An anonymous person who became known. Bernard Campan was born in Agen on April 4, 1958 to a couple of teachers. Surrounded by his parents and his older brother, he grew up in Tours where he obtained his baccalaureate and wanted to go to Paris to pursue a career in comedy.
Trained at Cours Simon, Bernard Campan joined the Petit Théâtre de Boulevard in 1981, where he met his future acolytes Didier Bourdon and Pascal Légitimus. The following year, the three friends left the troupe to found Les Inconnus in 1984 with two other members, Smaïn and Seymour Brussel. The latter will depart from the group a few years after the formation.
Les Inconnus make millions of spectators laugh with flagship sketches: Télé scheming, Auteuil Neuilly Passy or even Isabelle has blue eyes (parody of the Indochina tube) are among their great successes. Bernard Campan and his accomplices excelled on Antenne 2 in La Télé des Inconnus during the 1990s. Before shining in the cinema in several comedies such as Les Trois Frères (which won them the César for best first film in 1996), Le Pari and Les Rois Magi.
Bernard Campan has also led a great acting career, illustrating himself in other registers in the cinema. Among his solo successes: The Heart of Men (2003), How much do you love me (2005), A bag of marbles (2017). Not to mention the reformation of Les Inconnus in 2014 in Les Trois frères: le retour. While the troupe remained popular with fans, calling for their reformation, Bernard Campan would have been the hardest to convince.
“We needed to take a step back,” explained Didier Bourdon in En Aparté, returning to the reasons for their separation. “Bernard needed to go to other worlds. Bernard is a very, very sensitive person”. And, to let go about his accomplice. “I’m going to try to convince Bernard to go back on stage anyway, one last time. But it’s not won because he’s scared”.
In promotion of the All Inknown TV movie event to be discovered soon on TF1, Bernard Campan confirmed his position on Europe 1. “I’m not up for it”, he confided, referring to their show project before justifying himself. “There we have this program for TF1 and this project with Riad (Sattouf, editor’s note). That’s enough for now”. For the actor, “the difficulty would be to redo the old sketches. That’s what everyone does. (…) And I find it difficult to go back to the old sketches and do new ones, c is still very risky.” In the meantime, the actor can count on the support of those around him.
Discreet about his private life, Bernard Campan has shared his life for more than 30 years with his wife Anne. Interviewed in 2009 by our colleagues from Paris Match, the couple spoke of the beginnings of their story. “Bernard was a friend of my musician brother. It took a little time between us,” confided the young woman, before he confirmed. “More than love at first sight, there was a click that always lasts”.
Accomplices in their couple and their career, Bernard Campan was inspired by his wife Anne to make The Hidden Face in 2007. A dramatic film dealing with alcoholism, a pathology from which the actor’s companion suffered. “I was personally confronted with this disease. Faced with his project, I had complete confidence in Bernard. His benevolent gaze made him write a film as moving as it was successful”.
Since this ordeal, the actor and his wife welded in their couple. “Anything that does not kill makes you grow. For Anne as for me, this problem has allowed us to be in the renewal and the questioning, with an ever more present confidence”. More united than ever, they now form a beautiful family with their children.
The flagship member of the Inconnus and his wife are parents to two daughters, Loan and Nina. A family that rarely exposes itself in the media on a daily basis. “We are not hiding, but we are not people”, admits Bernard Campan to Paris Match, supported by the mother of his daughters. “Bernard is not comfortable in Parisian parties, we are never seen there. Our life with the children, far from Paris, suits us perfectly”.
On rare occasions, the famous comedian pours out his life as a father with his daughters. And, each seems to have its own personality. “My wife and I have a child said to be ‘high potential’ or ‘precocious’. Before, we said ‘gifted’. He too is a bit marginal, he struggles to integrate, communicate and share his inner world“confided the actor of the TV movie Almost like the others in the JDD.
Recently, one of her daughters made her television debut. After a stint in The Voice Kids on TF1, the singer and actress Nina Louise (her artist name) gave the reply to her father in Comme des reines, where she played a young girl who engages in prostitution. From this strong experience, the budding artist looks back on his collaboration with him.
“The first time we met, it was both nice and strange. But we were able to remain very professional”, she confessed in Gala. “I was very apprehensive because he’s my father, but we did what was expected of us and we understood that it was not our life”.