Guillaume Canet

Guillaume Canet

Active - 1994 - 2019  |   Born - Apr 10, 1973 in Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France  |   Genres - Drama, Comedy, Romance

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Biography by AllMovie

A rising star and bonafide heartthrob in his native France, Guillaume Canet became known to international audiences as one of the stars of Danny Boyle's The Beach. As the affable, levelheaded Etienne, Canet held his own against co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Virginie Ledoyen, and in the process he established himself as the European Union's latest poster boy for sensitive, trod-upon hunks everywhere.

Born in Boulougne-Billancourt on April 10, 1973, Canet began his professional career on the stage. He got his breakthrough starring with Christophe Malavoy in Pierre Boutron's production of La Ville dont Le Prince est un Enfant, and he subsequently acted in and directed a number of stage productions. After starring in various television features, Canet made his film debut in 1997's Barracuda, a Misery-esque psychological thriller in which the young actor played a comic book artist held hostage in the home of a mad man (Jean Rochefort).

In 1998, Canet won critical adulation for his starring role opposite Virginie Ledoyen in Pierre Jolivet's Un Plein Coeur. Cast as Ledoyen's hopelessly devoted boyfriend (a role that he would essentially repeat in The Beach), the actor earned a César nomination for Most Promising Young Actor for his portrayal. He went on to play a son looking for guidance from his errant father Jean Yanne in Remi Waterhouse's Je règle mon pas sur le pas de mon père (1999), and in 2000, he starred in the highly anticipated but ultimately disappointing The Beach. That same year, Canet appeared in Andrzej Zulawski's La Fidélité, a romantic drama that cast the up-and-coming actor alongside the likes of Sophie Marceau, Pascal Greggory, and Edith Scob.

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Factsheet

  • Con diez años se apuntó a un circo itinerante.
  • Sus padres son criadores de caballos en la región francesa de Rambouillet, y muy pronto comenzó a sentir pasión por la equitación. Fue miembro del equipo de Francia de salto de obstáculos, pero una mala caída puso fin a su carrera.
  • A partir de entonces se giró hacia el arte dramático, y se apuntó al curso Florent, donde el cineasta francés Christophe Malavoy  reparó en él en 1993.
  • En el 2007 recibió el César al Mejor Director por su segundo largometraje, No se lo digas a nadie. Tenía 33 años cuando recibió el galardón, y pasó a convertirse en el director premiado más joven.
  • En el 2008 dobló al personaje del narrador en La famille suricate.
  • En el 2010 dirigió el largometraje Les petits mouchoirs, una película coral donde actúan un buen número de sus amigos actores, así como su pareja sentimental Marion Cotillard.