She is known to worldwide audiences for playing the title character in the award-winning film Amélie (2001, Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain) and also Sophie Neveu in The Da Vinci Code (2006).

In 2005, Tautou worked in her first full Hollywood production, opposite Tom Hanks, in the film version of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and released in May 2006. She acted alongside Gad Elmaleh in Pierre Salvadori’s Hors de prix, released 13th December, 2006. Tautou says she still considers France her base, and plans to pursue a career predominantly there rather than crossing over to the United States. As she told Stevie Wong of The Straits Times, “I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never move to Los Angeles”.

In May 2008 Tautou was named as the next spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5, replacing Nicole Kidman. She will be directed in the campaign by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with whom she worked on Amélie and A Very Long Engagement. The advertisement will be released in 2009.

Filmography:

- Ensemble, c’est tout (2007) (Hunting And Gathering)
- Hors de prix (2006) (Priceless)
- The Da Vinci Code (2006)
- Les Poupées russes (2005) (The Russian Dolls)
- Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004) (A Very Long Engagement)
- Nowhere to Go But Up (2003)
- Pas sur la bouche (2003) (Not on the Lips)
- Les Marins perdus (2003) (Lost Seamen)
- Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
- L’Auberge espagnole (2002) (Euro Pudding) (The Spanish Apartment – USA)
- À la folie… pas du tout (2002) (He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not)
- Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite (2001) (God Is Great and I’m Not)
- Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001) (The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain)
- Le Battement d’ailes du papillon (2000)
(The Beating of the Butterfly’s Wings)
- Le Libertin (2000) (The Libertine)
- Voyous voyelle (2000) (Bad Girls, The Little Grifters or Pretty Devils)
- Épouse-moi (2000) (Marry Me)
- Triste à mourir (1999)
- Vénus beauté (institut) (1999) (Venus Beauty Institute)
- Le Boiteux: Baby blues (1999) (TV)
- La Vieille barrière (1998)
- Casting: Archi-dégueulasse (1998)
- Chaos technique (1998) (TV)
- Bébés boum (1998) (TV)
- La Vérité est un vilain défaut (1997) (TV)
- Coeur de cible (1996) (TV)

A few extracts from the movie “Le fabuleux destin d’Amelie Poulain”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T9dUBO4pv0&feature=related (with English subs)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afaS4MVsNCg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_s3DkC3RA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SqU-Qs3P-Y&feature=related

• Laétitia Casta (born on 17th May 1978 in Normandy)

She is a very famous French supermodel and actress. Her career reportedly began when she was discovered by a photographer during a family holiday in her father’s native Corsica, at age 15. Casta was the official face of Dior and Chanel. She is also one of the beauty ambassadors for l’Oréal, the famous cosmetics company.

Casta has made forays into Francophone film and television productions, including Astérix et Obélix contre César (known as Astérix and Obélix vs. César in English language versions), a live-action film of the Astérix world in which she plays a potential love interest for Obélix, portrayed by Gérard Depardieu. More recently, Casta appeared in Les Âmes Fortes, a dramatic film directed by Raùl Ruiz.

In 1999, Casta came out first of a national survey ordered by the “Association des Maires de France” (association of the French Mayors) to decide who should be the new model for the bust of Marianne, an allegorical symbol of the French Republic, which stands inside every French town hall. Casta succeeded model Inès de la Fressange. Marianne’s embodiements are changed frequently but each mayor chooses which bust he wants for his town, so past Mariannes can be used. Polls have shown that Casta, Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve were the most popular among French mayors.

Filmography:

- Astérix et Obélix contre César (1999)
- La Bicyclette Bleue (2000) – TV Series
- Gitano (2000)
- Les âmes fortes (2001)
- Rue des plaisirs (2002)
- Errance (2003)
- Luisa Sanfelice (2004) – mini TV Series
- La Déraison du Louvre (2006)
- Le Grand appartement (2006)
- La jeune fille et les loups (2008)
- Nés en 68 (2008)

Casta at the 2004 Cannes Festival (with actresses Gong Li and Aishwarya Rai)

Casta with Indian actress Aishwarya Rai (above)

The beauty ambassadors for l’Oreal.

Brigitte Bardot, Simone Signoret and Catherine Deneuve are probably the 3 greatest French actresses of all times.

