Xavier Dolan

Xavier Dolan-Tadros CQ CM (French: [ɡzavje dɔlan tadʁɔs]; born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian filmmaker, actor, and costume designer.[1] He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2009 for his feature film directorial debut, I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère), which he also starred in, wrote, and produced, and which premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in the Directors' Fortnight section and won three awards from the program

Since 2009, he has written and directed eight feature films, all of which have premiered at Cannes, with the exception of Tom at the Farm—which premiered at the 70th Venice International Film Festival in 2013—and his first English-language film, The Death & Life of John F. Donovan, which premiered at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival. Dolan has also directed music videos, notably with Adele for the videos of her singles "Hello" (2015), and "Easy on Me" (2021).

Dolan has won many accolades for his work, including the Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival for Mommy and the Grand Prix at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for It's Only the End of the World. He has also won several Canadian Screen Awards and César Awards.

Outside of his own films, Dolan has also starred in films from other directors, including Elephant Song (2014), Boy Erased (2018), Bad Times at the El Royale (2018), and It Chapter Two (2019).

Early life

Dolan was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. He is the son of Geneviève Dolan, a Quebecois teacher, and Manuel Tadros, a successful Egyptian-Canadian actor and singer of Coptic and Lebanese descent

Early films

Dolan attracted international attention with his directorial debut, I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère), which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in at the age of 19, using funds from his extensive work as a child actor.[5] He reportedly began writing the script when he was 16 years old.[6] He said in an interview with Canadian newspaper Le Soleil that the film was partly autobiographical.

The film was at first financed solely by Dolan, but when need for more money arose, he asked Telefilm and the SODEC for subsidies. Each turned him down for different reasons.[7] SODEC, who had loved the project but refused to finance it because it was submitted to a too commercial department, encouraged Dolan to submit it again in more appropriate "indie" department, which he did. In December 2008, SODEC gave him a $400,000 subsidy. In all, the film cost around $800,000 CAD.[6] Dolan said that the system to acquire funding is "an obsolete financing mechanism that holds the creative assets of Quebec hostage".

he film premiered at the Director's Fortnight program of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival where it received an eight-minute standing ovation and won three awards: the Art Cinema Award, the SACD Prize for screenplay, and the Prix Regards Jeunes.[8] It also won a Lumière Award and four Jutra Awards, including Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Most Successful Film Outside Québec, beating out Denis Villeneuve's film Polytechnique (2009) in what was deemed an "upset"