Julien Nizan was born on January 6 in Tours, France. Nizan was the youngest son of a working-class family. His father was a respected stone mason while his mother held numerous jobs. Both of them informed his sense of architectural design and precision, helping him earn top rankings in school. Along with Nizan's intellectual interests, he excelled in athletics from an early age, including Track & Field, fencing, and cycling. He later dropped out of university to cycle across France. At age eighteen, the National Gendarmerie enlisted his father for an anti-corruption sting with local businesses. Nizan was fascinated by the level of planning required by the police. He subsequently enlisted in the National Gendarmerie and was assigned to the Highway Patrol Unit.



Nizan thrived in his training, which included specialized qualifications in weapons, surveillance, and criminal investigations. His adaptability put him at the top of the list in military and defense courses, quickly catching the attention of the GIGN. His first operations with that unit combined all of the elements to satisfy his endless pursuit of challenges and adventure, according to staff psychologists. Specializing in hostage rescue and surveillance, Nizan's list of successful interventions is extensive.



In 2015, Nizan was recruited into Rainbow alongside several other GIGN officers. Five years later in June 2020, Nizan and Emmanuelle "Twitch" Pichon were in Paris, France when two large fires emerged downtown. The GIGN deployed the pair and several other officers to keep order from the chaos caused by the fire. Having faced a similar situation during training under The Program, Nizan and Pichon suspected the fires had been started in order to distract from a major bank heist across the city. They tracked and confronted the robbers who started firing at them. Nizan was shot in the head but was saved by his helmet. Nizan and Pichon then pursued the robbers across Paris in a high-speed motorcycle chase and eventually caught them.