French-Canadian film director and screenwriter.

He received his initial education at St. Joseph's Seminary in Trois-Rivières. Then he continued his studies at college. After that, he graduated from the film department of the University of Quebec in Montreal.

At the beginning of his career, he won the youth film competition "Radio-Canada" in 1990–1991. He won Canada's highest national film award, the Genie, for Best Director three times: "Maelström" (2001), "Polytechnique" (2010), and "Incendies" (2011). In 2010, his film "Incendies" represented Canada at the 83rd Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category. In January 2011, Denis Villeneuve was included in Variety magazine's list of the 10 most promising young directors.