• Brigitte Bardot (born on 28th September 1934 in Paris)

She is a French actress, former fashion model, singer and animal welfare/rights activist. In 2007 she was named among Empire’s 100 Sexiest Film Stars.

Bardot was one of the few European actresses to receive mass media attention in the United States. She and Marilyn Monroe were perhaps the foremost examples of female sexuality in films of the 1950s and 1960s, and whenever she made public appearances in the United States the media hordes covered her every move.

In addition to popularizing the bikini swimming suit, Bardot has also been credited with popularizing the city of St. Tropez and the town of Buzios, Brazil, which she visited in 1964 with her boyfriend at the time, Brazilian musician Bob Zagury.

After her retirement from the entertainment industry in the 1970s, Bardot established herself as an animal rights activist. In 1986 she established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. She became a vegetarian and raised three million French francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewelry and many personal belongings. Today she is a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat. In support of animal protection, she condemned seal hunting in Canada during a visit to that country.

In 1999 Bardot wrote a letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, published in French magazine VSD, in which she accused the Chinese of “torturing bears and killing the world’s last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs”.

She has donated more than $140,000 over two years for a mass sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest’s stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000. She is planning to house many of these stray animals in a new animal rescue facility that she is having built on her property. The environmentally sound structure will be built out of recycled Pringles cans and reclaimed asphault.

In the 1960s and 70s, Brigitte Bardot (also called “BB”) was considered the most beautiful woman in the world.

• Simone Signoret (25th March, 1921 – 30th September, 1985)

She was an Academy Award, Emmy, BAFTA and César award-winning Jewish-French actress.

During the German occupation of France, Signoret formed close bonds with an artistic group of writers and actors who met at a café in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quarter, Café de Flore. By this time, she had developed an interest in acting and was encouraged by her friends, including her lover, Daniel Gélin, to follow her ambition. In 1942, she began appearing in bit parts and was able to earn enough money to support her mother and two brothers as her father, who was a French patriot, had fled the country in 1940 to join General De Gaulle in England. She took her mother’s maiden name for the screen to help hide her Jewish roots.

Signoret’s sensual features and earthy nature led to type-casting and she was often seen in prostitute roles. She won considerable attention in La Ronde (1950), a film which was banned briefly in New York as immoral. She won further raves, including an acting award from the British Film Academy, for her portrayal of yet another prostitute in Jacques Becker’s Casque d’or (1951). She went on to appear in many notable films in France during the 1950s, including Thérèse Raquin (1953), directed by Marcel Carné, Les Diaboliques (1954), and Les Sorcières de Salem (1956), based on Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

In 1958, Signoret went to England to film Room at the Top (1959), which won her numerous awards including the Best Female Performance Prize at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Actress. She was the only French cinema actress to receive an Oscar until Juliette Binoche in 1997 (Supporting Actress), and the first woman to win the award appearing in a foreign film. She was offered films in Hollywood but turned them down and continued to work in France and England.

First married to the filmmaker Yves Allégret from 1944 to 1949, with whom she had a daughter Catherine Allégret, herself an actress. Her second marriage was to the Italian-born French actor Yves Montand in 1950, a union which lasted until her death.

She died of pancreatic cancer in Auteuil-Anthouillet, France; and is buried in Le Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.

• Catherine Deneuve (born on 22nd October 1943 in Paris)

She is a two-time Cesar Award-winning, BAFTA Award-nominated and Academy Award-nominated French actress. She has made her reputation playing a series of beautiful ice maidens for various directors, including Luis Buñuel and Roman Polanski.

Career outside of film:

Modeling:

- Designer Yves Saint Laurent’s muse, he dressed her in the films Belle de Jour, La Chamade, La Sirène du Mississippi, Liza, and The Hunger.
- Deneuve was the face of Chanel No. 5 in the seventies and caused sales of the perfume to soar in the United States – so much so that the American press, captivated by her charm, nominated her as the world’s most elegant woman.
- Her face was used to symbolize Marianne, the national symbol of France, from 1985 to 1989.
- In 1992, Deneuve became a model for Yves Saint Laurent’s skincare line.
- In 2001, Deneuve was chosen as the new face of L’Oréal Paris.
- In 2006, Deneuve became the third inspiration for the M•A•C Beauty Icon series. – Deneuve and Make-up Art Cosmetics closely collaborated on the colour collection that became available at M•A•C locations worldwide in February 2006.
- In late 2007, Deneuve began appearing in the new Louis Vuitton luggage advertisements.

