Patrick Bruel was born Maurice Benguigui on may 14th 1959 in Tlemcen, Algeria. Bruel is known for being a Jewish/French singer, actor, as well as a professional poker player.
Bruel had originally inspired himself to become a soccer star as his youth sports activities were very promising, but one Bruel noticed Michel Sardou in 1975 he began to lean towards a singing career. Acting soon followed for Bruel as his first successful role was in the 1979’s Le Coup de Sirocco. Bruel did continue to act in films after his first successful role and even took roles on television and in theatre. Bruel was still pursuing his singing career during his time acting.

Bruel had his first single “Vide” released in 1982 and although it was not a success, the second attempt at a single “Marre de cette nana-la” was a huge hit. In 2003 Bruel had his named officially changed to Bruel-Benguigui to match his stage name as well as his birth name? Bruel married his 24 year old sweet heart Amanda Maruani and started his family. Amanda gave birth to Bruel’s first child, a son, Oscar in 2004 and his second child Leon Bruel in 2005.

Bruel had a lucrative and busy career as an actor, with over 40 different television and film productions under his belt as of 2004. Bruel had made five studio albums and several live albums including his last album Enre Deux in 2002 which was a double CD of classic chanson that had duets that featured Charles Aznavour, Jean-Louis Aubert, Jean-Jaques Goldman, Alain Souchon, as well as Renaud and various others. The album sold over 2 million copies and put Bruel in the category of being France’s top paid singer of the year.
In response to the South Asian tsunami in December of 2004, Bruel wrote the song “Et puis la terre” to help aid the Red Cross in their endeavours for helping the suffering victims of the disaster.

Bruel while most would think busy enough, in addition to the acting and the singing, has made a good name for him self as a professional poker player. Bruel won a World Series of Poker bracelet in 1998 in the $5000 Limit hold em event.
As of 2008, Bruel’s total live tournament winnings exceed $900,000.