Bernard-Henri Lévy (French: ; born 5 November 1948) is a French public intellectual, media personality, and author. Often referred to in France simply as BHL, he was one of the leaders of the "Nouveaux Philosophes" (New Philosophers) movement in 1976. The Boston Globe has said that he is "perhaps the most prominent intellectual in France today".
Lévy was born in 1948 in Béni Saf, French Algeria, to an affluent Algerian Jewish family. His family moved to Paris a few months after his birth. His father, André Lévy, was the founder and manager of a timber company, Becob, and became a multimillionaire from his business.
After attending the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, Lévy made his way into the elite and highly selective École Normale Supérieure in 1968, from which he graduated with a degree in philosophy. His professors there included prominent French intellectuals and philosophers Jacques Derrida and Louis Althusser.