Guillaume Canet

Actor, scriptwriter and director, Canet has made his mark as one of the most complete and popular artists of his generation.Guillaume Canet was born on 10th April 1973 in Boulogne-Billancourt, just outside Paris. His parents were horse-breeders in the region of Rambouillet forest. In 1983, aged 10, he joined a travelling circus and did his conventional schooling in the afternoon while working out his comic potential in matinee performances. A few years later, he'd appear on stage at the Café du Trésor in Paris.

And yet, from a very early age his first love had been horses and he seemed destined for a career as a horseman. He took part continually in horse-riding competitions and was a member of the French jumping team. After a serious fall at the age of 18, however, he was forced to give up this dream. He turned full-time to acting and took classes at the Cours Florent in Paris.

In 1993, he was spotted by Christophe Malavoy and given a role in his TV adaptation of La Ville dont le prince est un enfant (The Fire that Burns), based on the play by Montherlant. But it was an encounter with Jean Rochefort which gave Guillaume his first big screen experience, after appearing in several made-for-television films. His role in Barracuda, directed by Philippe Haïm, and playing opposite Rochefort, won him the Best Actor Prize at the St-Jean-de-Luz Festival.

He cropped up next in 1998's En Plein Coeur (In All Innocence), a film directed by Pierre Jolivet, for which he was nominated for a Most Promising Actor César in 1999. Then he played opposite Jean Yanne in Rémy Waterhouse's comedy, Je règle mon pas sur le pas de mon père (I Follow in My Father's Footsteps). In 1999 he appeared in Danny Boyle's The Beach, with Leonardo DiCaprio, and then in La Fidélité (Fidelity), directed by Andrzej Zulawski and starring Sophie Marceau.

After that he strung together film after film: Jerry Schatzberg's The Day the Ponies Come Back, Les Morsures de l'aube (Love Bites), directed by Antoine de Caunes, Pitof's Vidocq, Le Frère du guerrier (The Warrior's Brother), directed by Pierre Jolivet, and Rémy Waterhouse's Mille millièmes (The Landlords).

In 2002, he moved behind the camera to direct his first feature-length film, Mon idole (Anything You Say) – his first film and also a first hit: it was nominated for a Best First Work César. He was then back in front of the camera in Jeux d'enfants (Love Me If You Dare), directed by Yann Samuell, Narco, by Gilles Lellouche and Tristan Aurouet, Christian Carion's Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas), L'enfer (Hell), directed by Danis Tanovic, and Un Ticket pour l'espace (A Ticket to Space), by Eric Lartigau.

In 2006, Guillaume Canet confirmed his talent as a director with Ne le dis à personne, a film, for which he also wrote the screenplay, based on Harlan Coben's novel Tell No One. He also appeared in the film along with François Cluzet, Marie-Josée Croze, André Dussollier, Kristin Scott-Thomas, Nathalie Baye and Jean Rochefort... He was nominated for a César for Best Screenplay, won the one for Best Director, and the movie itself got a nomination for Best Film. Guillaume Canet was the youngest filmmaker ever to win the Best Director César.

He was then in Claude Berri's Ensemble, c'est tout (Hunting and Gathering), with Audrey Tautou, winning the Best Actor Award at the Cabourg Romantic Film Festival. In Darling, directed by Christine Carrière, he played a much more unpleasant character, and then starred in Guillaume Nicloux's thriller, La Clef (The Key).He teamed up again with François Cluzet, whom he had directed in Tell No One, this time as a fellow actor, in Les Liens du sang (Rivals), directed by Jacques Maillot. He was in Guillaume Cotillard's La Clé du problème, and Voyage d'affaires (The Business Trip), directed by Sean Ellis.

In 2009, he played a character forced to act as a secret agent in Nicolas Saada's Espion(s), and he found himself being directed by Christian Carion once again, in L'Affaire Farewell (Farewell). He also played opposite Marion Cotillard in Karim Dridi's Le dernier vol (The Last Flight).Guillaume Canet wrote and directed his third film, Les petits mouchoirs (Little White Lies), with François Cluzet, Marion Cotillard, Benoît Magimel, Gilles Lellouche and Jean Dujardin.His was the voice of the hero in the French version of John Lasseter's animation movie, Cars, and he did the French narration of James Honeyborne's documentary The Meerkats.

Tribeca Film