Smaïn

Personal Info

Known For:
Acting

Birthday:
January 3, 1958

Place of Birth:
Constantine, France [now Algeria]

Social Media

Smaïn

Biography

Smaïn (born Smaïn Fairouze, on January 3, 1958 in Constantine, Algeria) is a French comedian, humorist, writer, actor and director of Algerian descent.

Born in 1958 in Constantine, Algeria, to an unknown father and mother, Smaïn Fairouze was taken in by the children's ward of the civil hospital. In 1960, brought back to France by an administrative assistant, he joined his foster family. His adoptive father, a street sweeper at the Régie immobilière de la ville de Paris, was Algerian and his adoptive mother, a cleaning lady, was Moroccan. He attended the Notre-Dame school in Saint-Mandé and then the Saint-Michel high school in St Mandé. During his childhood, he practiced choral singing for many years.

Smaïn, to break into the world of show business, counted on the limitless support of his adoptive parents: «Of modest origins, they looked with suspicion at the world of artists. They constantly told me that there are many called and few chosen... But my desire quickly got the better of their advice! Unfortunately, they died too early to be able to benefit from my success. But I hope they would have been proud of it!».

Smaïn began with a long career in café-théâtre in the 1980s, performing in small Parisian cabarets. Later, he met Philippe Bouvard who offered him a place in his Théâtre de Bouvard. It was there that he expanded his circle of friends by meeting Didier Bourdon, Bernard Campan, Pascal Légitimus and Seymour Brussel. With these four companions, he formed a small comedy group, Les Cinq, which toured for a few years.

Smaïn ended up choosing the solo show. Little by little, with the help of his pianist Alain Bernard, he found success and performed in shows over the years: English beur in 1986 broadcast on 18 August (version filmed at the International Festival of Actors' Performance of June 1987) on La Cinq, T'en veux? in 1989, and Comme ça se prononce in 1996, a show for which he won the Molière for best Indonesian, a Victoire de la musique as well as a Grand Prix Sacem. At the same time, Smaïn was offered more and more roles in the cinema, notably in L'Œil au beur(re) noir, a film which received the César for best first film in 1988.

He also participated in several shows by Enfoirés in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997 and 1998.

In 2008, he recorded with the Orchestre de la Suisse romande, Le Carnaval des animaux by Camille Saint-Saëns, for which he wrote the libretto. This will be followed by a collaboration with the Pau Pays de Béarn Orchestra who commissioned several musical tales for orchestra, Rayane and the Maestro, The Disappeared of the page 41 and most recently The Fabulous Journey of the Traveling Music Stand.

In 2009, he was part of the jury of the show France has incredible talent, during the fourth season, replacing Patrick Dupond, and collaborates with Michel Legrand on the production of his album Délit de fa dièse.

In 2012, Smaïn returned to the stage of the Théâtre Rive Gauche in the play Réactions en chaîne, which he performed from January to March. ...

Source: Article "Smaïn" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA.

Known For

Filmography

Year Movie Role
2023 Fernandel, l'homme au sourire Self
2023 Once Upon a Time in Algeria Doctor Farès
2022 Placés Père d'Elias
2022 The Imaginary Doctor Inspecteur Bachir
2020 Les 60 ans du one-man-show Self (archive footage)
2015 Certifiée Halal Aziz Boukamache
2015 Gates of the Sun Slimane
2014 Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
2013 Poor Richard! Farid
2013 Un p’tit gars de Ménilmontant Maklouf
2012 The Bag of Flour Sarah's Father
2010 Le Carnaval des animaux Le père
2008 Harkis Saïd
2008 Tomboy Amrani
2007 Smaïn - Mon dernier avant le prochain Self
2006 For the Love of God Kevin's Father
2005 Smaïn: Rebelote Self
2005 Les Enfoirés, 15 ans d'Enfoirés
2004 La Nuit du rire II à l'Olympia Self
2003 Don't Worry, Be Happy Self
2003 The Car Keys Actor who refuses to film with Laurent
2000 Old School M. Fonblard
1999 Le Schpountz Irénée
1999 Recto/Verso Fred
1998 Bingo! Vincent
1998 Charité biz'ness Sam
1998 Les Enfoirés 1998 - Enfoirés en cœur
1997 Les Enfoirés 1997 - Le Zénith des Enfoirés
1996 Two Dads and One Mom Salim
1996 Three Lives and Only One Death Luca
1996 Smaïn - Comme ça se prononce Self
1995 Tom est tout seul Street musician
1995 Les Enfoirés 1995 - Les Enfoirés à l'Opéra-Comique
1994 Wacko Jimmy
1993 Les Enfoirés 1993 - Les Enfoirés chantent Starmania
1992 Les Enfoirés 1992 - La Soirée des Enfoirés à l'Opéra
1991 One Can Always Dream Rachid Merzahoui
1989 J'aurais jamais dû croiser son regard... Bambi
1987 L'Œil au beur(re) noir Rachid
1987 Le Passager du Tassili Fefer
1986 The Joint Brothers Le jeune homme du train
1985 The Telephone Always Rings Twice Momo
1984 La Smala Le jeune maghrébin de la bagarre
1983 Dorothée : Le Show
1982 The Big Brother Abdel
1982 Te marre pas... c'est pour rire !
1982 Les Chômeurs en folie
1976 Mosaïque Self
Ceritfiée Halal de Mahmoud Zemmouri
Year TV Show Role
2022 Il était une fois Champs-Élysées Self
2019 Mask Singer Monstre
2015 À votre service L'huissier
2012 The Unexpected Getaway Self
2006 Camping paradis Christian Dissaut
2006 Salut les Terriens ! Self - Guest
2006 La France a un incroyable talent Self - Judge
2006 On n'est pas couché Self - Guest
2001 Commissariat Bastille Capitaine Mo Loumani
1999 Le Grand Tralala Self
1998 Vivement dimanche Self
1987 Sacrée Soirée Self
1985 Victoires de la musique Self
1982 Le Théâtre de Bouvard Various characters
1982 Champs-Elysées Self
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