Dany Boon | |
---|---|
Born | Daniel Farid Hamidou 26 June 1966 Armentières, Hauts-de-France, France |
Occupation(s) | Actor, film director, screenwriter, producer |
Years active | 1992–present |
Spouses | |
Partner | Laurence Arné (2018–) |
Children | 5 |
Dany Boon (pronounced [danibun] ; born Daniel Farid Hamidou on 26 June 1966) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and producer.
Starting out as a comedian during the 1990s, he found success in 2008 as an actor and director in the film comedy Welcome to the Sticks . Since then he has been involved as screenwriter or director or both in the films Nothing to Declare (2011), Supercondriaque (2014), Raid dingue (2017), La Ch'tite famille (2018), Stuck Together (2021) and Life for Real (2023).
Boon was born Daniel Farid Hamidou in a middle-class family in northern France. His father was born in 1930 in Issers, Algeria, and was Muslim, [1] and died in Lille, France in 1992. He was a boxer and a chauffeur. Boon's mother, Danièle Ducatel, [2] is from northern France. A Catholic, she was a stay-at-home mother.
He converted to Judaism (his wife's faith) in 2002. [3]
He studied graphic arts at the Institut Saint-Luc in Belgium.
Boon arrived in Paris in 1989, where he was a mime [4] in the streets for a living while appearing frequently on open mic nights at places like the Treviso theatre. He borrowed his stage name from a hero in the American television series Daniel Boone , which was about an American trapper.
He acted in several one-man shows. [5]
Boon is also a musician; he has done a version of "Piensa en mí" [6] ("Think of me"). He also writes his own songs, for example, "Le Blues du 'tiot poulet" ("The Chicken Blues").
After small roles in movies during the 1990s, he landed a role in the 1998 satire Bimboland , directed by Ariel Zeitoun. Boon is deeply attached to his native region, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In 2003, he made a whole show in the local dialect of ch'ti, also known as Picard. Despite the use of dialectal language, 600,000 copies of the DVD (which included French subtitles) were sold. No previous DVD featuring a one-man show had sold as well in France.[ citation needed ] In 2004, he was part of the main cast in Pédale Dure, [7] directed by Gabriel Aghion, a critical and commercial flop. He was then offered several roles in movies, notably in the film Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas), which was released internationally in 2005.
In February 2008, he acted and directed a movie titled Welcome to the Sticks (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis), which was a success in France and in other countries. [8] This comedy based on prejudices held about the region, went on to break French box office records. Two weeks after its release, the film had already been seen by five million people. After its fourth week, the figure had risen to 15 million, and by 11 April, the film had surpassed the viewing audience of La Grande Vadrouille , having been watched by more than 17.4 million people. He was the highest-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million Euro (c. 33 million dollars). [9] He was the president of the 40th César Awards ceremony in 2015. [10] Boon was on the council of directors of the Pathé production company and has produced several films as actor, co-producer, screenwriter or director. [11] Boon had several production companies, including 26 DB Productions, in Los Angeles, California. They produce and distribute films and TV content. [12]
Boon was also directed by French filmmakers such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the 2009 movie Micmacs ; [13] Danièle Thompson in 2009 Change of Plans ; [14] A Perfect Plan [15] 2012 film directed by Pascal Chaumeil, Julie Delpy's movie Lolo [16] (2015) and Yvan Attal in 2016 film The Jews . [17]
Raid Dingue [18] was a 2016 comedy that was a big success with the viewers but failed to convince film critics. He was both screenwriter and director on this movie, and also starred in it. For this film Boon received the first César du public in the history of French cinema: this new award is given to the French film with the biggest box office of the year. After Raid Dingue , Boon did his sixth movie, (La Ch’tite Famille) Family is Family. It came out in 2018, the 10 year anniversary of Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis.
