Gilbert Rozon was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in October 1954. He graduated from the Universite de Montreal where he studied law. Rozon founded the La Grande Viree festival in 1980 and borrowed more than 1 million Canadian dollars to start the Just for Laughs festival. In 2006 Rozon became a jury member on the French television series La France a un incroyable talent. In 1998 Gilbert received an unconditional discharge after pleading and being found guilty of sexual assault on a woman and of unlawful confinement on a woman. In 2017 Rozon resigned from his post as President of the Just for Laughs festival in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations.