Philippe Petit

Philippe Petit French pronunciation filip pəti born 13 August 1949 is a French highwire artist who gained fame for his unauthorized highwire walks between the towers of NotreDame Cathedral in Paris in 1971 and of Sydney Harbour Bridge in 1973 as well as between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on August 7 1974 Since then Petit has lived in New York where he has been artistinresidence at the Cathedral of St John the Divine another site of his aerial performances He has done wire walking as part of official celebrations in New York across the United States and in France and other countries as well as teaching workshops on the art In 2008 Man on Wire a documentary directed by James Marsh about Petits walk between the towers won numerous awards including the 2009 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature The Walk a film based on Petits walk was released in September 2015 starring Joseph GordonLevitt as Petit and directed by Robert Zemeckis Petit was also the subject of a childrens book and an animated adaptation of it released in 2005 He also became adept at equestrianism juggling fencing carpentry rockclimbing and bullfighting Spurning circuses and their formulaic performances he created his street persona on the sidewalks of Paris In the early 1970s he visited New York City where he frequently juggled and worked on a slackline in Washington Square Park Description above from the Wikipedia article Philippe Petit licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia