Smaïn
Acting · Directing
Born January 3, 1958, Constantine, France [now Algeria]
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.
Filmography
- 2023The Blond Boy from the Casbah — Doctor Farès
- 2022Placés — Père d'Elias
- 2022The Imaginary Doctor — Inspecteur Bachir
- 2015Certifiée Halal — Aziz Boukamache
- 2015Gates of the Sun — Slimane
- À votre service — L'huissier
- 2014Les Enfoirés - Les Enfoirés en chœur de 1985 à aujourd'hui
- 2013Poor Richard! — Farid
- 2013Un p’tit gars de Ménilmontant — Maklouf
- 2012The Bag of Flour — Sarah's Father
- 2010Le Carnaval des animaux — Le père
- 2008Harkis — Saïd
- 2008Tomboy — Amrani
- Camping Paradis — Christian Dissaut
- 2006For the Love of God — Kevin's Father
- 2006Sandrine Alexi - Prise de têtes — Director
- 2005Les Enfoirés, 15 ans d'Enfoirés
- 2005Smaïn: Rebelote — Self, Writer
- 2003The Car Keys — Actor Refusing to Film with Laurent
- Commissariat Bastille — Capitaine Mo Loumani
- 2000Old School — M. Fonblard
- 1999Le Schpountz — Irénée
- 1999Recto/Verso — Fred
- 1998Bingo ! — Vincent
- 1998Charité biz'ness — Sam
- 1998Les Enfoirés 1998 - Enfoirés en cœur
- 1997Les Enfoirés 1997 - Le Zénith des Enfoirés
- 1996Smaïn - Comme ça se prononce — Self, Writer
- 1996Three Lives and Only One Death — Luca
- 1996Two Dads and One Mom — Salim, Director
- 1995Les Enfoirés 1995 - Les Enfoirés à l'Opéra-Comique
- 1995Tom est tout seul — Street musician
- 1994Wacko — Jimmy
- 1993Les Enfoirés 1993 - Les Enfoirés chantent Starmania
- 1992Les Enfoirés 1992 - La Soirée des Enfoirés à l'Opéra
- 1991One Can Always Dream — Rachid Merzahoui
- 1989J'aurais jamais dû croiser son regard... — Bambi
- 1987L'Œil au beur(re) noir — Rachid
- 1987Le Passager du Tassili — Fefer
- 1986The Joint Brothers — Le jeune homme du train
- 1985The Telephone Always Rings Twice — Momo
- 1984La Smala — Le jeune maghrébin de la bagarre
- 1983Dorothée : Le Show
- Le Théâtre de Bouvard — Various characters
- 1982Les Chômeurs en folie
- 1982Te marre pas... c'est pour rire !
- 1982The Big Brother — Abdel
- Ceritfiée Halal de Mahmoud Zemmouri
Appearances as themselves (18)
- 2024Les grands comiques du petit écran — Self : Guest
- 2023Fernandel, l'homme au sourire — Self
- Il était une fois Champs-Élysées — Self
- 2020Les 60 ans du one-man-show — Self (archive footage)
- Mask Singer — Self
- The Unexpected Getaway — Self
- 2007Smaïn - Mon dernier avant le prochain — Self
- La France a un incroyable talent — Self - Judge
- On n'est pas couché — Self - Guest
- Salut les Terriens ! — Self - Guest
- 2004La Nuit du rire II à l'Olympia — Self
- 2003Don't Worry, Be Happy — Self
- Le Grand Tralala — Self
- Vivement dimanche — Self
- Sacrée soirée — Self
- Victoires de la musique — Self
- Champs-Elysées — Self
- 1976Mosaïque — Self