Who is Denis Villeneuve? 5 Facts You Need To Know About The Film Director

Quick Facts

If Denis Villeneuve’s performance trajectory is anything to go by, there is no doubt that he is well on his way to winning one of the Best Director awards from any of the major film associations in the coming years. The film director and screenwriter, who has only managed one Academy Award nomination for his work on Arrival (2017), has however managed more than a few from associations in his home country of Canada.

Read on to find out more about his winnings as well as how he was able to get a career in the film industry despite having had an interest in science as a schoolboy.

Who is Denis Villeneuve?

On the 3rd of October, 1967, in Becancour, Quebec, Canada, Denis Villeneuve was born to his parents; Nicole Demers and Jean Villeneuve. In addition to being raised by his parents, he notably spent huge amounts of time with both his maternal and paternal grandmothers, who he described as powerful women who were enemies.

As a young man, Villeneuve had hoped to study science as he attended Séminaire Saint-Joseph de Trois-Rivières. His love for storytelling, however, sent him down a different path as he went on to study film at Montreal’s University of Quebec. Upon graduating, Villeneuve began making short films, one of which won the 1991 Radio Canada’s youth film competition La Course Europe-Asie.

5 Facts You Need To Know About The Film Director

Film Directing and Writing Career

Denis Villeneuve has in the past admitted that screenwriting is not his biggest strength because it takes him so long to finish his script. This was evident in the earlier days of his work as it took him five years to come up with another script, Cosmos (1996), after winning the Radio-Canada award. After two years again, he was able to come up with his first feature film, August 32nd on Earth (1998), which was well worth the wait as it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and was the Canadian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards in 1999.

Villeneuve’s next film, Maelström (2000), which he again wrote and directed, was screened at film festivals worldwide, winning multiple awards, including that for the Best Canadian Film from the Toronto International Film Festival. His third film, Polytechnique (2009), which was about the Montreal University shootings, announced his arrival to the world as it earned numerous accolades, most notably nine Genie Awards, or what is today known as the Canadian Screen Awards.

Net Worth

According to the popular Celebrity Net Worth website, Denis Villeneuve has a net worth of $16 million. The film director and screenwriter has been able to make bank thanks to the hand he has had in several commercially acclaimed films. His most successful movies are Prisoners (2013), Sicario (2015), Arrival (2016) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017). Prisoners is said to have raked in about $122.2 million from Box Office from a budget of $46 million. Sicario made $84.9 million from $30 million, Arrival made 203.4 million from $47 million while Blade Runner 2049 made $259.2 million from $150 million.

Awards and Recognitions

In his career as a film director and writer so far, Denis Villeneuve has not been able to win any awards from the major associations (Academy Awards and BAFTA Awards), although he has been nominated on a couple of occasions. In 2017, Villeneuve received a Best Director nomination from the Academy and a Best Direction nomination from BAFTA for his work on Arrival (2017). The following year, BAFTA again nominated him in the Best Direction category for his work on Blade Runner 2049 (2018).

Outside the major associations, Villeneuve has been duly recognized for his work by mostly associations in his home country of Canada. The Canadian Screen Awards named him Best Director for the movie Enemy (2014) which further won Best Feature Film at the Directors Guild of Canada awards. Villeneuve has a total of four Canadian Screen Awards (formerly Genie Award).

Family – Wife

Denis Villeneuve is happily married to fellow Canadian, Tanya Lapointe. Not much is known about Lapointe’s life before her marriage to the film director. The date of their marriage is also not known but what is however known is that she works as a reporter, a cultural journalist at Radio-Canada to be exact. The couple does not yet have any children of their own although Villeneuve himself has three children from a previous relationship.

Body Statistics

Denis Villeneuve is not the tallest man you will ever come across. This is because he has a height of 5 feet 11¾ inches (1.82 m). The weight of the Blade Runner 2049 (2017) director is not known.

Also Read: Top 10 Richest People in the world with full biography and details.