Valérie Benguigui

08 July 1961 - 02 September 2013

ActivitiesActress, Voice

SecteurCinéma

Biography

Valerie Benguigui studied the craft of acting at Cours Florent and the National Chaillot Theatre School. She landed her first role on the silver screen in 1986 in "On a volé Charlie Spencer!", starring Francis Huster. Between 1992 and 1997, the actress appeared in several shorts such as "Si vous dites à un Français..." by Alban Guitteny or "I Got a Woman", first film directed by Yvan Attal.
In 1997, Valerie Benguigui appeared in "Would I Lie to You?" by Thomas Gilou, which launched her career. Even if still in supporting roles, at least she was now performing next to renowned actors in other films such as "Droit dans le mur" by Pierre Richard starring Daniel Prevost and Darry Cowl. As of 1999, the actress had roles in popular films such as "My Father, My Mother, My Brothers and My Sisters" by Charlotte De Turckheim, "Jet Set" by Fabien Onteniente in 2000 and "Laughter and Punishment" by Isabelle Doval in 2003.
At the same time Valerie Benguigui was producing stage plays and directing several shows including one with Valerie Lemercier. As for TV, she had the same role from 2000 to 2005 in the series Avocats & Associés. Adept at comedy, she appeared in "The Role of Her Life" by François Favrat in 2004 which starred Agnes Jaoui and Karin Viard, followed by "The Grand Role" by Steve Suissa. In the year 2006 she obtained a lead role opposite Michele Laroque and Aure Atika, in the comedy "Hey Good Looking!" by Lisa Azuelos.
In 2007, she landed another lead role in "Pur week-end" by Olivier Doran, opposite Kad Merad and Bruno Solo. From a weekend to a vacation, her next role opposite Elodie Bouchez was in "I Hate My Best Friends' Kids" by Anne Fassio, followed by a role as the wife of Denis Podalydes in "La Vie d'artiste" by Marc Fitoussi and then along side Emmanuelle Devos (they had already appeared on the same billing in "On a volé Charlie Spencer!") in the first feature directed and written by Idit Cebula, "Two Lives Plus One".
Valerie Benguigui was quite in her place once again in comedy, "Baby Blues" by Diane Bertrand, in which she plays a neurotic shrink, "Safari" by Olivier Baroux, where she ends up in a disastrous adventure along side Kad Merad two years after their first collaboration.
Prefering to fend off all labels, she continued to pivot between a first film with a social message (Axelle Ropert's "The Wolberg Family"), a dramatic detective story ("Turk's Head" by Pascal Elbe) and always a bit of comedy, opposite Kad Merad in "L' Italien" in 2010.