Jean Dujardin Biography

Jean Edmond Dujardin (born 19 June 1972) is a French actor, film director, producer and comedian. His starring role in Michel Hazanavicius' silent movie The Artist, playing actor George Valentin, received widespread acclaim. The role won him numerous awards, including the Academy Award, the Golden Globe, the BAFTA, the Screen Actors Guild and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor. He is the first French actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He first worked with Hazanavicius by starring in his OSS 117 spy parodies.

Early life

Jean Dujardin was born and raised in Rueil-Malmaison (Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France region), a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. After attending high school, he went to work for his parents' construction company. Dujardin began contemplating a career in acting while serving his mandatory military service a few years later.

Career

Dujardin began his acting career performing a one-man show he wrote in various bars and cabarets in Paris. 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, reuniting him with OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies director Michel Hazanavicius and his co-star in that film, Bérénice Bejo. The film premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where he received the Best Actor Award. 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. He later went on to win the Screen Actors Guild for Best Actor, and the BAFTA 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 The Intouchables. Dujardin went on to win the Best Actor award at the 84th Academy Awards. In effect he is the fourth French actor to be nominated for an Oscar and the first to win the Best Actor. He has been described as France's answer to George Clooney. Following his Oscar nomination for his role in The Artist, WME agency signed the actor.

French film historian Tim Palmer has analyzed Dujardin's career and rise to success in France, noting how his formative roles were often unredeemable buffoons, very skilful portrayals of childlike men who aggressively and unabashedly reject the responsibilities and compromises of adult life. Dujardin's breakthrough roles as Brice de Nice and OSS 117 exemplified this tendency.

In February 2012, Dujardin appeared in Les Infidèles. He was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in June 2012 along with 175 other individuals. In 2013, Dujardin starred in "?ric Rochant's Möbius with Cécile de France. His second film of the year will be Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, playing alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey and Kyle Chandler among others. His next projects include The Monuments Men, directed by George Clooney, with Matt Damon and Cate Blanchett and French film Le Petit Joueur.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2002	À l'abri des regards indiscrets	Jean-Luc	Short film
	If I Were a Rich Man	Weston the seller
2003	Toutes les filles sont folles	Lorenzi
	Bienvenue chez les Rozes	Mathieu Gamelin/MG
	Les Clefs de bagnole	Himself
2004	Le Convoyeur	Jacques
	Mariages !	Alex
	Les Dalton	Cowboy
	Rien de grave	Pilotage instructor	Short film
2005	La vie de Michel Muller est plus belle que la vôtre	Himself
	Brice de Nice	Brice of Nice/Brice Agostini	Also co-writer NRJ Ciné Award for Best Look NRJ Ciné Award for Best Quote
	L'Amour aux trousses	Franck
	Il ne faut jurer de rien !	Valentin
2006	OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies	Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath/OSS 117	"?toile d'Or Award for Best Actor Nominated"?César Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Globe de Cristal for Best Actor Nominated"?NRJ Ciné Award for Actor of the Year Nominated"?NRJ Ciné Award for Best Look Nominated"?NRJ Ciné Award for Best Kiss Nominated"?NRJ Ciné Award for Best Quote Nominated"?Raimu Award for Comedy
	Hellphone	The warrior of the cellar
2007	Contre-enquête	Richard Malinowski
	99 francs	Octave Parango	Raimu Award for Comedy Nominated"?"?toile d'Or Award for Best Actor
2008	Ca$h	Cash
2009	A Man and His Dog	The Worker
	OSS 117: Lost in Rio	Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath/OSS 117	Nominated"?Globe de Cristal for Best Actor
	Lucky Luke	Lucky Luke	Also co-writer
2010	Little White Lies	Ludo
	The Clink of Ice	Charles Faulque
	Un balcon sur la mer	Marc	Swann d'Or for Best Actor
2011	The Artist	George Valentin	Academy Award for Best Actor AACTA International Award for Best Actor BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role Cannes Film Festival Best Actor Award Golden Globe Award for Best Actor " Motion Picture Musical or Comedy Hollywood Film Festival Spotlight Award Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead Las Vegas Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor London Film Critics Circle Award for Actor of the Year Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Santa Barbara International Film Festival Cinema Vanguard Award Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role "?toile d'Or Award for Best Actor Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screen Couple (with Bérénice Bejo) Nominated"?Alliance of Women Film Journalists EDA Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?César Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Chlotrudis Award for Best Cast Nominated"?Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (runner-up) Nominated"?Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated"?European Film Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Houston Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated"?National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor (second runner-up) Nominated"?New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated"?San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Nominated"?St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Utah Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor (runner-up) Nominated"?Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actor Nominated"?Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor
2012	Les Infidèles		Also co-director, co-writer and co-producer
2013	Möbius	Moïse
	The Wolf of Wall Street	Jean Jacques Saurel
	Monuments Men

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996"1999	Carré Blanc / Nous C Nous	Various	TV sketches
1997"1998	Farce Attaque	Himself	Also co-writer
1999"2003	Un gars, une fille	Jean	Lead role opposite later lover and wife Alexandra Lamy
2007	Palizzi		Also creator and director
2012	Saturday Night Live	George Valentin-like character	Appeared in the "Les jeunes de Paris" sketch
2013	Le débarquement	Various	TV sketches

Music video

• 2005 : "Le Casse de Brice" (directed by J.G. Biggs)