later.[2]
Career
Dujardin photographed by Studio Harcourt in 2009.
Dujardin began his acting career performing a one-man show
he wrote in various bars and cabarets in Paris.[2] He first gained attention
when he appeared on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of
the comedy group Nous C Nous, which was formed by members of the Carré blanc
theater.
From 1999–2003, Dujardin starred in the France production of
the originally Canadian comedy series Un gars, une fille, alongside his future
wife Alexandra Lamy, before transitioning to a career in film. The TV series
charted the path of a relationship; each episode was less than ten minutes
long. In 2005, he portrayed the titular surfer in the popular comedic film
Brice de Nice and performed on its accompanying soundtrack.
In 2006, Dujardin starred as racist, sexist secret agent
Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath in the comedy OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, a role
which earned him an Etoile D'Or Award and a César Award nomination for Best
Actor. The film's success spawned a sequel, OSS 117: Lost in Rio. In 2007,
directed by Jan Kounen, he starred in the film 99F (99 francs), a very
successful existential parody of an advertising exec, adapted from the
eponymous best-seller written by Frédéric Beigbeder. This same year, he
ventured in drama for the first time on the silver screen, playing a tortured
father and cop in Franck Mancuso's Contre-enquête. In 2009, he appeared in A
Man and His Dog alongside screen legend Jean-Paul Belmondo, with whom he has
often been compared. In 2010, he starred alongside Albert Dupontel, playing his
character's cancer in The Clink of Ice, a French black comedy written and
directed by Bertrand Blier.
In 2011, Dujardin starred as movie star George Valentin in
the silent film The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius. The film premiered
at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where he received the Best Actor Award.[3]
His performance garnered much critical acclaim and he received numerous
nominations, including the Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best
Actor and the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor. On 15 January 2012, Dujardin
won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.[4]
On 24 January 2012, Dujardin received a nomination for the Academy Award for
Best Actor.[5] He later went on to win the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor,
the BAFTA for Best Actor and the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was also
nominated for the César award of the best actor but lost it to newcomer Omar Sy
for his role in the second most ever viewed movie in France Untouchables. He is
the fourth French actor to be nominated to an Oscar and the first to win one as
the best actor.[6] He has been described as France's answer to George
Clooney.[7] Following his Oscar nomination for his role in The Artist, WME
agency signed the actor.[8]
In 2012, he will appear in Les Infidèles set to release on
29 February in France. Dujardin's next projects include an Éric Rochant film
titled Mobius with Cécile de France[9] and a remake of Claude Berri's One Wild
Moment (Un moment d'égarement) in which he will star opposite Vincent
Cassel.[10]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jean Dujardin
