Dany Boon
Dany Boon is a French comedian, actor and director whose father came from Kabylie, in Algeria. His 2008 film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis drew more than 20 million viewers, a record for a French film in France. He was born on 26 June 1966 in Armentières, in the north of France.
Dany Boon is a French comedian, actor and director whose father came from Kabylie, in Algeria. His 2008 film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis drew more than 20 million viewers, a record for a French film in France. He was born on 26 June 1966 in Armentières, in the north of France.
Born Daniel Hamidou, he was the son of a Kabyle father and a French mother. A school friend gave him the nickname Dany Boon.
After studying graphic arts in Tournai, in Belgium, he moved to Paris in 1989 and performed as a mime in the streets. In 1993 the television host Patrick Sébastien noticed him and became his producer.
Sketches about ordinary people in trouble made the young comedian known across France. One of them, about a disastrous visit to a post office, later gave him the idea for his most successful film.
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, released in February 2008, is set in the Nord, whose people and local speech are called ch'ti. Rien à déclarer followed in 2011. In 2018 Raid dingue won the César du public, the award for the most watched film of the year.
In 2025 he starred with Audrey Fleurot in Regarde, a film about parents whose son is losing his sight.
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