Résumé

OLIVIER LAFONT
BORN	October 31, 1979 (age 35)
NATIONALITY	French
OCCUPATION	Film and television actor,  writer, screenplay writer,  model, voice over artist,  director, producer

Olivier Sanjay Lafont is a French actor and author living in Mumbai, India. He has acted in Hindi feature films such as blockbuster hit 3 Idiots and the critically acclaimed Guzaarish, as well as over 80 television commercials for top Indian and international brands. He has written the screenplay for the award-winning feature film Hari Om. He is also a regular columnist for MW, a gentlemen's monthly magazine, and for Men’s Health magazine. 

Lafont’s novel Warrior was published by Penguin in November 2014. 

Background

Olivier Lafont is the son of Dr. Jean-Marie Lafont, an award-winning historian and author. Olivier Lafont moved from his hometown Lyon to New Delhi at the age of 7 and attended the American Embassy School. He made the Academic Honor Roll throughout, was inducted into the National Honor Society, and graduated with the biggest scholarship offer from a university to an AES student in more than twenty years. He was inducted into the International Thespian Society, and received four Ganesh awards for lead and supporting lead roles in various theatre productions. Lafont played varsity basketball for AES, winning two championships and remaining unbeaten for two years, and was named an All-Star for both tournaments.

He went to Colgate University on a scholarship, where he received bachelor's degrees in Theatre as well as English Literature. Lafont earned a theatre fellowship for his acting, made the Dean's List all eight semesters, graduated magna cum laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

He returned to New Delhi after graduating and acted in several professional theatre productions.

Lafont moved to Mumbai in 2002 to write the award-winning feature film Hari Om.

A native French and English speaker, Lafont taught himself to read, write, and speak fluent Hindi. He is also proficient in Spanish.

Career

Actor and Model

Lafont signed on with Elite Model Management after the feature film Hari Om, and was noticed for his role in director Abhinay Deo's Tata Safari Dicor commercial, which won numerous awards at the 2006 Abby Awards. In 2006 Cosmopolitan magazine celebrated its 8 year anniversary in India by listing eight hot new guys to watch out for, and included Lafont on that list. He continued with numerous prominent ads with top Indian brands, including Hall's, Maruti Suzuki, Yardley, Micromax Mobile, Amul Macho, Godrej, and Maggi, establishing himself as one of the most recognizable faces in Indian advertising.

Between 2004 and 2005 Lafont acted in several theatre productions in Mumbai with Working Title: the role of Sameer in 'Stallions', an original script for the Writer's Bloc Theatre Festival; he played Boris Trigorin in 'The Seagull'; he then acted in Roland Schimmelpfennig's surreal 'The Arabian Night', playing Kalil. Lafont was then asked to host one of the nights at Prithvi Theatre's triennial Shakespeare Festival.

Lafont played one of the three male love interests to Mahi in Yash Raj Films' eponymous serial 'Mahi Way', and had a cameo in another YRF Television serial 'Khotey Sikkey'.

Lafont played smaller parts in various film projects, such as Zindaggi Rocks, Hollywood project Bollywood Hero starring comedian Chris Kattan, and the critically acclaimed Paa. In 2009 he bagged the  role of Suhas Tandon, Kareena Kapoor's money-minded fiancé, in 3 Idiots.  3 Idiots went on to become India's biggest box office hit of all time. He followed that up by playing the single-minded Catholic priest Father Samuel in  Guzaarish. He was most recently seen in a cameo in Ishqk in Paris, and playing the humanitarian Doctor Shahid in Hollywood Lifetime film Baby Sellers starring Jennifer Finnigan and Kirstie Alley.

Writer

Lafont joined Bharat Bala Productions in 2002 to write the international feature film  Hari Om. A romantic comedy road movie about a French woman lost in Rajasthan and saved by a rickshaw driver, Hari Om premiered at the Toronto Film Festival of 2004, and received numerous awards:

• People’s Choice Award for Most Popular International Film (Runners Up) - Vancouver International Film Festival (Canada), 2004
• Best Film Award - Salento International Film Festival (Italy), 2005
• Best Foreign Film Award - Tahoe International Film Festival (USA), 2005
• Audience Choice Award for Best Film - Puchon International Film Festival (South Korea), 2005
• New Voices Award and Best Debut Filmmaker Award - Bangkok International Film Festival (Thailand), 2005
• German Star of India - Bollywood and Beyond, Stuttgart (Germany), 2005
• Audience Choice Award for Best Film - Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (USA), 2005

Lafont was a script writer for The Great Indian Comedy Show. He also wrote the script of Jadoo Ek Baar for the MTV Fully Faltoo Film Festival.

Lafont has written seven feature film scripts with numerous production houses, including original scripts with Oscar-nominated and award-winning directors.

Since 2008 Lafont has written a regular column for MW magazine, a leading gentlemen's monthly. He is also a regular columnist with Men's Health magazine. 

Lafont's epic novel Warrior was published by Penguin in November 2014. It was shortlisted for the Tibor Jones South Asia Prize. He is also published internationally.

Voice over artist

Lafont has worked as a voice over artist in multiple languages for over 100 prominent advertisements, corporate films, feature films, and animated films.

Other Links

• Olivier Sanjay Lafont at IMDB
• Official YouTube channel