He has worked in various forms of media, including music videos, photojournalism, portrait photography, fashion and pop culture.
Sednaoui has directed over 40 music videos, including "Give It Away" and "Scar Tissue" (Red Hot Chili Peppers), "Sly" (Massive Attack), "Mysterious Ways" (U2), "Big Time Sensuality" (Björk), "Fever" (Madonna), "German Bold Italic" (Towa Tei feat.
At 18 he started as a casting director for advertising campaigns before passing in front of the camera to become the face of Jean-Paul Gaultier's brand for two years (1982–1984).
Through this collaboration he modeled for photographers Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, and for artist Andy Warhol and William Klein.
At 22 he was a dancer in the French choreographer Régine Chopinot's creation: Le Défilé (1985), for which Jean-Paul Gaultier was collaborating by creating the costumes.
[1] Portraiture: Sednaoui's first editorial assignment was at age 21 when he was offered to do portraits for UK Tatler magazine and then for French newspaper Libération.
Ten years later he photographed and filmed the fall of the twin towers on the September 11 attacks and joined the search and rescue teams at Ground Zero during the following days (the following weeks a portfolio was published in Talk magazine and was the cover of a special issue of French newspaper Libération.
In her foreword Alice M. Greenwald the director of the museum wrote: "We are indebted to Stéphane Sednaoui, who felt compelled – not as a photographer but as a human being – to rush down, that afternoon, to what would soon come to be known as Ground Zero, hoping to volunteer in the search and rescue efforts underway".
Other Sednaoui music videos that were nominated or received MTV Video Music Awards are, "Sleep to Dream" (Fiona Apple), "Mysterious Ways" (U2), "Today" (The Smashing Pumpkins), "Big Time Sensuality" (Björk), "7 Seconds" (Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry), "Queer" (Garbage), "Hell Is Round the Corner" (Tricky), "Ironic" (Alanis Morissette), "Possibly Maybe" (Björk), "GBI: German Bold Italic" (Towa Tei featuring Kylie Minogue) and "Le Nouveau Western" (MC Solaar).
(2013) playing opposite Marina Hands, directed by Laetitia Masson; and in Samui Song (2016) playing opposite Laila Boonyasak and Vithaya Pansringarm, directed by Pen-Ek Ratanaruang His mother was the photographic agent Yannick Morisot and his uncle the jazzman David Earle Johnson.