De Belloy was born at Saint-Flour, Cantal, and, orphaned at a young age, was educated by his uncle, a distinguished advocate in Paris, for the bar.

In 1758 the performance of his Titus, which had already been produced in Saint Petersburg, was postponed through his uncle's exertions; and when it did appear, a hostile cabal procured its failure, and it was not until after his guardians death that de Belloy returned to Paris with Zelmire (1762), a fantastic drama which met with great success, latter becoming an opera by Rossini.

[1] The humiliations undergone by France in the Seven Years' War assured a good reception for a play in which the devotion of Frenchmen redeemed disaster.

The popular enthusiasm was unaffected by the judgment of calmer critics such as Diderot and Voltaire, who pointed out that the glorification of France was not best effected by a picture of defeat.

His attempt to introduce national subjects into French drama deserves honor, but it must be confessed that his resources proved unequal to the task.