David Belle
Born	April 29, 1973 (1973-04-29) (age 34) Fécamp, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Physical educator, stuntman, actor
Known for	Parkour, acting
Parents	Raymond Belle (father) Monique Belle (mother)
Relatives	Jeff Belle (brother)
Website Official blog

David Belle (born 29 April 1973 in Fécamp, France) is the founder of parkour. He is also a physical educator and performs some acting as stuntman or actor. His military training and early athletic, climbing, gymnast, and martial arts training acted as the foundations for the discipline he has developed. is the 119th day of the year (120th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Image File history File links This is a lossless scalable vector image. ... Palais de la Bénédictine Fécamp is a commune of the Seine-Maritime département, in France. ... Stunt man and stunt woman redirect here. ... For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation). ... A traceur performs a cat balance, which in French is called an équilibre de chat. ... Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. ... is the 119th day of the year (120th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Palais de la Bénédictine Fécamp is a commune of the Seine-Maritime département, in France. ... A traceur performs a cat balance, which in French is called an équilibre de chat. ... Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. ... Stunt man and stunt woman redirect here. ...

Life

Belle was born and raised in Seine Maritime, Normandy. He descended from a modest family in the suburbs of Paris. His grandfather Gilbert Kitten, father Raymond Belle, and brother Jeff Belle have been highly skilled rescuers in the French military fire service. Seine-Maritime is a French département in Normandy. ... For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). ... This article is about the capital of France. ... David Belle in a chase sequence from Banlieue 13. ...

He spent the first 14 years of his life in his birthplace Fécamp and later in Les Sables d'Olonne, a time during which he demonstrated a taste for action and fast movement. He excelled in athletics, climbing, gymnastics and martial arts. He was strongly inspired by his maternal grandfather Gilbert Kitten who evoked in him a passion for heroism and helping other people. Palais de la Bénédictine Fécamp is a commune of the Seine-Maritime département, in France. ... Les Sables-dOlonne is a seaside town of western France, by the Atlantic Ocean. ... For the ethical doctrine, see Altruism (ethics). ...

In 1988, at the age of 15, Belle left school and moved to Lisses, Paris to begin his national service. In this time he obtained his French national First Aid certificate and UFOLEP certificate of gymnastics leadership. He made close friends with a group of teenagers with a similar physical passion, who later became the Yamakasi (Yahn, Frédéric Hnautra, David Malgogne, Sébastien Foucan and Kazuma). After joining the fire brigade with aspirations of following in his father's and grandfather's footsteps, he was temporarily discharged due to a wrist injury and did not return for personal reasons. Lisses is a french commune located in the Essonne département, in the ÃŽle-de-France region. ... This article is about the capital of France. ... Yamakasi are a French group of practitioners of art of displacement (parkour), free running, street stunts and other types of acrobatics. ... Sébastien Foucan Sébastien Foucan is the founder of free running. ...

He later joined the Troupes de marine in Vannes, where he received a promotion, a gymnastic agility certificate of honour, and champion records for Regimental rope-climbing (which his father had once held) and the Essonne obstacle course. He has however said that his taste and love for adventure and freedom did not go well with the regimented life of the military. The Troupes de marine (marine troops) is a subset of the French Army dedicated to external operations. ... In the old city centre Harbour to cathedral Vannes (Breton: Gwened) is a town and commune located in the Morbihan département, in Brittany, in the west of France. ...

Upon completing his national service he worked in a number of various professions including a warehouse worker, security guard and furniture salesman. He then flew to India and obtained a Black Belt in Gong Fu. After his return he began promoting his discipline by filming footage of his capabilities. In 1997 the Stade 2 team (Francis Marroto, Pierre Sleed and Pierre Salviac) were shown a video decided to create a film about Belle and parkour, in a series of his collaborations with 'the speed-air man', 'catmen', 'la Reléve' and 'les traceurs'. The word 'traceur' has since been used to define a practitioner of parkour. Alternative meaning: Kung Fu (TV series) Kung fu or gongfu (功夫, Pinyin: gōngfu) is a well-known Chinese term used in the West to designate Chinese martial arts. ...

Belle was first introduced to his acting career in a meeting with Hubert Koundé (La Haine), in order to discuss the success of parkour on the big screen. He then began developing his acting ability with the play Pygmalion, and has since been successful in obtaining a number of roles mostly in French films and promotions. Belle has been featured in promotional videos for Tina Turner, and Iam. He has starred in "Les gens du voyages" and "Un monde meilleur", followed by "L'Engrenages" and "Femme Fatale", as well as "Les riviéres pourpres 2", starring Jean Reno. After filming several more advertisements and promotions for the BBC, Nissan and Nike, Belle was contacted by Luc Besson (director of Nikita, and The Fifth Element) regarding co-starring as lead actor with Cyril Raffaelli in the action movie Banlieue 13. Play cover, depicting Mrs Campbell as Eliza Pygmalion (1913) is a play by George Bernard Shaw based on Ovids tale of Pygmalion. ... Jean Reno (born Juan Moreno y Herrera Jiménez (Spanish) [1][2] while French sources spell it as Don Juan Moreno y Herrera Jimenez [3]. on July 30, 1948) is a French actor. ... Luc Besson (IPA: ) (born March 18, 1959) is a French film director, writer and producer. ... Nikita (re-titled La Femme Nikita in some countries) is a 1990 French movie written and directed by Luc Besson. ... This article is about the 1997 film. ... Cyril Raffaelli (born 1 April 1974) is a martial artist and stuntman from France. ... It has been suggested that District B13 be merged into this article or section. ...

Filmography

Acting

• "Louis Page" as Laurent (1 episode, 2000)
• Engrenage, L' as Le créancier (2001)
• Femme Fatale as French cop (2002)
• Yadon ilaheyya as Marksman1 (2002)
• Banlieue 13 as Leïto (2004)
• Un monde meilleur as main soldier (2006)

Stunts

• BBC One's advertising campaign (2002)
• Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse (2004)

Cinematographer

• Cons (2000)

Convicted spy Mata Hari made her name synonymous with femme fatale during WWI. A femme fatale (plural: femmes fatales) is an alluring and seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. ... It has been suggested that District B13 be merged into this article or section. ... For the BBC radio station, see BBC Radio 1. ...

David Belle's groups

• Yamakasi (former member)

An apprentice of this modality calls himself a traceur. Many parkour groups exist to promote the discipline, and some choose to do this commercially. Yamakasi are a French group of practitioners of art of displacement (parkour), free running, street stunts and other types of acrobatics. ... A traceur is someone who participates in parkour. ...

• PAWA (former member)

David helped form the Parkour World Association, but he stopped the group for lack of cohesion.

See also

• Parkour
• Free running
• Sébastien Foucan

A traceur performs a cat balance, which in French is called an équilibre de chat. ... This article is about the physical art. ... Sébastien Foucan Sébastien Foucan is the founder of free running. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

David Belle

• David Belle's official blog
• David Belle at the Internet Movie Database