Élie Semoun
Biography
Élie Semoun (born Élie Semhoun on 16 October 1963) is a French comedian, actor, director, writer and singer.
Élie Semoun was born in France, to a Sephardic Jewish family of Moroccan-Jewish and Algerian-Jewish descent. In 1980 at the age of 17, Semoun wrote two collections of poems and two plays. Beginning in 1988, he had regular appearances on the television series Vivement lundi! on TF1, where he played a horse mounted on rollers.
His comedy career began in 1990 with his partner Dieudonné M'bala M'bala, with whom he wrote and performed daring, skits with scathing takes generally taboo subjects such as racism and poverty, often playing up contrasts between himself and his partner in terms of origin, color, and religion.
Their first show was held at Café de la Gare in 1991. The duo acquired a certain notoriety in 1992 after several appearances on their fellow comedian Arthur's show Emission Impossible, where they were noticed for their particularly corrosive sketches. They followed this up with one success after another at Le Splendid Theater, Paris's Palais des glaces, and at Casino de Paris. Élie and Dieudonné formed one of the most popular comic duos of the 1990s.
In 1997 the duo split due to artistic and financial differences. Élie resented how Dieudonné handled their relations with the media and admitted that he was unhappy that his friend had turned towards film (and that he left to appear in the United States) and antisemitism. Dieudonné managed the financial aspects of their career, and Semoun felt their money was not divided equitably.
Breaking out on his own, Semoun continued his success with Petites Annonces d'Élie (which had been at first intended to be a show with Dieudonné) alongside his friend the actor Franck Dubosc. Once again his performance was promoted by his friend on the show Les Enfants de la télé (France) Inspired by actual classified ads recorded by them in a van, the "Petites Annonces d'Élie" (Élie's Classified Ads) are seen through the character of Cyprian, a repulsive looking man searching for a "busty blond".
Semoun went back on stage with a one-man show, Élie and Semoun. He supported Bertrand Delanoë during Paris's municipal elections of 2001 and Lionel Jospin during the presidential election of 2002. In 2003, he released an album of French songs called simply "Chansons". In early 2005, he performed in a show (co-authored with Franck Dubosc and Muriel Robin entitled Élie Semoun se prend pour qui?
Élie Semoun maintained in the years following his separation with Dieudonné a complex and strained relationship with his former partner. First strained, then reconciled, they have again grown apart during the public controversy aroused by the political stances of Dieudonné. "Some have speculated on the reunion of our duo, but I must tell you that this is clearly out of the question! It's over." In 2012, he declared that "the Dieudonné he knew and the Dieudonné of today appear to him like two completely different people, and he is unable to reconcile them in his mind". ...
Source: Article "Élie Semoun" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Acting (123 movies)
Camping : histoire d'un succès
2021
Bonsoir Monsieur Devos
2023
Les Enfoirés 2023 - Enfoirés un jour, toujours
2023
Asterix at the Olympic Games
2008
Ducobu 4 President
2022
My Darling Family
2024
Les Démons de Jésus
1997
La presque soirée présidentielle
2017
Les Parasites
1999
Départ immédiat
2012
Elie Semoun et ses monstres
2023
Everything Must Disappear
1997
The Three Brothers
1995
Cyprien
2009
Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
2014
Park Benches
2009
Ducoboo
2011
Le grand show des humoristes - Spécial couples
2021
Les petites annonces d'Elie - L'intégrale
2002
Second Chance
2011
The Storytelling Show
2010
Les Grandes Bouches
1999
Les seigneurs du château
2021
The Car Keys
2003
Le Clone
1998
Elie Semoun - Merki...
2009
Elie Semoun se prend pour qui ?
2006
Elie Semoun - Elie et Semoun au Palais des Glaces
1999
Elie Semoun - Elie annonce Semoun, la suite...
2003
Ducobu 5
2024
Carte Blanche à Anne Roumanoff
2011
Elie Semoun à l'Olympia
2002
Riviera
2006
Second life
2000
Aux abois
2005
Ducoboo 2: Crazy Vacation
2012
Drôles de familles
2022
La vie de Michel Muller est plus belle que la vôtre
2005
Stringer
1999
Élie & Dieudonné
1992
Elie & Dieudonné - Une certaine idée de la France
1994
Elie & Dieudonné - En garde à vue
1996
They Love Each Other... Well, Almost!
2022
Elie Semoun : Tranches de vies
2012
Classico
2022
Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods
2014
Elie Semoun - Elie annonce Semoun
2002
Emilie Jolie
2011
Soirée Pyjama
2019
If I Was Him
2002
Un divorce de chien
2010
Two Much for the Job
2022
Surviving Sid
2008
Let There Be Light!
1998
Les Bidochon
1996
Zapping Family
2005
Jamel et ses amis au Marrakech du rire 2022 : 10 ans
2022
Le meilleur des annonces d'Elie Semoun
2017
Porn in the Hood
2012
Arnaud Ducret dans tous ses états
2022
La Nuit du rire II à l'Olympia
2004
Elie annonce Semoun, la suite de la suite
2007
Sixty
2019
Neuilly Yo Mama!
2009
A Village Almost Perfect!
2014
Old School
2000
Tous Inconnus
2022
Tous Inconnus
2022
The Crazy Evening of Palmashow 2
2015
Franck Dubosc - Les Pour Toi Public
2003
Franck Dubosc - Les Pour Toi Public 2
2006
Les petites annonces d'Elie - L'essentiel
2008
Jamel et ses amis au Marrakech du rire 2015
2015
The Grand Restaurant IV
2022
Anne Roumanoff & co s'amusent !
2022
Le Placard
2015
Meudon rire de tout - 2ème édition
2023
People - Jet set 2
2004
On aurait dû aller en Grèce
2024
Jamel Show
1999
Jamel et ses amis au Marrakech du rire 2016
2016
Marrakech du rire
2011
Casablanca Driver
2004
Les duos impossibles de Jérémy Ferrari : 3ème édition
2016
Lucky Luke and the Daltons
2004
Jamel et ses amis au Marrakech du rire 2017
2017
Once Upon a Time in the Oued
2005
M'rire Festival : Gala D'ouverture
2017
Festival International du Rire de Liège 2017
2017
Le Point Virgule fait l'Olympia - 10e édition
2017
Elie Semoun - À Partager
2017
Les petites annonces d'Elie - La suite...
2003
Les petites annonces la suite de la suite
2008
La famille, ça me fait bien rire !
2018
Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion
2018
Looking for Teddy
2018
Gad Elmaleh - Le Big Show
2015
Charité biz'ness
1998
Ce soir, c'est Palmashow
2019
Serial (Bad) Weddings
2014
Directing (7 movies)
| Title | Year | Job |
|---|---|---|
| Elie Semoun à l'Olympia | 2002 | Writer |
| Elie Semoun - Elie annonce Semoun, la suite... | 2003 | Writer |
| Cyprien | 2009 | Writer |
| Ducoboo 3 | 2020 | Writer |
| Ducobu 4 President | 2022 | Writer |
| My Old Man | 2023 | Writer |
| Ducobu 5 | 2024 | Writer |
| Ducobu et le fantôme de Saint-Potache | 2026 | Screenplay |