Entrepreneurial:

- Introduced her own perfume, Deneuve, in 1986.
- Designer of glasses, shoes, jewelry and greeting cards.

Charities:

- Deneuve was appointed UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for the Safeguarding of Film Heritage in 1994. On November 12, 2003, she resigned her position as Goodwill Ambassador at UNESCO to protest the nomination of French businessman Pierre Falcone as the Angola representative, which enables him to escape justice and investigation for illegal arms dealing.
- Deneuve asked that the rights owed to her from her representation of Marianne be given to Amnesty International.
- Louis Vuitton made a donation to The Climate Project, spearheaded by Al Gore, on behalf of Deneuve.
- Deneuve is also involved with Children Action, Children of Africa, Orphelins Roumains and Reporters sans frontiers (Reporters Without Borders).
- Douleur sans frontiers (Pain Without Borders) – At the end of 2003, Deneuve recorded a radio commercial to encourage donations to fight against the pain in the world, notably for the victims of landmines.
- Handicap International – In the middle of July, 2005, Deneuve lent her voice to the message of radio commercials, TV and cinema, which denounced the use of the BASM (cluster bombs).
- Voix de femmes pour la démocratie (Voice of women for democracy) – Deneuve read the text, “Le petit garçon,” of Jean-Lou Dabadie, on the entitled CD, “Voix de femmes pour la démocratie.” The CD was sold for the benefit of the female victims of the war and the fundamentalisms that fight for democracy.
- Deneuve has also been involved with various charities in the fight against AIDS and cancer.

Political involvement:

- In 1971, Deneuve signed the Manifesto of the 343 (Manifeste des 343 salopes, Manifest of the 343 bitches). The manifesto was an admission by its signers to have practiced illegal abortions, and therefore, exposed themselves to judicial actions and prison sentences. It was published in Le Nouvel Observateur on April 5, 1971. That same year, feminist lawyer Gisèle Halimi founded the group, Choisir (“To Chose”), to protect the women who had signed the Manifesto of the 343.

- Deneuve is involved with Amnesty International’s program to abolish the death penalty.

- In 2001, Deneuve delivered a petition organized by the French-based group, “Together Against the death penalty,” to the U.S. Embassy in Paris.

- In April 2007, Deneuve signed a petition on the internet protesting the “misogynous” treatment of socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal. More than 8,000 French men and women signed the petition, including French actress Jeanne Moreau.

• Emmanuelle Béart (born on 14th August, 1965 in Saint Tropez):

She started acting in 1976 but achieved fame 10 years later in the very famous film “Manon des Sources“, in which she played with famous French actor Yves Montand. For her performance, she won the 1987 César Award for “Best Supporting Actress”. She also won a “Best Actress” award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her starring role in the 1995 film, “A French Woman”.

In addition to her award for Best Supporting Actress, she has also been nominated for 6 César Awards for Best Actress in the following performances:

1985 — A Strange Passion
1986 — Love on the Quiet
1990 — Children of Chaos
1992 — The Beautiful Troublemaker
1993 — A Heart in Winter
1996 — Nelly and Mr. Arnaud
2001 — Les Destinées

Filmography:

- Tomorrow’s Children (1976)
- First Desires (1983)
- A Strange Passion (1984)
- Love on the Quiet (1985)
- Manon des Sources (1986)
- Date with an Angel (1987)
- Door on the Left as You Leave the Elevator (1988)
- Children of Chaos (1989)
- The Voyage of Captain Fracassa (1990)
- La Belle Noiseuse (1991)
- Le bateau de Lu (1991)
- A Heart in Winter (1992)
- La Belle Noiseuse: Divertimento (1992)
- Rupture(s) (1993)
- L’Enfer (1994)
- Nelly and Mr. Arnaud (1995)
- A French Woman (1995)
- Le dernier chaperon rouge (1996)
- Mission Impossible (1996)
- Stolen Life (1998)
- Don Juan (1998)
- In Search of Lost Time (1999)
- Elephant juice (1999)
- Season’s Beatings (1999)
- Les Destinées (2000)
- Fortune Tellers and Misfortune (2001)
- Replay (2001)
- 8 Women (2002)
- Searching for Debra Winger (2002)
- The Story of Marie and Julien (2003)
- Nathalie… (2003)
- Strayed (2003)
- A boire (2004)
- Un fil à la patte (2005)
- Hell (2005)
- A Crime (2005)
- The Witnesses (2007)

