Born and raised in Versailles, France, Gondry was exposed to the arts early in life. His grandfather, Constant Martin, invented the Clavioline, one of the earliest keyboard synthesizers, and his father owned a guitar shop. The young lad was inspired to either be a painter or inventor, but managed to stumble onto filmmaking at 12 when he made a minute-long cartoon with the help of a toy Meccano machine. Gondry was also a fine illustrator and would amuse his schoolmates by teaching them how to draw naked women. After finishing his primary and secondary studies, he attended art school to pursue graphic design. Before he left, his father gave him a drum kit and his brother a bass, and the two formed the punk rock band Oui Oui, for which Gondry began shooting animation for the music. From there it was a short leap to directing music videos.
Gondry has also shot commercials for corporate clients, including Levis, Volvo, Citibank and Nike. A vegetarian for ethical reasons since he was 12, Gondry refused to shoot spots for products he abhorred—such as the U.S. Army or cigarette companies. Meanwhile, Hollywood beckoned, but Gondry had trouble finding a script he liked—the ones he read were either terrible or boring or both. When fellow director Spike Jonze showed him the script for “Being John Malkovich” (1999), Gondry was elated with the entertaining script, but saddened that his friend got to direct it instead of him. Kaufman later showed him the script for “Human Nature” (2001), which he liked immediately. A Pygmalion satire of human behavior, the film starred Tim Robbins as a reclusive 35-year-old scientist and Patricia Arquette as a woman with a strange hormonal condition that has kept her out of civilization. Though given decent reviews, the movie-going public found no interest in the film, which died quietly at the box office.
With his second film, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004), Gondry struck critical and box office gold. A cyclonic journey into the mind of a shiftless lump (Jim Carrey) who undergoes a procedure to erase all memory of his former girlfriend (Kate Winslet) after she did the same to him, the film’s wild storyline could easily have run amok from the filmmakers. Instead, Gondry and Kaufman wrangled the story and fashioned a warm, humorous and tightly structured story about two people who learn not to give up on love. Critical kudos rained down upon Gondry and Kaufman, as “Eternal Sunshine” became the first acclaimed movie of 2004. Both director and writer earned several prominent awards, including a WGA Award and an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Meanwhile, Gondry was set to direct his third feature—and his first without the heavy-hand of Kaufman—with “Science of Sleep” (2005), a drama in French and English starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg.