Boon arrived in Paris in 1989, where he was a mime in the streets for a living while appearing frequently on open mic nights at places such as the Treviso theatre. He borrowed his stage name,
Daniel Boone, from a hero in the American television series about an American trapper. He acted in several one-man shows. Boon is also a musician: he has done a version of "
Piensa en mí" ("Think of me"). He also writes his songs, for example "''Le Blues du 'tiot poulet''" ("The Chicken Blues"). After minor roles in movies during the 1990s he landed a role in the 1998 satire
Bimboland, directed by Ariel Zeitoun. Boon is deeply attached to his native region,
Nord-Pas-de-Calais. In 2003 he made a show in the local dialect of ''ch'ti
, also known as Picard. Despite the use of dialect, 600,000 copies of the DVD (which included French subtitles) were sold. No previous DVD featuring a one-man show had sold in France. In 2004 he was part of the main cast in Pédale Dure
, directed by Gabriel Aghion, a critical and commercial flop. He was then offered several roles in movies, notably in the film Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas''), which was released internationally in 2005. In February 2008 he acted in and directed a movie entitled
Welcome to the Sticks (''Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis
), a success in France and other countries. This comedy broke French box office records based on prejudices about the region. Two weeks after its release, five million people had already seen the film. After its fourth week the figure had risen to 15 million, and by 11 April the film had surpassed the viewing audience of La Grande Vadrouille'', having been watched by more than 17.4 million people. He became the highest-paid actor in European film history, netting 26 million euros (c. 33 million dollars). He was the president of the
40th César Awards ceremony in 2015. Boon was on the council of directors of the
Pathé production company and has produced several films as actor, co-producer, screenwriter or director. Boon had several production companies, including 26 DB Productions, in Los Angeles, California. They produce and distribute films and TV content. Boon was also directed by French filmmakers such as Jean-Pierre Jeunet in the 2009 movie
Micmacs; Danièle Thompson in 2009
Change of Plans;
A Perfect Plan 2012 film directed by Pascal Chaumeil, Julie Delpy's movie
Lolo (2015) and Yvan Attal in the 2016 film
The Jews.
Raid Dingue was a 2016 comedy that was a big success with the viewers but failed to convince film critics. He was the screenwriter and director of this movie and starred in it. For this film, Boon received the first César du public in the history of French cinema: this new award is given to the French film with the biggest box office of the year. After
Raid Dingue, Boon did his sixth movie,
(La Ch’tite Famille) Family is Family. It came out in 2018, the 10th anniversary of
Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis. In 2016, Boon starred in a film about anti-semitism in France,
The Jews. In 2018, his Netflix show,
Des-hauts-de-France, premiered on Netflix. Boon voices the character of Olaf in the French dubbing of the Disney movies
Frozen,
Frozen 2,
Once Upon a Snowman, and
Olaf Presents. ==Personal life==