A few extracts from the famous movie “Manon des sources” on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFxRMXRyeUk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPfNigUBzEI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt2PTiIs5Tw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9o6i8cozZsg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOG8NQOLCIU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS_8ROtKTU0&feature=related

• Sophie Marceau (born on 17th November, 1966 in Paris)

She has worked in international films such as Braveheart and The World Is Not Enough.

In February 1980, Marceau and her mother came across a model agency looking for teenagers. Marceau had photos taken at the agency but did not think anything would come out of it. At the same time, Françoise Menidrey, casting director for Claude Pinoteau’s La Boum, asked modeling agencies for a new teenager. A month after her photo session, Marceau was invited to audition to finally won the casting.

La Boum was a hit not only in France, where 4.5 million tickets were sold, but in Italy, Japan and elsewhere. Marceau, 14, posed for magazine covers, gave interviews and made commercials for the soap Lux Beauté, which made her a star in Japan.

In 1981, Marceau made her singing debut with French singer François Valéry on “Dream in Blue,” written by Delanoë. In 1985, she recorded her only album Certitude, which contained nine songs written by Étienne Roda-Gil and composer Franck Langolff.

In 1983, Marceau received the César Award (equivalent of the French Oscar) for “Most Promising Actress”.

After starring in the sequel film La Boum 2 in 1982, Marceau focused on more dramatic roles, including Fort Saganne (co-starring Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve) and Joyeuse Pâques (Happy Easter) in 1984, L’Amour Braque and Police in 1985, and Descente aux Enfers (Descent Into Hell) in 1986. In 1988, she starred in L’Etudiante (The Student) and Chouans!. That year, Marceau was named “Best Romantic Actress” at the International Festival of Romantic Movies for her role in Chouans.

In 1995, Marceau achieved international recognition as Princess Isabelle in Mel Gibson’s Braveheart. That year, she was part of an ensemble of international actors in the French film directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and Wim Wenders, Beyond the Clouds.

In 1999, two films defined her as an international star. For A Midsummer Night’s Dream, she played Hippolyta. That same year, she became a Bond girl by playing Elektra King in The World Is Not Enough.

In 2002, Marceau made her directorial debut in the feature film Speak to Me of Love for which she was named Best Director at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film starred Judith Godrèche.

Filmography:

- La Boum (The Party) (1980)
- La Boum 2 (1982)
- Fort Saganne (1984)
- Joyeuses Pâques (Happy Easter) (1984)
- L’Amour braque (Mad Love) (1985)
- Police (1985)
- Descente aux enfers (Descent Into Hell) (1986)
- L’Étudiante (The Student) (1988)
- Chouans ! (1988)
- Mes nuits sont plus belles que vos jours (My Nights are more Beautiful than your Days) (1989)
- Pacific Palisades (1990)
- Pour Sacha (For Sacha) (1991)
- La Note bleue (The Blue Note) (1991)
- Fanfan (Fanfan & Alexandre) (1993)
- La Fille de d’Artagnan (The Daughter of D’Artagnan) (1994)
- Braveheart (1995)
- Beyond the Clouds (Al di là delle nuvole) (1995)
- Anna Karenina (1997)
- Marquise (1997, by Véra Belmont)
- Firelight (1997, by William Nicholson)
- Lost & Found (1999)
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
- The World Is Not Enough (1999)
- La Fidélité (Fidelity) (2000)
- Belphégor – Le fantôme du Louvre (Belphegor, Phantom of the Louvre) (2001)
- Alex and Emma (2003)
- Je reste! (2003)
- Les clefs de bagnole (The Car Keys) (2003)
- A ce soir (2004)
- Anthony Zimmer (2005)
- La Disparue de Deauville (2007)
- Les Femmes de l’Ombre (2008)

Writer and Director:

- L’Aube à l’envers (short film) (1995)
- Speak to Me of Love (2002)

• Josiane Balasko (born on 15th April, 1951 in Paris)

She is a very famous French actress, writer and director.

