Xavier Dolan
At 19 he made his first film, “I Killed My Mother” – and became one of the most celebrated young directors of queer cinema.
Xavier Dolan grew up in Montreal, the son of an Egyptian-born actor and a Québécoise teacher. He acted in television commercials and films as a child and left school at 17 to make films.
His debut “I Killed My Mother” (2009), which he wrote, directed and starred in at 19, about a gay teenager’s conflict with his mother, was celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival. In rapid succession he made films about love, family and identity: “Heartbeats” (2010), “Laurence Anyways” (2012), about a trans woman and her partner, “Tom at the Farm” (2013) and “Mommy” (2014), which won the Jury Prize at Cannes. “It’s Only the End of the World” (2016), about a gay writer returning to his family to announce his impending death, won the Grand Prix.
Dolan is openly gay and has spoken out against the expectation that he be a spokesperson for gay cinema. He also directed Adele’s music video for “Hello” (2015).
In 2023 he said he was tired and disillusioned with the film industry and wanted to stop directing films for the time being.