Gad Elmaleh is a Moroccan-born, French Jewish actor and comedian, often referred to as the "Jerry Seinfeld of France."
Born in Casablanca, Elmaleh was born into a theatrical Jewish family. His father was a mime and two of his siblings are actors, a stage director and a singer. He left Morocco in 1988 to study Political Science at McGill University. While a student in Canada, he also worked on radio and comedies. In 1992, he moved to Paris.
In Paris, despite an inconsistent history of schooling, Elmaleh was accepted into the prestigious drama school Cours Florent, where he studied with French actress Isabelle Nanty. There, in 1996, he wrote and performed a one-man show about his experiences in Montreal and Paris, called Décalages. His second one-man show, La vie normale, showed off not only his talent as a scriptwriter, but as an actor. Since that time, he has acted in over 40 roles.
Raised in multilingual Morocco, speaking French, Arabic and Hebrew, Elmaleh has done stand-up in all three languages. He has recently decided to challenge himself to do comedy routines in English and has since relocated to the US. He said that he prepares by practicing English pronunciation every day for two hours.
