Nicolas Benamou

A key behind-the-scenes figure on the French comedy scene, writer, producer and director Nicolas Benamou cut his teeth on various stand-up specials and music videos before helming the box-office hit "Babysitter" (2014). Benamou earned his first directing credit on breakfast show "Le pire du Morning Live" (Fun TV, 2000-03) in 2002 where he forged a long-standing working relationship with Michael Youn, going onto helm the humorist's one-man show "Pluskapoil" (2005), and music videos for his spoof acts Bratisla Boys and Fatal Bazooka, and serve as supervising director on the latter's big-screen venture "Fatal" (2010). After adding Japanese TV clip-show "Menu W9" (W9, 2006-2013) and comedy special "Florence Foresti: Mother F*****" (2010) to his resume, Benamou made his feature-length film directorial debut with "De l'huile sur le feu" (2011), a comedy about two warring restaurant-owning families which he also wrote, before assisting on "Porn in the Hood" (2012), a satire in which three childhood friends attempt to enter the porn industry, and "Paris à tout prix" (2013), the tale of an adopted Parisian being deported to her Moroccan homeland. Benamou then struck box-office gold when he joined forces with star Philippe Lacheau to co-direct "Babysitter" (2014), a bawdy found-footage bromance about a party animal forced to look after his boss' bratty son. Its monumental success inevitably led to a quick follow-up, "Babysitter 2" (2015), which transported the central characters to the Amazon jungle, and Benamou's winning streak continued with "À fond" (2016), an action comedy in which a family's minivan hurtles towards a traffic jam while their cruise control is stuck at 80mph.