One of Balasko’s most recognized roles among English speakers is as a lesbian in 1995′s Gazon maudit (French Twist). She won the 1996 César Award (shared with Telsche Boorman) for best writing for this film, for which she was also nominated as best director. The movie itself was nominated for best film.

Balasko’s other César nominations for “Best actress” were for Trop belle pour toi (1989), Tout le monde n’a pas eu la chance d’avoir des parents communistes (1993), Cette femme-là (2003).

She is married to George Aguilar, who is also an actor.

Filmography: (it speaks more than everything!)

- Ruby Blue (2007)
- Les Bronzés 3: amis pour la vie (2006)
- La Vie est à nous! (2005)
- J’ai vu tuer Ben Barka (2005)
- L’Ex-femme de ma vie (2004)
- Madame Edouard (2004)
- Cette femme-là (2003)
- Le Raid (2002)
- Absolument fabuleux (2001)
- Un crime au paradis (2001)
- Les Acteurs (2000)
- Le Libertin (2000)
- Le Fils du Français (1999)
- Un grand cri d’amour (1998)
- Arlette (1997)
- Didier (1997)
- Gazon maudit (1995)
- Grosse fatigue (1994)
- Tout le monde n’a pas eu la chance d’avoir des parents communistes (1993)
- L’Ombre du doute (1993)
- Ma vie est un enfer (1991)
- Les Secrets professionnels du Dr Apfelglück (1991)
- Trop belle pour toi (Beautiful for You) (1989)
- Sans peur et sans reproche (1988)
- Une nuit à l’Assemblée Nationale (1988)
- Les Keufs (1987)
- Les Frères Pétard (1986)
- Nuit d’ivresse (1986)
- Sac de noeuds (1985)
- Tranches de vie (1985)
- La Vengeance du serpent à plumes (1984)
- La Smala (1984)
- P’tit con (1984)
- Signes extérieurs de richesse (1983)
- Papy fait de la résistance (1983)
- Jacques Dutronc, la nuit d’un rêveur (1982) (TV)
- Père Noël est une ordure, Le (1982)
- Hôtel des Amériques (1981)
- Maître d’école, Le (1981)
- Les Hommes préfèrent les grosses (1981)
- Clara et les Chics Types (1981)
- Les Bronzés font du ski (1979)
- Les Héros n’ont pas froid aux oreilles (1979)
- Les Bronzés (French Fried Vacation) (1978)
- La Tortue sur le dos (1978)
- Si vous n’aimez pas ça, n’en dégoûtez pas les autres (1978)
- Pauline et l’ordinateur (1978)
- Les Petits câlins (1978)
- Nous irons tous au paradis (We Will All Meet in Paradise) (1977)- L’Animal (1977)
- Dites-lui que je l’aime (1977)
- Monsieur Papa (1977)
- Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)
- Solveig et le violon turc (1977)
- Le Locataire (The Tenant) (1976)
- Une fille unique (1976)
- L’An 01 (1973)
- L’Agression (1973)

A few extracts from the movie “Les bronzés font du ski”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq2wtFWbJLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujgyGlT18AE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-a52UqZAwk&NR=1

• Marie-Anne Chazel (born on 19th September, 1952 in Gap, Hautes-Alpes)

She is a very famous French actress, movie director and occasional screenwriter, who has been active in both film and television since 1974.

From 1967 Chazel studied in the Pasteur high school in Neuilly-sur-Seine, alongside Michel Blanc, Gerard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte and Christian Clavier. After the achievement of her high school diploma (baccalaureat) and two years of studies in political sciences, the comrades decided to form a theatrical troop in 1974. All of them became very famous in France through the movie Les Bronzés (1978) directed by Patrice Leconte in which Chazel is playing the character of Gigi.

She also achieved great success for her role as Ginette in Les Visiteurs (1993).
Chazel was married to actor Christian Clavier, but divorced recently.

