He began his career as a stand-up comedian in Paris before guest starring in comedic television programmes and films. Dujardin garnered international fame and widespread acclaim with his performance of George Valentin in the award-winning silent movie The Artist by Hazanavicius. Despite this newfound popularity, he chose to keep his focus on France, where he remains a popular actor, although he later appeared in the English-language films The Wolf of Wall Street and The Monuments Men After attending high school, he went to work for the construction company of his father, Jacques Dujardin, as a locksmith.
Jean Dujardin began his acting career performing a self-written one-man show in various bars and cabarets in Paris. From to , Dujardin starred in the France production of the originally Canadian comedy series Un gars, une fille , alongside his future wife Alexandra Lamy , before transitioning to a career in film.
The TV series charted the path of a relationship; each episode was less than ten minutes long. In , he portrayed the titular surfer in the popular comedic film Brice de Nice and performed on its accompanying soundtrack. In , he starred alongside Albert Dupontel , playing his character's cancer in The Clink of Ice , a French black comedy written and directed by Bertrand Blier. Dujardin went on to win the Best Actor award at the 84th Academy Awards.
French film historian Tim Palmer has analyzed Dujardin's career and rise to success in France, noting how his formative roles were often unredeemable buffoons, very skillful portrayals of childlike men who aggressively and unabashedly reject the responsibilities and compromises of adult life.
In late , La French , was released in Europe and subsequently in the United States in early He plays a French police magistrate who tries to dismantle the French Connection and bring down the Unione Corse.
