Bonjour mes amis! Je suis Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, but my adoring public rather knows me as Molière. I was born in Paris on January 15, 1622, a day which i believe should be declared a fete de nationale de France, but thus is not so. My father was one of eight valets de chambre tapissiers (to put it blandly, he upholstered furniture) who tended the king's furniture and upholstery.
The king quite favored my father and his work and so we were deemed rather important in the eyes of society. As a result,I received every advantage a boy could wish for. I was educated at the finest schools (the College de Clermont in Paris), I had access to the king's court etc. etc. But even as a child, I found it infinitely more pleasant to poke fun at the aristocracy than to associate with them, a habit turned hobby that would make me and my literary works quite famous later in my life.
As a young boy, I learned that I could cause quite a stir by mimicking his mother's priest. The laughs I received were quite favorable...this was that destiny defining moment for me. This is when I knew mockery and humor were my passions. My mother however,was a deeply religious woman and might have succeeded in breaking me, a young and cutting-edge satirist, of my habit had she not died before I was yet twelve-years-old.

I never showed much of an interest for the business of upholstering. Fortunately, my father's shop was located near two important theatrical sites: le Pont-Neuf et l'Hôtel de Bourgogne. At le Pont-Neuf, comedians performed plays and farces in the street in order to sell patent medicines to the crowds. Although this was not traditional theater in the strictest sense, these comedic medicine-men brought a smile to my bright young face on many an afternoon. At l'Hôtel de Bourgogne, the King's Players performed more traditional romantic tragedies and broad farces. This my dear friends, is where I received my first genuine taste of real theater. These two theatrical venues had quite an impact the rather youthful me, for in 1643, at the age of twenty-one, I monumentally decided to dedicate my life to the theater. Aren't you glad? :-]

My companions and I made our dramatic debut in a converted tennis court. ce n'est pas brillant, mais vous avez à commencer quelque part..you have to start somewhere. Although the company was brimming with enthusiasm, none of us really had much experience in performing and managing plays themselves.
Over the course of the next two years, our little company appeared in three different theaters in various parts of Paris, and each time *sigh* we failed miserably. Several of the original members dropped out of the company during this period. Ils étaient des traitres! I spit upon them! Finally, the seven remaining actors decided to forget Paris and go on a tour of the provinces much like the tours that English fellow Shakespeare was doing. For the next twelve years, we traveled from town to town, performing and honing our magnificent craft.