Dany Boon

Dany Boon
Boon on the set of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, 2007.
Born	Daniel Hamidou 26 June 1966 (1966-06-26) (age 45) Armentières, France
Occupation	actor, screenwriter, director, producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Judith Godrèche (divorced) Yael Harris
Website
http://www.danyboon.com

Dany Boon (French pronunciation: [dani bun]; born Daniel Hamidou; 26 June 1966) is a French comedian who has acted both on the stage and the screen. He takes his stage name from the television show Daniel Boone.^{[citation needed]}

Life and career

Dany Boon, born to a French Kabyle father and a French mother from the north of the country ^[1] first started his career dubbing cartoons and performing as a mime in the street. In 1992, he was given his first chance as a comedian by French television personality Patrick Sébastien, who invited him on his show.^{[citation needed]} 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.^{[citation needed]}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 being watched by more than 17.4 million people.

Dany Boon married and later divorced the actress Judith Godrèche.

He had four sons and a daugther born to 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 September 4, 1999. With his third wife, Yael Harris, for whom he converted to Judaism in 2002^[2], he had Eytan, born on June 23, 2005 ; Elia, born on December 20, 2006 and Sarah, born March 1, 2010.^[3]

In the year 2008, Dany Boon was the best-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million Euro (c. 33 million dollars).^[4]

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 Palais des glaces (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)

Filmography

• Sans queue ni tête by Jean-Henri Meunier (1993)
• Le Déménagement by Olivier Doran (1997)
• Parole d'homme by Philippe Le Dem (1997)
• Bimboland by Ariel Zeitoun (1998); Boon met his ex-wife Judith Godrèche during the making of the movie
• Pédale dure by Gabriel Aghion (2004)
• The Magic Roundabout by Dave Borthwick (2005) (French version)
• La Doublure by Francis Veber (2005)
• Joyeux Noël by Christian Carion (2005), nominated for an Oscar
• La Maison du Bonheur by Dany Boon (2006) with Michèle Laroque; the film attracted 1.5 million people
• Mon Meilleur Ami (My best friend) by Patrice Leconte (2006)
• Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis by Dany Boon (2008)
• De l'autre côté du lit by Pascale Pouzadoux (2008)
• Le code a changé by Danièle Thompson (2008)
• Micmacs by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (2009)
• Benvenuti al Sud by Luca Miniero (2010)
• Nothing to Declare by Dany Boon (2011)

References

1. ^ Welcome to the Sticks (2008), Neils Young's film lounge
2. ^ Le Figaro Magazine which states "as though his conversion to Judaism in 2002 had paradoxically made him closer to his Pas-de-Calais roots"
3. ^ http://jess1393.skyrock.com/2969919041-MEHDI-NOE-EYTAN-ET-ELIA-BOON.html
4. ^ French blockbuster star is Europe's best-paid actor, Thursday, February 26

External links

• Dany Boon at the Internet Movie Database
• Official site
• Unofficial site

Persondata
Name	Boon, Dany
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	26 June 1966
Place of birth	Armentières, France
Date of death
Place of death