Élie Semoun

Life and career

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 ("Pièce d'identité" and "Pièce décousue"). He graduated from high school at the Lycée Descartes in Antony (Hauts-de-Seine) in 1982. 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, with whom he wrote and performed daring skits with scathing takes on 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 at first been 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?

Family

His father, Paul Semhoun, is from the Moroccan city of Taza, and worked for the French Postal Service. His mother, Denise Malka, born in Tlemcen in Algeria, was a French teacher. She died of hepatitis at age 36 when Élie was 11 years old. He has a younger brother, Laurent, who died of AIDS in 2002, also age 36, and a sister, Anne-Judith, a marketing director.

He has a son, Antoine, born in 1995 in Rennes. He shares custody with his ex-wife, Annie Florence Jeannesson, whom he divorced in 2002.

Semoun is the second cousin of singer and actor Patrick Bruel, the grandfather of Bruel being the brother of Semoun's grandmother.

According to Paris Match, the actor has been in a relationship with Aude Fraineau, a worker in audiovisual production who is thirty years younger than him (born in 1990), since 2023. In 2025 he announced on the Quotidien show that she would give birth soon.

Shows

1991: Élie Semoun et Dieudonné au Théâtre du Splendid Saint-Martin, directed by Pascal Légitimus

1996: Élie Semoun et Dieudonné en garde à vue

1999: Élie et Semoun au Palais des Glaces, directed by Muriel Robin

2002: Élie Semoun à l'Olympia, directed by Roger Louret

2005–2006: Élie Semoun se prend pour qui ?, directed by Roger Louret

2008–2009: Merki…, directed by Roger Louret

2012: Tranches de Vies, directed by Muriel Robin

Theater

2012: Tartarin de Tarascon by Jérôme Savary, directed by the author, Théâtre André Malraux

2012: Inconnu à cette adresse by Kressmann Taylor, directed by Delphine de Malherbe, théâtre Antoine-Simone Berriau

2014: Le Placard by Francis Veber, directed by the author, Théâtre des Nouveautés

Filmography

Television

1989: Pause-café Pause Tendresse de Serge Leroy (3rd episode): Alberto

1988–1991: Vivement lundi!

1990: Édouard et ses filles by Michel Lang

1996: François Kleber – L'Embrouilleur

1996: Maigret – Maigret tend un piège

2001–2003: Caméra Café (at least 3 episodes)

2002: Si j'étais lui by Philippe Triboit

2004: Kaamelott (5 episodes) : the Witch Hunter

2008: Rien dans les poches by Marion Vernoux

2010: Un divorce de chien by Lorraine Lévy : Julien

2011: Very Bad Blagues de Palmashow (épisode 58)

2012: Bref by Kyan Khojandi (episode 53) :the classified ads seller

2013: Hitchcock by Mocky – episode "Selon la loi"

2013: Nos chers voisins fêtent l'été : Ludovic, un représentant de commerce, victime de la ruse des voisins

2013: Y'a pas d'âge (1 episode)

2013: What Ze Teuf (2 episodes) : Himself

Film

1988: Toilette-Zone by Laurence Arcadias

1995: Les Trois Frères by Bernard Campan and Didier Bourdon : Brice

1995: Les Bidochon by Serge Korber : René

1996: Titus et Cortex by Jean Claude Buziac

1996: Tout doit disparaître by Philippe Muyl: Gérard Piche

1997: Les Démons de Jésus by Bernie Bonvoisin: Gérard

1997: Le Clone by Fabio Conversi: Thomas

1997: Que la lumière soit by Arthur Joffé: God the shopkeeper

1998: Charité biz'ness by Thierry Barthes: Momo/Massipu

1998: Les Grandes Bouches by Bernie Bonvoisin: Fichier

1999: L'Ami du jardin by Jean-Louis Bouchaud

1999: Les Parasites by Philippe de Chauveron: Brigadier Max Schmitt

1999: Love Me by Laetitia Masson: l'amoureux

1999: Stringer by Klaus Biedermann: Filo

2000: Old School by Karim Abbou and Kader Ayd: Dealer

2000: Deuxième vie by Patrick Braoudé: Steve Michaud

2002: Si j'étais lui by Philippe Triboit: Tristan

2003: The Car Keys by Laurent Baffie: Himself

Voice Work

Film

1995: Pocahontas: French voice of Wiggins

2002: The Magic Roundabout directed by Dave Borthwick: voice of Zébulon

2002: Ice Age directed by Chris Wedge: French voice of Sid

2002: Gouille et Gar by Gamer (short film): voice of Gouille

2005: Robots of Chris Wedge: French voice of Fender

2006: Ice Age: The Meltdown directed by Carlos Saldanha: French voice of Sid

2006: Charlotte's Web directed by Gary Winick: French voice of Rat Templeton

2009: Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: French voice of Sid

2010: A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures: French voice of adult Ray

2010: Allez raconte ! directed by Jean-Christophe Roger: Éric

2011: Animals United: French voice of Billy the Meerkat

2011: Émilie Jolie directed by Francis Nielsen and Philippe Chatel: voices of Belzébuth and Prince Charming

2012: Ice Age: Continental Drift : French voice of Sid

2012: Sammy's Great Escape directed by Ben Stassen : French voice of adult Ray

2014: The Mansions of the Gods directed by Alexandre Astier : voice of Ubiquitus

Television

1988: Les Années collège : Joey Jeremiah (Pat Mastroianni)

Shows with Dieudonné

1991–1993: Élie et Dieudonné

1993: L'avis des bêtes - Une certaine idée de la France

1996: Élie et Dieudonné en garde à vue

Shows with Franck Dubosc

Les Petites Annonces d'Élie

Élie Annonce Semoun 2000

Élie Annonce Semoun : la suite de La suite

Video

1999: Élie et Semoun au Palais des Glaces

2000: Élie annonce Semoun, 5th volume of short ads (55 classified ads)

2002: Les Petites Annonces d'Élie l'intégrale, the first 3 volumes released on VHS in the late 1990s and the unprecedented volume 4 (the best of the first 3) (167 classified ads)

2002 : Élie Semoun à l'Olympia Bruno Coquatrix

2003 : Élie annonce Semoun, la suite, 6th volume of classified ads

2006 : Élie Semoun se prend pour qui ?

2007 : Élie annonce Semoun, la suite de la suite, 7th volume of classified ads (56 classified ads)

2008 : Merki

2008 : Les Petites Annonces d'Élie (l'essentiel){Avec Franck Dubosc}(more than160 classified ads)

2012 : Tranches de vies

Video games

1998 : Dreamcast (voiceover promotional advertising Sega console "Up to six billion players")

2003 : Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc (Les Ptizêtres, additional voices)

Albums

2003 : Chansons

2007 : Sur le fil

Books

Les Annonces en BD, bande dessinée, Jungle :

Tome I, Si tu es blonde…, 2004.

Tome II, J'suis choooquée, 2005.

Best of 2009.

Élie Semoun se prend pour qui ?, graphic novel, Jungle, 2006.

Kévina, Mikeline, Toufik et les autres…, Fetjaine, 2008.

Je grandirai plus tard, Flammarion, 2013.