Advanced search

He grew up in Versailles with a family who was very influenced by pop music. When he was young, Gondry wanted to be a painter or an inventor. In the 80s he entered in an art school in Paris where he could develop his graphic skills and where he also met friends with whom he created a pop-rock band called Oui-Oui. The band released 2 albums ('Chacun tout le monde' and 'Formidable') and several singles until their separation in 1992. Gondry was the drummer of the band and also directed their video clips in which it was possible to see his strange world, influenced by the 60s and by his childhood. One of his videos was shown on MTV and when Björk saw it, she asked him to make her first solo video for 'Human Behaviour'. The partnership is famous: Gondry directed five other Björk's videos, benefiting by the huge budgets. This led to commissions for other artists around the world, including Massive Attack. He also made a lot of commercials for Gap, Smirnoff, Air France, Nike, Coca Cola, Adidas, Polaroid and Levi - the latter making him the most highly-awarded director for a one-off commercial.

Hollywood became interested in Gondry's success and he directed his first feature movie Human Nature (2001), adapting a Charlie Kaufman's scenario, which was shown in the 2001 Cannes Festival. Although it wasn't a big success, this film allowed him to direct Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), for which he again collaborated with Charlie Kaufman. The movie became a popular independent film and he and his co-writers won an Oscar for it.

Noémie Lenoir was born on 19 September 1979 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. She is an actress, known for Rush Hour 3 (2007), After the Sunset (2004) and The Transporter Refueled (2015).

Stéphane Audran was born on November 8, 1932 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France as Colette Suzanne Jeannine Dacheville. She was an actress, known for Der diskrete Charme der Bourgeoisie (1972), Babettes Fest (1987) and Der Schlachter (1970). She was married to Claude Chabrol and Jean-Louis Trintignant. She died at the age of 85 on March 27, 2018 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France after an illness.

Melissa Moore was born on 27 December 1963 in Versailles, Kentucky, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Samurai Cop (1991), Sorority House Massacre II (1990) and Hard to Die (1990).

Tatiana Gousseff was born on 30 December 1970 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. She is an actress and writer, known for Little White Lies 2 (2019), Doc Martin (2011) and Sur le fil (2007).

Nadia Tereszkiewicz was born on 24 May 1996 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. She is an actress, known for Rosalie (2023), Forever Young (2022) and Only the Animals (2019).

Thomas Mars was born on 21 November 1976 in Versailles, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France. He is an actor and composer, known for Now You See Me (2013), Boyhood (2014) and No Strings Attached (2011). He has been married to Sofia Coppola since 27 August 2011. They have two children.

Olivier Megaton was born on 6 August 1965 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is a director and writer, known for Transporter 3 (2008), Colombiana (2011) and Exit (2000).

Kendall Applegate was born on 12 March 1999 in Versailles, Kentucky, USA. She is an actress, known for Desperate Housewives (2004), Opposite Day (2009) and Ranger Rob: The Movie (2010).

Denis Podalydès was born on 22 April 1963 in Versailles, France. He is an actor and writer, known for The Conquest (2011), Caché (2005) and Jeanne and the Perfect Guy (1998).

Marine Jahan was born on 1 January 1959 in Versailles , France. She is an actress, known for Streets of Fire (1984), T.J. Hooker (1982) and The Wizard (1986).

Katia Tchenko was born on 8 May 1947 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. She is an actress, known for Ronin (1998), Transporter 3 (2008) and Au théâtre ce soir (1966).

Boris Williams was born on 24 April 1958 in Versailles, France. He is an actor and composer, known for Ant-Man (2015), About Time (2013) and The Crow (1994). He is married to Cynde.

Nicolas Marié was born on 22 February 1954 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. He is an actor, known for Micmacs (2009), Bye Bye Morons (2020) and Les Thibault (2003).

Francis Perrin is a French stage and film actor. Since 1993, he has been directing the Théâtre Montansier in Versaille. 1959: Writes and directs his first play, "Les deux peintres". 1965: Directs his second play "Le reflet". 1966: Diploma in philosophy. 1971: Prize Premiers Accessits de Comédie 1972: Prize Premiers Prix de Comédie 1972: Joins "La Comédie Française"

Mabrouk El Mechri was born on 18 September 1976 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. He is a director and writer, known for JCVD (2008), Kung Fu Zohra (2021) and The Cold Light of Day (2012).

Cris Campion was born on 1 September 1966 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is an actor and director, known for Pirates (1986), Charlemagne (1993) and Le café (1985). He has been married to Anny Duperey since 1993.

From his real name Jacques, Daniel Ivernel married the actress and playwright Christiane Lasquin. He is the older brother of director Victor Ivernel. Coming from a family of traders, he is raised by his grandmother, in the locality of Chaumont-en-Vexin (Oise). This is where he attends a performance of the "Bells of Corneville" by a troupe of traveling theater. Subjugated, the young boy spends the whole evening with these people of the trip and will tell later that, from this memory, was born his vocation. A theater actor with a perfect diction, Daniel Ivernel debuted at the cinema in 1946 in a film by Louis Cuny, "Le Beau voyage". But it was with the director Julien Duvivier who made him known with "Sous le Ciel de Paris". Duvivier will turn it in "La Fête à Henriette", "La Femme et le Pantin" and "Marie-Octobre". His last film "Judge Fayard" (Yves Boisset) dates from 1977. Then he took care of being a theater teacher until his suicide on November 11, 1999 at 79 years.

