Kad Merad
Kad Merad is a French actor and director born in Algeria, known to millions for the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. He has appeared in more than 100 films and series. He was born on 27 March 1964 in Sidi Bel Abbès.
Kad Merad is a French actor and director born in Algeria, known to millions for the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis. He has appeared in more than 100 films and series. He was born on 27 March 1964 in Sidi Bel Abbès.
Born Kaddour Merad, he was the son of an Algerian father and a French mother from the Berry region. The family settled in France when he was about 2, and he spent his childhood there.
As a teenager he sang and played the drums in rock bands. In 1991 he joined the radio station Ouï FM, and a year later he and Olivier Baroux formed the comic duo Kad et Olivier.
Les Choristes, in 2004, gave him his first large film role. In 2007 he won the César for best supporting actor for his role as a father in Je vais bien, ne t'en fais pas.
Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, directed by Dany Boon in 2008, drew more than 20 million cinema-goers in France. On television, from 2016, he played the politician Philippe Rickwaert in the series Baron Noir.
In 2022 he played a writer who returns to his Algerian home town in Citoyen d'honneur. In September 2026 he appeared in Les Héros du Louvre.
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