Introduction
Dany Boon (French pronunciation: [dani bun]; born Daniel Hamidou; 26 June 1966) is a French comedian and filmmaker who has acted both on the stage and the screen. He takes his stage name from the television show Daniel Boone.
Life and career
Dany Boon, born to an Franco-Berber (Kabyle) father and a French mother from the north of the country, first started his career dubbing cartoons and performing as a mime in the street. In 1992, he was given his first break as a comedian by French television personality Patrick Sébastien, who invited him on his show. From then on Boon began to achieve notoriety with his sketches and his one-man shows.
He was then offered several roles in movies, notably in the film Joyeux Noël that made it on the international scene in 2005.
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.In February 2008, he released a film called Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, a comedy based on prejudices held about the region, which 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 this 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 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, Yael Harris, for whom he converted to Judaism in 2002, he had Eytan, born 23 June 2005; Elia, born 20 December 2006 and Sarah, born 1 March 2010.
In 2008, Boon was the highest-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million Euro (c. 33 million dollars).
He was the president of the 40th César Awards ceremony.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Oui | Wilfried | Alexandre Jardin |
| 2004 | Joyeux Noël | Private Ponchel | Christian Carion |
| 2005 | The Valet | Richard | Francis Veber |
| La Maison du Bonheur | Charles Boulin | Dany Boon himself | |
| 2006 | My Best Friend | Bruno Bouley | Patrice Leconte |
| 2008 | Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis | Antoine Bailleul | Dany Boon himself |
| De l'autre côté du lit | Hugo | Pascale Pouzadoux | |
| Mia et le Migou | le Migou (voice) | Jacques-Rémy Girerd | |
| 2009 | Micmacs | Bazil | Jean-Pierre Jeunet |
| Change of Plans | Piotr | Danièle Thompson | |
| 2010 | Benvenuti al Sud | the French tourist (cameo) | Luca Miniero |
| 2011 | Nothing to Declare | Mathias Ducatel | Dany Boon himself |
| 2012 | Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia | Tetedepiaf | Laurent Tirard |
| 2012 | Un plan parfait | Jean-Yves | Pascal Chaumeil |
| 2013 | Eyjafjallajökull | Alain | Alexandre Coffre |
| 2014 | Supercondriaque | Romain Faubert | Dany Boon himself |
| 2015 | Lolo | Jean-René | Julie Delpy |
| 2016 | The Jews | Pascal | Yvan Attal |
| 2016 | The BFG | The BFG (French voice) | Steven Spielberg |
| 2016 | Radin! | François Gautier | Fred Cavayé |
One-man shows
- Je vais bien, tout va bien (1992)
- Chaud mais pas fatigué ( Café de la Gare, 1993)
- Dany Boon Fou ? Théâtre Tristan-Bernard, Paris, 1994)
- Dany Boon au Théâtre du Rond-Point (1995–1996)
- Les Zacros de la télé (1996)
- Tout entier (1997)
- Nouveau spétak (1998).
- Au Bataclan (1998)
- A french comedian lost in L.A. ( Melrose Theatre, Los Angeles) (2000)
- En parfait état (2001)
- A s'baraque et en ch'ti (2003)
- Waïka (novembre 2006)
- Trop stylé (novembre 2009)
Plays
- La Vie de chantier (2003)
- Le Dîner de Cons (2007, théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin)