Mehdi Belhaj Kacem was born in Paris on April 17, 1973. He lived in Tunisia until he was 13. He was nominated for the Prix Michel Simon Acteurs à l’Écran award for Best Actor for his part in the 2001 film Wild Innocence.

Kacem has had a number of his essays and articles translated into English. In 2014, his book Transgression and the Inexistent: A Philosophical Vocabulary was the first of his books to appear in English translation