Jean Dujardin began his acting career performing a self-written one-man show in various bars and cabarets in Paris.[3] He first gained attention when he appeared on the French talent show Graines de star in 1996 as part of the comedy group Nous Ç Nous, which was formed by members of the Carré blanc theater.
From 1999 to 2003, Dujardin starred in the France production of the originally Canadian comedy series Un gars, une fille, alongside his future wife Alexandra Lamy, before transitioning to a career in film. The TV series charted the path of a relationship; each episode was less than ten minutes long. In 2005, he portrayed the titular surfer in the popular comedic film Brice de Nice and performed on its accompanying soundtrack.[citation needed]
French film historian Tim Palmer has analyzed Dujardin's career and rise to success in France, noting how his formative roles were often unredeemable buffoons, very skillful portrayals of childlike men who aggressively and unabashedly reject the responsibilities and compromises of adult life. Dujardin's breakthrough roles as Brice de Nice and OSS 117 exemplified this tendency.[9]
In late 2014, La French, was released in Europe and subsequently in the United States in early 2015. He plays a French police magistrate who tries to dismantle the French Connection and bring down the Unione Corse.[citation needed]
Personal life
Dujardin has been married three times and has four children. His first marriage, to Gaëlle Demars, ended in 2003.[citation needed] They have two sons, born in 2000 and 2001.[citation needed] In 2003, he started dating his on-screen partner Alexandra Lamy of the comedy series Un gars, une fille; the two had originally met at the audition, and fell in love while shooting the series. They married in Anduze on 25 July 2009. In November 2013, it was announced that the couple had separated.
He began dating French ice dancerNathalie Péchalat in 2014 after following her to Japan to watch her perform in the world ice skating championships, and they had a daughter who they named Jeanne, in December 2015. [15] They married on 19 May 2018 in a small ceremony. Péchalat gave birth to daughter Alice in February 2021[16]