Sibyl was born the 27th of May 1972 in Versailles, France. Her father was a teacher at the American school in Paris at the time, but he lost his job for being too radical for the French schooling system. So they moved to Virginia when Sibyl was just 6 weeks old. When Sibyl left college in 1992, where she studied art, she moved to Paris to start modeling. She thought she could go to school there or at least take some classes there, but she got too much work to think about anything else. From then on it went up with Sibyl Buck and she started working for the big designers. She became famous for her piercings and her red hair. She got that idea from a comic book called "X-Men". The trick to get it red, was to bleach it just to yellow and then put pillarbox red manic panic on it. In spite of her red hair and her piercings, she is even a favorite of conservative designer Yves St Laurent. Modeling, she says, affords her the opportunity to continuously change her looks.

François Négret was born on 15 October 1966 in Versailles, Seine-et-Oise [now Yvelines], France. He is an actor, known for Au Revoir les Enfants (1987), Sound and Fury (1988) and The Exterminating Angels (2006).

Myriam Blanckaert is a French-American actress. She began her career in New York City. She's known for her work on the cult TV series Sex and the City (2004) along side Sarah Jessica Parker, Traitor (2008) with Don Cheadle and Guy Pearce, and Chinese Zodiac (2012), by and with Jackie Chan.

During the uncertain first year of the pandemic, JB Dunckel's thoughts turned to what he considers life's absolutes: the insignificance of man in the face of outer space but also our eternal material connection to the cosmos. Carbon, the title of his third solo album, references this crucial elemental relationship. "When you burn it, it doesn't go away," says this former physics student. "It's full of strength - diamonds are crystallised carbon. Carbon is the thing that makes you solid. It's the most important thing in our bodies and in our lives, but we're hardly aware of it."

The title reflects Dunckel's "admiration for scientific things in general" (and its cover his fascination with geometric shapes). That mindset - futurist, progressive, determined that a brighter future is possible - informs his first album in four years. In news that will delight fans of his fantastical, enigmatic work as half of defining 2000s pop duo Air, it is a return to pop - of sorts - after a spell producing acclaimed soundtracks for the likes of François Ozon's film Summer of 85 (for which Dunckel received a César nomination). Never one to fixate on the past - Air is definitively over, he says but who knows? - Carbon is also about pushing forward, combining his innate pop nous with a desire to experiment and match his compositional masters.

Prior to the pandemic, he collaborated on live shows with an artist friend, Jacques Perconte, who produced glitchy digital imagery that Dunckel improvised to. "It gave me a lot of energy and new ideas," he says. The unpredictability of analogue keyboards in a live setting "was really interesting for me and really risky. It was a way to change my music and not be afraid of doing something really different." During lockdown, Dunckel was able to sequester himself his studio (Air's former HQ) and enjoy the luxury of time, producing even more tracks than would fit on Carbon (he's saving them for future release) and trying out other experiments: on the methodically charging Spark, he explored serial music, finding reassurance once again in mathematical form.

The stability of the Carbon concept and Dunckel's faith in science pushed him to dream about possible utopian futures and how we might escape our current predicament. "We have to change our way of living or we're going to seriously be in trouble," he says. "Covid is the viral aspect of some future, major crises." The album's most grounded song, the ruminative Zombie Park, was inspired by a park in Jaurès Paris, near Dunckel's Paris apartment, where the authorities rounded up homeless communities. Dunckel's utopian vision of revolution can be spiritual. The airy, chiming Cristal Mind, he says, was made to channel the moment after yoga or meditation where "you feel your spirit clear as crystal. You feel your brain and body, you have no aggression. It's a vibration I wanted to put into music." Sex UFO is jokier, a female voice (JB's Voice actually) dreamily observing a "Sex UFO, flying over LA" in a way that can't help but recall the likes of Jeff Bezos seeking to colonise space with their unexpected penis rockets. Sometimes, however, Dunckel's vision of utopia is more idiosyncratic. He's always been captivated by outer space (after all, he was our Moon Safari tour guide), a key theme of Carbon, because it reminds him that life is short and everything we do will be forgotten. "It helps me to be happy," he says. "To take distance with things and feel as if life is a funny movie. On the languid Space, Heather D Angelo of the US band Au Revoir Simone muses the philosophical properties of the cosmos: "What do you call space? It's more than just an absence."

Dunckel also entertains the provocative idea that big tech may save us yet. The triumphalist Corporate Sunset considers how "big corporations are changing the world and what they propose could be paradise," Dunckel explains. "That song is optimistic but big tech companies are more likely to bring us hell. They're more powerful now than any country - they're the new kings." Whether that's better or worse than traditional forms of power is up for debate, he says. "Why would a government necessarily provide something good for people? Politicians are often nothing more than the entertainment branch of these corporations."

Carbon opens up a space to consider these alternative futures. Dunckel calls his new album a psychological test, one that reveals the listener's own persuasions. His, he explains, are to make music that helps him escape reality. "It's all about creating waves that bring me happiness - or that reveal how I feel. It has to drag me into a dream or a sort of internal pleasure." He wants it to make listeners feel "ready to travel in space", he says. "Music brings energy and I want them to feel this energy." With Carbon, Dunckel is supplying the raw materials.

Nicolas Anelka was born on 14 March 1979 in Versailles, Yvelines, Île-de-France, France. He is an actor, known for Dead Weight (2002), UEFA Champions League (1992) and Match of the Day (1964). He has been married to Barbara Tausia since 9 June 2007. They have two children.

Laure Duthilleul was born on 14 January 1959 in Versailles, Yvelines, France. She is an actress and writer, known for À ce soir (2004), Le destin de Juliette (1983) and Maigret (1991).

Mathilde Dedye is an award-winning Producer, who together with Director Mattias Sandström, founded the production company, French Quarter Film in 2011. The company is a Swedish indie label that develops author-driven films, probably best described as European art house. In 2014 they were joined by Producer Director Isabella Rodriguez and has since then expanded with series and comedy. Dedye produces any formats and works today with some of most interesting Directors. Dedye has a French background and resides in Sweden since 1996.