Sebastien Foucan
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Actor and founder and creator of parcour free running
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Made his acting debut starring in the 21st James Bond film Casino Royale
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Author of Free running - Find Your Way
It was while Sebastien Foucan and his friends were growing up in Lisses (France) in the 1980s, that they began to develop an obstacle led style of play which they named 'parcours' after the military training, 'parcours du combatant'.
After leaving school, Sebastien went into military service as a fire fighter in Paris between 1995 and 1997 and throughout that time, he continued to develop his own style of parcours into what is now known as 'free running'. In 2001, Sebastien choreographed, managed and performed his first free running show in Frankfurt, Germany.
Sebastien came to prominence in the UK in 2005 after the showing of the Channel 4 documentary Jump Britain. He appeared in the music videos for Madonna's 2005 singles, Jump and Hung Up, and went on to accompany Madonna on her 2006 Confessions Tour.
It was also in 2006 that Sebastien made his acting debut, starring as Mollaka in the 21st James Bond film; Casino Royale. Sébastien is widely known for the opening scenes of the Hollywood blockbuster in which he attempts to outrun British secret agent 007, played for the first time by Daniel Craig, in the opening scenes of the 21st James Bond film. Following the success of Casino Royale, Sebastien Foucan went on to star in The Tournament playing the role of assassin Anton Bogart.
In 2008, Sebastien's first book Free running - Find Your Way was published. The book highlights the philosophies and values behind free running and how that can be applied to your daily life. And in 2012 Sebastien lined up alongside fifteen celebrities to take part in the seventh series of ITV's Dancing on Ice. He was eliminated in a double "Ultimate Skills" skate - off along with Heidi Range.
Sebastien Foucan’s story and his thoughts about free running deliver inspirational messages in memorable way. Sebastien believes that understanding free running and how and why he jumps can help people think about their own attitude to choices, boundaries, difficulties and seemingly insurmountable ‘walls’ in their own life, work culture and environment.
Sebastien quite literally finds a creative path through a landscape of obstacles working with fear and contemplating challenge and difficulty in a creative way.
Sebastien Foucan mesmerises audiences.
It is not just the jaw-dropping footage that he shares during his talks. It is not just the stories of working with the actors and stunt crew on the 21st James Bond film Casino Royale either. When Sebastien talks, he takes the audience into his world. He shares a very honest and deeply personal view of the art of freerunning and why it holds such significance for him. All delivered in his memorable, funny and informal style.
Sebastien’s story and philosophy of freerunning conveys some important messages in a very entertaining way. Sebastien quite literally finds a creative path through a landscape of obstacles working with fear and contemplating challenge and difficulty in a creative way.
He believes that understanding freerunning and how and why he jumps, can help people think about their own attitude to choices, boundaries, difficulties and seemingly insurmountable 'walls' in their own life, work culture and environment.
If the journey is important (perhaps more than the destination) then why not be creative and be open to thinking differently about the challenges ahead? The practice of freerunning shows, in an inspiring and dramatic way, how by harnessing the body and mind, we can do so much more than we ever thought possible. Sebastien Foucan’s story demonstrates that we can have a vision to do things differently (even if we have no intention of jumping off a wall)!
In his motivational talks, Sebastien Foucan stresses the importance of a positive attitude and staying open to opportunities. He talks honestly about how he works with fear (and never ignores it).
Freerunning is calculated risk and not reckless: preparing the mind and body is essential. But Sebastien inspires others to be a little more courageous, to believe that we can take small steps and embrace change. Who knows where this may lead?
Ultimately, for Sebastien Foucan this leads to a spectacular, inspirational moment when making the jump becomes possible – a leap of faith.
We approached Sebastien Foucan to be a speaker for our annual creative event, the ITV Big Think. The event is about bringing outside creativity and inspiration in front of ITV colleagues to encourage new ideas within the organisation. This year the theme was about finding original pioneers, who had created something that had never been done before and was outside conventional thinking. Sebastien was suggested as the creator of free running and, from what we could see of his previous talks, an inspirational speaker. From start to finish, Sebastien and the team at NMP have been a pleasure to work with. They have been professional and quick to respond to our queries as well as managing our expectations on what can be achieved working with Sebastien. We wanted to create a bespoke free running video to be shown at the event. Sebastien gave up 5 hours of his time to do a site visit and creative run through with our Director and the events team. He then returned to the building to check the health and safety aspects and run through more logistical details. This went above and beyond what we were expecting. The final VT was absolutely fantastic, very cool and innovative, showing Sebastien performing his art form whilst taking in ITV buildings. The audience were very impressed. Finally, Sebastien Foucan as a speaker is extremely energetic, clear and funny. He spoke very powerfully about facing your fears and achieving your dreams and was a great inspiration to our audience. We would recommend booking Sebastien again for future events.
They are hard-to reach youngsters who don't want to interact with the police. We have never seen this group stand still before but they did for Sebastien. It's very hard to find a role model or someone who they'll be in awe of.
Sebastien Foucan truly did inspire Vodafone and got some great feedback Friday night. 'Exceptional' was the word.
A bigger thank you to Sebastien Foucan. He made quite an impression and you can take back nothing but good feedback! Please pass on everyone's appreciation to Sebastien.
I have had nothing but positive feedback which is wonderful. The team found Sebastien Foucan inspiring, engaging and fun'!
A wonderful speech. Wonderful.
Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Sebastien Foucan. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.
How to book Sebastien Foucan for your event
To book Sebastien Foucan, please submit an online enquiry to booking.agent@nmp.co.uk or contact one of our booking agents on +44 (0)20 3822 0003.
High-performance team coach, leadership and change speaker
Former Royal Marine, parachutist and member of the SAS
Adventurer and one of TV's best-known wildlife presenters
Formerly Top Gear's The Stig, LeMans racing driver and Hollywood stunt driver
Marathon Man – In 2011 Andy ran 66 Ultra Marathons in 66 consecutive days
Free-climber, AKA the French Spider-Man