Filmography:

1975 : Le Bol d’air de Charles Nemes
1976 : L’Aile ou la Cuisse de Claude Zidi
1976 : Cours après moi que je t’attrape de Robert Pouret
1976 : On aura tout vu de Georges Lautner
1977 : Vous n’aurez pas l’Alsace et la Lorraine de Coluche et Marc Monnet
1977 : Le Point de mire de Jean-Claude Tramont
1978 : Le Coup de sirocco d’Alexandre Arcady
1978 : La Tortue sur le dos de Luc Béraud
1978 : Les Bronzés de Patrice Lecomte
1978 : Les héros n’ont pas froid aux oreilles de Charles Nemes
1979 : Les Bronzés font du ski de Patrice Lecomte
1980 : Viens chez moi, j’habite chez une copine
1981 : Fais gaffe à la gaffe! de Paul Boujenah
1981 : L’Année prochaine… si tout va bien
1981 : Les Babas cool
1981 : On n’est pas des anges… elles non plus
1982 : Le Père Noël est une ordure de Jean-Marie Poiré
1984 : Tranches de vie de François Leterrier
1984 : L’Amour en douce d’Edouard Molinaro
1986 : La Gitane de Philippe de Broca
1986 : La Vie dissolue de Gérard Floque de Georges Lautner
1988 : Mes meilleurs copains de Jean-Marie Poiré
1989 : Fantômes sur l’oreiller (TV)
1992 : Vacances au purgatoire (TV)
1993 : Les Visiteurs
1994 : Grosse Fatigue de Michel Blanc
1994 : La Vengeance d’une blonde de Jeannot Szwarc
1996 : Les Sœurs Soleil de Jeannot Szwarc
1998 : Les Couloirs du temps : Les visiteurs 2 de Jean-Marie Poiré
2004 : Au secours, j’ai 30 ans !
2006 : Les bronzés 3, amis pour la vie de Patrice Leconte

A few extracts from the movie “Les bronzés font du ski”:

http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=LflIhLoYyRU
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=0-BrALG2lfU
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=2ysRXC-D8Kg
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=ujgyGlT18AE
http://fr.youtube.com/watch?v=4c3W0yZ3_E0

• Isabelle Adjani (born on 27th June, 1955 in Paris)

She is a four-time César Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated French film actress and singer. She has Algerian-German parentage and performs in her native French, English, and German. Adjani has a record of four César Awards for “Best Actress”.

In 1981, Adjani received the Cannes Film Festival’s best actress award for the Merchant Ivory film Quartet based on the novel by Jean Rhys, and for the horror film Possession. The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession, in which she portrays a frustrated woman going mad. In 1983, she won the César, for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the French blockbuster One Deadly Summer.

Filmography:

- 1970 Le Petit bougnat
- 1972 Faustine et le bel été
- 1974 La Gifle
- 1975 The Story of Adele H. (Best Actress Oscar nomination)
- 1976 The Tenant
Barocco
- 1977 Violette & François
- 1978 The Driver
- 1979 Nosferatu the Vampyre
The Bronte Sisters
- 1981 Clara et les Chics Types
Possession
Quartet
L’ Année prochaine… si tout va bien
- 1982 Tout feu, tout flamme
Antonieta
-1983 Mortelle randonnée
L’ Été meurtrier
- 1985 Subway
- 1986 T’as de beaux escaliers tu sais
- 1987 Ishtar
- 1988 Camille Claudel (Best Actress Oscar nomination)
- 1993 Toxic Affair
- 1994 La Reine Margot
- 1996 Diabolique
- 2002 La Repentie
Adolphe
- 2003 Bon voyage
Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran

• Valérie Lemercier (born on 9th March, 1964 in Dieppe)

She is a famous French actress, film director and singer. She won twice the César Award for “Best Supporting Actress”; in 1994 for her role in “Les Visiteurs” and in 2005 for “Fauteuils d’orchestre”.

Lemercier started her career in the serial “Palace”. People love her sense of humor, which is very sarcastic and bold!

