Life and career

Chabat was born in Oran, French Algeria. He is Jewish.

His media career began in 1987 when he founded the comedy group "Les Nuls" (The Dummies) with Bruno Carette, Chantal Lauby and Dominique Farrugia. Les Nuls' first appearance on French television, on the subscriber channel Canal Plus, was a sci-fi spoof entitled Objectif Nul (a word play with Objectif Lune, the French title of the comic album Destination Moon, one of The Adventures of Tintin). The show shares striking similarities with the British TV series Red Dwarf, although both shows were released at roughly the same time and it is unlikely one influenced the other.

Both as a member of Les Nuls (in La Cité de la Peur) and in his solo efforts (including Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, in which he both directed and acted), Chabat is one of the few French comedians who has managed to successfully emulate the heavily referential, pop-culture-based writing style of the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker trio and adapt it to the tastes of the French audience.

Chabat also voiced the title character in the French dubs of all three Shrek films, replacing Mike Myers. He won the César Award for Best Debut in 1998 for Didier.

He co-starred in Happily Ever After (2004) and in Prête-moi ta main (2006) (which he also wrote) alongside Charlotte Gainsbourg. He played Napoleon Bonaparte in the 2009 film Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1987	Objectif: Nul	Captain Lamar	Several	TV Series
1989	Palace	Cédric	Jean-Michel Ribes	TV Series (1 Episode)
1990	Baby Blood	The Slain	Alain Robak
	Histoire(s) de la télévision	Roland Gilet	Alain Berbérian & Alexis Bouriquet	TV Series
1991	The Professional Secrets of Dr. Apfelgluck	Gérard Martinez	Alessandro Capone, Thierry Lhermitte, ...
1992	Pizza blob	Professor Liégeois	Nicolas Hourès	Short
1993	La Classe américaine	Voice	Michel Hazanavicius & Dominique Mézerette	TV Movie
1994	La Cité de la peur	Serge Karamazov	Alain Berbérian (2)
	À la folie	Thomas	Diane Kurys
	Parano	The Pilot	Alain Robak (2)
	One Night of Hypocrisy		Nicolas Hourès (2) & David Rudrauf	Short
1995	French Twist	Laurent Lafaye	Josiane Balasko	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor
1996	Beaumarchais	The Courtier	Édouard Molinaro
	Delphine 1, Yvan 0	Pierre Krief	Dominique Farrugia
	Toniglandyl	The Sick Man	Myriam Isker	TV Short
1997	Didier	Didier Hazanavicius	Alain Chabat	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor
	Le cousin	Gérard Delvaux	Alain Corneau
1998	Ivre mort pour la patrie	The German General	Vincent Hachet	TV Short
1999	Trafic d'influence	The Priest	Dominique Farrugia (2)
	Mes amis	Etienne	Michel Hazanavicius (2)
	La débandade	The Specialist	Claude Berri
2000	The Taste of Others	Bruno Deschamps	Agnès Jaoui	Nominated - César Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated - Chlotrudis Award - Best Cast
	Kitchendales	Enzo's Mother	Chantal Lauby
2001	L'art (délicat) de la séduction	Master Zen	Richard Berry
	La cape et l'épée	The Minstrel	Jean-Jacques Amsellem	TV Series (2 Episodes)
2002	Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra	Julius Caesar	Alain Chabat (2)	Nominated - European Film Award - Best Actor
	Restauratec	Jean-Pierre Ranu	Nicolas Charlet & Bruno Lavaine	TV Short
2003	Chouchou	Stanislas de la Tour-Maubourg	Merzak Allouache
	Laisse tes mains sur mes hanches	Bernard	Chantal Lauby (2)
	The Car Keys	The Dog Seller	Laurent Baffie
	Mais qui a tué Pamela Rose ?	Peter Mc Gray	Éric Lartigau
	Perles à rebours		Pierre Excoffier & François Hernandez	Short
2004	RRRrrrr!!!	Doctor Pierre	Alain Chabat (3)
	Happily Ever After	Georges	Yvan Attal
	Casablanca Driver	Doctor Brenson	Maurice Barthélémy
2005	Papa	Papa	Maurice Barthélémy (2)
2006	The Science of Sleep	Guy	Michel Gondry
	I Do	Luis Costa	Éric Lartigau (2)	Nominated - César Award for Best Actor
	Avez-vous déjà vu..?	Narrator	Pierre-Alain Bloch	TV Series (1 Episode)
2007	Garage Babes	The Cacou	Julien Pelgrand
	Kaamelott	The Duke of Aquitaine	Alexandre Astier	TV Series (4 Episodes)
2008	15 ans et demi ...	Norbert	François Desagnat & Thomas Sorriaux
	La personne aux deux personnes	Gilles Gabriel	Nicolas Charlet & Bruno Lavaine (2)
	Un monde à nous	The Englidh Teacher	Frédéric Balekdjian
	Rien dans les poches	Rita	Marion Vernoux	TV Movie
2009	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	Napoleon	Shawn Levy
	Trésor	Jean-Pierre	Claude Berri (2) & François Dupeyron
	Le siffleur	The Taxes Controller	Philippe Lefebvre
2011	La guerre des boutons	Monsieur Labru	Yann Samuell
	Scrat's Continental Crack-Up: Part 2	Silas	Steve Martino & Mike Thurmeier	Short
	Le grand restaurant II	A Client	Gérard Pullicino	TV Movie
2012	A Thousand Words	Christian Léger de la Touffe	Brian Robbins
	HOUBA! On the Trail of the Marsupilami	Dan Geraldo	Alain Chabat (4)
	Ice Age: Continental Drift	Silas	Steve Martino & Mike Thurmeier (2)
2013	Mood Indigo	Gouffé	Michel Gondry (2)
	Turf	The Greek	Fabien Onteniente
	Les gamins	Gilbert	Anthony Marciano
2014	Asterix: The Land of the Gods	Senator Prospectus	Alexandre Astier (2) & Louis Clichy
	Reality	Jason Tantra	Quentin Dupieux

[ Source: Wikipedia ]