François Bégaudeau (; born 27 April 1971) is a French writer, journalist, and actor. He is best known for co-writing and starring in '' Entre les murs'' (2008), a film based on his 2006 novel of the same name. The film won the

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

at the

2008 Cannes Film Festival The 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival was held from 14 to 25 May 2008. The President of the Official Jury was American actor and director Sean Penn. Twenty two films from fourteen countries were selected to compete for the ''Palme d'Or''. The awards ...

and received an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nomination for

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

in 2009.

Early life

He was born in

Luçon Luçon () is a commune in the Vendée department, Pays de la Loire region, western France. Its inhabitants are known as Luçonnais. Luçon Cathedral is the seat of the Diocese of Luçon (comprising the Vendée), where Cardinal Richelieu onc ...

Vendée Vendée (; br, Vande) is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and was a member of the 1990s punk rock group Zabriskie Point. After receiving his degree in

Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...

, he taught

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Dreux and in an

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Career

Bégaudeau published his first novel, ''Jouer juste'' in 2003. In 2005, he published ''Dans la diagonale'' and ''Un démocrate, Mick Jagger 1960-1969'', a fictionalized account of the life of

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

. In 2006, his third novel entitled '' Entre les murs'' earned him the Prix France Culture/Télérama. Bégaudeau works as a movie critic for the French version of ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's Lifestyle magazine, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from H ...

'', having previously worked for the '' Cahiers du cinéma''. He was also a regular contributor for several French magazines, including ''Inculte'', ''Transfuge'' and ''So Foot.'' Since 2006, he has been a columnist for ''La Matinale'' and ''Le Cercle'' on

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

television. He worked on the screenplay for '' Entre les murs'' (2008), a film based on his 2006 novel of the same name, in collaboration with the film's director

Laurent Cantet Laurent Cantet (; born 11 April 1961) is a French director, cinematographer and screenwriter. His film ''Entre les murs'' ('' The Class'') won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008. Biography Laurent Cantet was born in 1961 in the town ...

. Bégaudeau also starred as the lead in the film, which went on to win the

at the

. The film also earned an

nomination for

in 2009, though it ultimately lost to Japan's '' Departures''. The English-language version of ''Entre les murs'' was published in April 2009 by Seven Stories Press under the title ''The Class''.

Works

* ''Jouer juste'', Éditions Verticales, 2003 * ''Dans la diagonale'', Éditions Verticales, 2005 * ''Un démocrate : Mick Jagger 1960-1969'',

Naïve Records Naïve Records is a French independent record label based in Paris, specializing in electronic music, pop music, jazz and classical music. Founding and expansion It was founded in 1998 by Patrick Zelnik, former CEO of Virgin France, Gilles Paire ...

, 2005 * '' Entre les murs'', Éditions Verticales, 2006 * Collaboration for ''Débuter dans l'enseignement : Témoignages d'enseignants, conseils d'experts'', ESF, 2006 * Collaboration for ''Devenirs du roman'', Naïve Records, 2007 * Collaboration for ''Une année en France : Réferendum/banlieues/CPE'', Gallimard, 2007 * ''Fin de l'histoire'', Éditions Verticales, 2007 * ''Vers la Douceur'', Éditions Verticales, 2009 * ''Histoire de ta bêtise'', Éditions Fayard/Pauvert, 2019 * ''Notre Joie'', Éditions Fayard/Pauvert, 2021

References

External links

Official site with photos and videos of François Bégaudeau

Short biography with a photo of François Bégaudeau
in French
Interview with François Bégaudeau
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Begaudeau, Francois 1971 births Living people People from Luçon 21st-century French non-fiction writers French male film actors French film critics French male non-fiction writers