Tom Novembre was born Jean-Thomas Couture, in Alsace-Lorraine, on 8 November 1959. He made his stage debut on 23 June, 1964 - at the tender age of 4 and a half - as one of the stars in the end-of-year show at his nursery school. Tom’s natural aptitude for live performance continued into his grammar school years. On 23 March, 1977, he played the lead in "Deux Hamburgers Pour le Quatre", a show he wrote and directed himself. Fired by a veritable passion for the arts, it was only natural that Tom should go on to study at the ‘Beaux-Arts’ in Nancy. Enrolling there on 14 October, 1978, Tom went on to take various courses, making films, perfecting his diction and acting in fellow students’ films as an extra. In his twenties, Tom was already dreaming of the day he would play the big roles in life, taking on Spartacus, Joan of Arc, Che Guevara and Gandhi.

One-Man Show

At the age of 23, Tom - who had already established himself as a talented all-rounder, making his mark as a singer, songwriter and actor – took to the stage at the Théâtre Dejazet in Paris on 19 May, 1980 for his first one-man show, "Les Taupes". This was written in collaboration with his brother, Charlélie Couture. Tom went on to perform the show at the ‘Printemps de Bourges’ festival that same year.

Meanwhile, Tom was following his brother, Charlélie, into the music world. On 18 March, 1981, he formed a rock'n’roll band called "Les Fonctionnaires". However, the band only lasted a few weeks together before Tom called a halt to things, preferring not to disperse himself in too many directions at once. For the moment it seemed, his one-man show career was blossoming. Indeed, Tom was hailed as one of the hottest acts at the ‘Printemps de Bourges’ festival in May 1982.

On 18 October, 1982, Tom made another attempt to break into the music world, recording his debut album, "Version pour Doublage". In December, he was back treading the boards, performing his one-man show at the Théâtre Dejazet in Paris. This was followed by a national tour.

In November 1983, Tom went on to record a second album, entitled "Toile Cirée", produced by Charlélie. In June of the following year, Tom beat off stiff competition from the likes of Karim Kacel and Louis Arti, to win the ‘Grand Prix Georges Brassens’ (which was presented to him at an award ceremony in Sète, in the south of France).

Tom was back in the music spotlight in 1985 with a new album, "L'insecte". Despite winning acclaim from the critics, this album failed to attract French record-buyers.

Filmography

From 1984 onwards, Tom turned his attention to the cinema instead, leaving music to his brother, Charlélie. Over the next 20 years, he would star in no less than 44 films. Tom made his first appearance in "Signé Renard" (by the Swiss director Michel Soutter) in 1984. He went on to act in films by Claude Lelouch ("Un Homme et une Femme and 20 ans déjà" in 1986), Jean-Pierre Mocky ("Agent Trouble" in 1987 and "Ville à Vendre" in 1992), J.Lvof’s adaptation of a Jean-Philippe Toussaint novel, "La Salle de Bains", Bernardo Bertolucci‘s "Un Thé au Sahara" (starring John Malkovich in 1990), Robert Altman’s "Prêt-à Porter" in 1994 and "American Werewolf in Paris" in 1997. Tom also flew out to Ouagadougou, in Burkina Faso, to work with the Polish director, Janusz Mrosowski on his film "La Revanche de Lucy".

In 1999, he re-emerged on the silver screen, acting in J.Lvoff’s "Les Infortunes de la Beauté" and Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s "La Patinoire" (about a film crew shooting a movie at an ice-rink).

Over the following years, Tom Novembre went on to star in a string of TV movies. Meanwhile, he also found himself in much demand on the dubbing front. After providing the voice of the cock in Don Bluth’s animated film, "Rock O Rico", in 1991, Tom did a voice-over as the wild presenter Chris Tucker in the French version of Luc Besson’s film, "The Fifth Element" and dubbed George Clooney in the Coen brothers’ film, "O’Brother", in 2000.

At the Theatre

Meanwhile, besides pursuing a career on the silver screen, Tom Novembre was busy making a name for himself in the French theatre world, too. In 1992, he performed in "Un Soir au Bout du Monde". This series of comic sketches, directed by Pierre-Loup Rajot, gave Tom the chance to play eleven different characters whose paths cross in a hotel lobby in the French provinces. The show, accompanied by piano improvisations from Jerry Lipkins, received good reviews in Paris. Tom Novembre also took the show to other French-speaking audiences, kicking off a tour which began in the Swiss town of Moutier in August 1992.

In March 1993, Tom trod the boards at the Petit-Marigny theatre, playing the role of God in Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt’s play, "Le Visiteur" (directed by Daniel Roussel). In December 1996, Tom appeared in a production of "La Salle d'Attente" at Théâtre La Bruyère. The play was set in a waiting room, with Tom playing all nine characters (eight men and a woman!) On 17 January 2001, the actor went on to appear opposite Andréa Ferréol in Jean-Pierre About’s play, "Transferts", staged at the Théâtre Montparnasse.

Back in the Music Spotlight

After branching off in so many different directions throughout his career, Tom Novembre finally returned to the music scene in 1990 with a new album, entitled "La Légende de St Nicolas". However, this left both music critics and the record-buying public indifferent.

In 1991, Tom combined his love of music and theatre by taking to the stage at the Théâtre Mogador to appear in Michel Berger and Luc Plamandon’s musical, "La Légende de Jimmy". The show was directed by the famous French theatre director Jérôme Savary. "Tom1-Tom2", a compilation of Tom’s first three albums, was released on 2 March, 1994.

Tom reappeared on the stage with a musical one-man show, "Faut Faire Avec (Minimum Solo)", on 2 October 2002. The show, staged at the Palais des Glaces, was based on songs he had co-written with his brother, Charlélie. Later that year, a compilation featuring 22 Tom Novembre tracks appeared in the "CD Story" collection on the Mercury label. (The luxury CD set was accompanied by a booklet of photos).

In fact, the compilation served as a foretaste of a new release, the first new album Tom had recorded since 1990. Tom spent three months in the studio and post-production work on the album finished in January, while Tom was out on the road on tour. Mixing was delayed until June when Tom could work with Laurent Guéneau. Tom’s fifth album, "Bande de Pions", was released on 22 October 2002 on Note (Bene/Wagram). This new album featured contributions from a host of prestigious guest stars including Princesse Erika, Kent, Faudel, Alice Botté (ex-Jad Wio), M, Dieudonné – and, last but very much not least, brother Charlélie!

In 2003, Tom appeared at the ‘Européen’ Theatre in Paris in a show called ‘Tom Novembre En Chanteur’ (‘Tom Novembre, Singer’). The show ran from 24 March to 12 April 2003.

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Tom Novembre is a talented all-rounder, willing to take part in just about any venture connected with the arts (so long as the project is creative enough!) Besides, singing, songwriting, acting and keeping audiences in stitches with his comic sketches, Tom recently became a model (appearing in Comme des Garçons catwalk shows in Paris and Japan and modelling the suits of Francesco Smalto). In October 2002, he was invited to be a member of the jury at the 22nd Short Film Festival in Clermont-Ferrand.

May 2003

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