Benoît Duquesne was educated at the primary school of Couplevoie and at the Lycée Saint-Joseph of Reims for his secondary studies.
He worked for the news magazines A la une, Le Droit de savoir and Reportages.
On the evening of the second round of the French presidential election of 1995, live on France 2, he rode a motorcycle chasing winner Jacques Chirac's car in the streets of Paris, in the attempt to secure an interview.
From January to July 2005, he anchored the Journal de 13 heures on the same channel after the sudden departure of Christophe Hondelatte.
Benoît Duquesne died of a heart attack, in his houseboat of L'Île-Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis on July 4, 2014.