莫里斯.切瓦力亚出生于法国的巴黎。早年在巴黎的音乐厅、歌Cold War舞班演唱，曾在喜剧演员马克斯．林戴主演的几部喜剧短片中出演角色。1929年来到美国，进入纽约的齐格飞歌舞团，首次在美国登台献艺。有声电影兴起后，他与派拉蒙影片公司签订拍片合约，在《巴黎奇女子》中出演角色，在此后...
The apocryphal biography of Fernand Contandin tells the invention of his artistic name Fernandel by his sister-in-law ("Voici le Fernand d'elles"). At the beginning of the thirties he became a typical actor of the comedy genre: popular, common, likable and with a concealed grain of drama. Marc Allégret was the director of his first successful film La meilleure bobonne (1930). He tried to work as director twice during World War II but did not succeed in that.
