Jean-Marc Vallée Biography

In 1995, Jean made his feature film debut with the film ‘Black List.’ The thriller film was in French language and won huge critical acclaim despite its low budget. The film received nine nominations at the annual the 1996 ‘Genie Awards.’ The film was written by Sylvain Guy, and directed and edited by Jean. Following the success of his debut feature film, Jean moved to Los Angeles to forge a career in Hollywood. After some initial struggle, he managed to find his way into the American entertainment industry and began working on his second feature length film. He began directing a western film titled ‘Los Locos,’ which was written by the film’s lead actor, Mario Van Peebles. Jean directed yet another low budget film ‘Loser Love’ in the late 1990s.

In the mid-1990s, when Jean was in Montreal, he had started working on a screenplay based on his own childhood experiences. He developed the screenplay over the years and had been making the film. After ten years into making, the film ‘C.R.A.Z.Y.’ was finally ready by 2005, and became a huge critical and commercial success almost immediately. The film made its grand premier at the 2005 ‘Toronto International Film Festival’ and was awarded with the ‘Best Canadian Feature Film.’ Made in French, the film received eleven ‘Genie Awards’ and was sent to the ‘Oscars’ as the official entry from Canada.

The success of ‘C.R.A.Z.Y’ turned around Jean’s career as he was approached by legendary director Martin Scorsese to direct the period drama film ‘The Young Victoria’. The film released in 2009, and turned out to be a huge critical and commercial success, winning the ‘Oscar’ in the ‘Best Costume Design’ category, along with bagging nomination in two others.

In 2011, his film ‘Cafe de Flore’ was released. It was directed, written, and edited by Jean, and set in the 1960s Paris. The film turned out to be a massive critical success and earned thirteen nominations at the ‘Genie Awards.’ He, however, also received some criticism for replicating the film style he used in his film ‘C.R.A.Z.Y.’. The film turned out to be a commercial success.

Jean-Marc Vallée dated Canadian writer Chantal Cadieux in the late 1980s, and the couple got married in 1990.They, however, divorced in 2006. They had two children together.

He used an alias ‘John Mac McMurphy.’

He liked to shoot in natural lights as much as possible and hence, he preferred shooting during the day.

Jean-Marc Vallée died of arrhythmia on December 25, 2021, at his chalet in Berthier-sur-Mer, Quebec. He was 58.