In 2016 Boon starred in a film about anti-semitism in France, The Jews . In 2018, his Netflix show, Des-hauts-de-France [19] premiered on Netflix. Boon voices the character of Olaf in the French dubbings of the Disney movies Frozen , Frozen 2 , Once Upon a Snowman , and Olaf Presents . [20]
He has four sons and a daughter from three different unions. With his first wife, he had Mehdi, his eldest son, born in 1997. With his second wife, Judith Godrèche, he had Noé, born on 4 September 1999. With his third wife, Yaël Harris, for whom he converted to Judaism in 2002, [21] he had Eytan, born 23 June 2005; Elia, born 20 December 2006 and Sarah, born 1 March 2010. [22]
In July 2022 Boon stated that he was defrauded of €6 million by Irishman Terry Birles and was taking court action. [23]
Claude Berri was a French film director, writer, producer, actor and distributor.
Yvan Attal is a French actor, scriptwriter and film director.
Welcome to the Sticks is a 2008 French comedy film directed and co-written by Dany Boon and starring Kad Merad and Boon himself. The film is the highest-grossing French film of all time at the box office in France.
Jacques Spiesser is a French actor.
The Cité du Cinéma or Studios of Paris is a film studio complex originally supported and founded by the film director and producer Luc Besson, located in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris, in a renovated power plant, commissioned in 1933 to power the Parisian metro. The studio complex is intended to be a competitor of Cinecittà in Rome, Pinewood in London and Babelsberg in Berlin. It was inaugurated on 21 September 2012. In February 2022 Tunisian-French film producer Tarak Ben Ammar finalized a deal to purchase Studios de Paris.
The 40th César Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma, honoured the best films of 2014 in France and took place on 20 February 2015 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. The ceremony was chaired by actor-director Dany Boon, with actor Édouard Baer acting as master of ceremonies for the second time.
La Famille Bélier is a 2014 French-Belgian coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by Éric Lartigau. The film received six nominations at the 40th César Awards, winning Most Promising Actress for Louane Emera. It won a Magritte Award in the category of Best Foreign Film.
French comedy films are comedy films produced in France. Comedy is the most popular French genre in cinema.
Tales of Paris is a 1962 comedy-drama anthology film consisting of four segments.
Lolo is a 2015 French dark comedy film co-written and directed by Julie Delpy. It stars Delpy, Dany Boon, Vincent Lacoste and Karin Viard. It had its premiere in the Venice Days section of the 72nd Venice International Film Festival.
Judi Beecher is an American actress, voice actress and filmmaker who is best known for providing the voice and facial motion capture of Madison Paige in the video game Heavy Rain.
The Jews is a 2016 French-language film directed by Yvan Attal. The film deals with antisemitism in France.
Raid dingue is a 2016 French comedy film written and directed by Dany Boon.
La Ch'tite famille is a 2018 French film directed and starring Dany Boon.
Yaël Boon (née Harris) is a French–Swiss actress, director, film producer and screenwriter. Boon has appeared in several notable French language films including Welcome to the Sticks (2008) and Supercondriaque (2014). She has also worked on the production side of film; in 2010, she was a writer for Nothing to Declare and in 2016 produced Ma famille t'adore déjà.
Stuck Together is a 2021 French comedy film directed by Dany Boon, written by Laurence Arné and Dany Boon and starring Dany Boon, Liliane Rovère and Yvan Attal. It was released on 20 October 2021 by Netflix.
His Wife is a 2014 French psychological drama film directed by Michel Spinosa and starring Yvan Attal, newcomer Janagi and Charlotte Gainsbourg.
The Son is a play by Florian Zeller. It premiered in February 2018 at the Comédie des Champs-Élysées, Paris, with Yvan Attal (Pierre), Anne Consigny (Anne), Élodie Navarre (Sofia) and Rod Paradot (Nicolas). The play was produced again in September 2018, with Stéphane Freiss replacing Attal and Florence Darel replacing Consigny. The play was translated into English by Christopher Hampton and premiered in London in February 2019.
Life for Real is a 2023 comedy film written and directed by Dany Boon. It is a co-production between France and Belgium. The film stars Boon, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kad Merad. It was theatrically released by Pathé on 19 April 2023.