François-Xavier Demaison

François-Xavier Demaison had a first career far from the stage. After a law and political science degree at Université Paris-Nanterre and studies at the Institut d'études politiques de Paris, he worked in international tax at Landwell & Associés, part of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and was posted to New York in 2001. Watching the World Trade Center collapse on September 11 made him leave that path and return to the theatre he had trained for at the Cours Florent.

He put his savings into his first show. Deuxième Acte opened in 2002 and grew into A story pour les gens qui believe in dreams, which played several Paris venues including the Gaîté-Montparnasse. Demaison s'envole took him to the Casino de Paris, and Demaison s'évade brought him back to the Gaîté-Montparnasse.

The screen followed. His title role in Coluche: L'Histoire d'un mec earned him a César nomination for best actor, and he went on to play the headmaster nicknamed le Bouillon in Le Petit Nicolas, the lead opposite Virginie Efira in La Chance de ma vie and a part alongside Nicolas Duvauchelle and Pierre Niney in Comme des frères. On television he was Commissaire Molina in Disparue on France 2 and Antoine Clerc in Le Négociateur.