Malik Zidi is a French

French people

The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...

 film, television and theater actor. Zidi is a four-time nominated and one time César Award

César Award

The César Award is the national film award of France, first given out in 1975. The nominations are selected by the members of the Académie des arts et techniques du cinéma....

 recipient for Most Promising Actor

César Award for Most Promising Actor

This is the list of winners and nominees of the César Award for Most Promising Actor .-1980s:-1990s:*1991: Gérald Thomassin: Le petit criminel*1992: Manuel Blanc: J'embrasse pas...

.

Career

Born in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 to an Algeria

Algeria

Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...

n father and a Breton

Breton people

The Bretons are an ethnic group located in the region of Brittany in France. They trace much of their heritage to groups of Brythonic speakers who emigrated from southwestern Great Britain in waves from the 3rd to 6th century into the Armorican peninsula, subsequently named Brittany after them.The...

 mother: the drama coach and director Hélène Zidi-Chéruy of Le Laboratoire de l'Acteur, he spent his formative years in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

Saint-Maur-des-Fossés is a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 11.7 km. from the center of Paris.-The abbey:...

, a suburb of Paris. Zidi abandoned his conventional studies early to concentrate on a career in comedy. Following courses at the Théâtre Véronique Nordey, and the Théâtre de Proposition in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, he briefly studied acrobatics and mime

Mime

The word mime is used to refer to a mime artist who uses a theatrical medium or performance art involving the acting out of a story through body motions without use of speech.Mime may also refer to:* Mime, an alternative word for lip sync...

 at the Théâtre de la Piscine and cinema at the Studio Pygmalion. Zidi made his first film appearance in the 1998 Sébastien Lifshitz

Sébastien Lifshitz

Sébastien Lifshitz is a French screenwriter and director. He teaches at La Fémis, a school that focuses on the subject of image and sound. He studied at the École du Louvre, and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Paris in history of art.Lifshitz's work involves gay themes...

-directed Les Corps ouverts.

In 2000, Zidi was chosen by director François Ozon

François Ozon

François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter and whose films are usually characterized by sharp satirical wit and a freewheeling view on human sexuality....

 to appear as the troubled, lovelorn, bisexual youth Franz in the Teddy Award

Teddy Award

The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...

-winning film Water Drops on Burning Rocks

Water Drops on Burning Rocks

Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes is a 2000 French drama film directed by François Ozon. The film is based on a German play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Tropfen auf heisse Steine.-Act 1:...

(French

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

:Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes). The film was based on the play Tropfen auf heisse Steine by German film director and screenwriter Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Fassbinder

Rainer Werner Maria Fassbinder was a German movie director, screenwriter and actor. He is considered one of the most important representatives of the New German Cinema.He maintained a frenetic pace in film-making...

. The film is a four part comedy-drama

Comedy-drama

Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...

 shot entirely on one set and featuring only four actors: Zidi, Bernard Giraudeau

Bernard Giraudeau

Bernard Giraudeau was a French actor, film director, scriptwriter, producer and writer.-Life:Giraudeau was born in La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime. In 1963 he enlisted in the French navy as a trainee engineer, qualifying as the first in his class a year later...

, Ludivine Sagnier

Ludivine Sagnier

Ludivine Sagnier is a French actress and model, who has appeared in 33 films since 1989. She was nominated for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Swimming Pool and Un secret .-Early life:...

 and American actress Anna Levine

Anna Levine

Anna Kluger Levine is an American actress. She has also been credited as Anna Levine Thompson and Anna Thomson.-Filmography:* Desperately Seeking Susan as Crystal* Murphy's Romance as Wanda...

. Zidi's role in Water Drops on Burning Rocks garnered him his first of four César Award nominations.

Malik Zidi followed up with roles in the 2002 Antoine Santana-directed Un moment de bonheur (English: One Moment of Happiness) opposite Isild Le Besco

Isild Le Besco

Isild Le Besco is a French actress and the daughter of Catherine Belkhodja. She is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French and Algerian descent....

, earning his second César Award nomination for Most Promising Actor. In 2004, he appeared in the André Téchiné

André Téchiné

André Téchiné , is a French screenwriter and film director. He has had a long and distinguished career that places him among the best post-New Wave French film directors....

-directed romantic drama Les Temps qui changent

Les temps qui changent

Changing Times is a 2004 French drama film directed by André Téchiné, starring Catherine Deneuve and Gérard Depardieu...

(English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 release title: Changing Times) as Sami, the bisexual son of Cécile (portrayed by Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve is a French actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of aloof and mysterious beauties in films such as Repulsion and Belle de jour . Deneuve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in Indochine; she also won César Awards for that...

) who follows his mother to Tangiers so that he may visit his Moroccan boyfriend. The film also starred actor Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Depardieu

Gérard Xavier Marcel Depardieu is a French actor and filmmaker. He is a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, Chevalier of the Ordre national du Mérite and has twice won the César Award for Best Actor...

 and was nominated for a Satellite Award. Zidi received his third César Award nomination.

In 2006, Zidi appeared in the Emmanuel Bourdieu-drama Les Amitiés maléfiques (English release title: Poison Friends). The film was showcased at the Cannes Film Festival

Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...

 and Bourdieu received the Critics Week Grand Prize and the Grand Golden Rail. The film also won the SACD Screenwriting Award and Zidi was once again nominated for a César Award, winning the Award for Most Promising Actor 2007.

In addition to film, Zidi has appeared in numerous television roles.

Zidi currently resides in the Ile-de-France

Île-de-France (région)

Île-de-France is the wealthiest and most populated of the twenty-two administrative regions of France, composed mostly of the Paris metropolitan area....

. He lists Michel Piccoli and Laurent Terzieff

Laurent Terzieff

Laurent Terzieff was a French actor.- Biography :Laurent Terzieff was the son of a plastician and of Jean Terzieff, a Russian sculptor who emigrated to France during the First World War. The original surname of his family was Čemerzin.The spectacle of the bombardments had a dramatic effect on...

 as his "heroes" and is a jazz aficionado.

External links

• Malik Zidi at Rotten Tomatoes
• Official Site
• Adéquat. Agence Artistique (in French
  French language
  French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
  
  )