Filmography:

-1988 Palace by Jean-Michel Ribes (TV serial)
-1990 Milou en mai by Louis Malle
-1990 Après après-demain by Gérard Frot-Coutaz
-1991 L’Opération Corned-Beef by Jean-Marie Poiré
-1992 Le Bal des casse-pieds by Yves Robert
-1992 Sexes faibles! by Serge Meynard
-1993 Les Visiteurs by Jean-Marie Poiré
-1994 La Cité de la peur by Alain Berbérian
-1994 Casque bleu by Gérard Jugnot
-1995 Sabrina by Sydney Pollack
-1997 Quadrille (realized by Lemercier herself)
-1999 Le Derrière (realized by Lemercier herself)
-1999 Tarzan
-2002 Vendredi soir by Claire Denis
-2004 RRRrrrr!!! by Alain Chabat
-2004 Narco by Tristan Aurouet and Gilles Lellouche
-2005 Palais Royal ! (realized by Lemercier herself)
-2005 Fauteuils d’orchestre by Danièle Thompson
-2006 Le Héros de la famille by Thierry Klifa
-2007 L’Invité by Laurent Bouhnik
-2008 Musée haut, musée bas by Jean-Michel Ribes
-2008 Agathe Cléry by Etienne Chatiliez

Director:

- 1997 Quadrille
- 1999 Le Derrière
- 2005 Palais Royal !

Discography:

- 1996 Valérie Lemercier sings (Tricatel)
- 2006 J’ai un mari (with Pascale Borel) (Pschent)
- 2007 Pourquoi tu t’en vas ? (with Christophe Willem) (Vogue)
- 2007 Pierre et le Loup
- 2007 Le Coup de soleil (with Vincent Delerm)

A few extracts from the movie “Les visiteurs”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12GGZiScVVM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBgcCSgePu0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJZ9JC-d1Us&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HrS3OAU4_k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtX9E233Cmc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4Em1JNzRME&feature=related

• Marion Cotillard (born on 30th September, 1975 in Paris)

She is a French actress who has appeared in over fifty films in France. Cotillard won her second César Award, the BAFTA, the Golden Globe, Czech Lion, and the Academy Award for “Best Actress” for her role as French singer Édith Piaf in “La Vie En Rose”.

After a few roles on television, her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s with small but noticeable roles. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s when she was cast in the Luc Besson production Taxi (1998) as Lili Bertineau, a minor role that she reprised in three sequels.

She was chosen by director Olivier Dahan to portray the iconic French singer Édith Piaf in the biopic La Môme (English title: La Vie En Rose) before he had even met her, saying that in the eyes of Édith Piaf he noticed a similarity with Marion’s own. Producer Alain Goldman accepted and defended the choice even though distributors TFM reduced the money they gave to finance the film thinking Cotillard wasn’t good enough. Her portrayal was widely praised, including by the eminent theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn, who described it as “one of the greatest performances on film ever.” It was dubbed “the most awaited film of 2007” in France, where some critics said that she had reincarnated Édith Piaf to sing one last time on stage.

On February 10th, 2008, Cotillard became the first French actress to be awarded the BAFTA Award for “Best Actress” in a leading role since the BAFTAs in 1969 combined the Best British and Best Foreign actress award into one Best Actress category. She is also the first actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for a French language performance since Catherine Deneuve for Indochine in 1992. She is the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a foreign language performance since 1972, when Liv Ullmann won for The Emigrants. She is also the very first person to win a (Comedy or Musical) Golden Globe for a foreign language performance. As La Vie En Rose was also a Czech production (as she mentioned in her César acceptance speech), Marion Cotillard was nominated for the Czech Lion for “Best Actress in a Leading Role” on February 21st.

On February 22nd, 2008 she was awarded the César Award for “Best Actress”, and two days later she received the Academy Award for “Best Actress”. After Simone Signoret in 1959, Marion Cotillard is the second French cinema actress to win an Academy Award for “Best Actress”, though French expatriate Claudette Colbert was given an Oscar in 1934. She is the first Best Actress winner in a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren’s win in 1961. She is also the first and so far only winner of an Academy Award for a performance in the French language. In her Oscar acceptance speech, Cotillard proclaimed “thank you life, thank you love” (allegedly a reference to one of Piaf’s songs) and, speaking about Los Angeles, said “it is true, there are some angels in this city!”

Filmography:

- 1994 L’Histoire du garçon qui voulait qu’on l’embrasse (The Story of a Boy Who Wanted to Be Kissed)
- 1996 Comment je me suis disputé (ma vie sexuelle) (My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument)
- 1996 La Belle Verte
- 1998 Taxi
- 1998 La Guerre dans le Haut Pays (War in the Highlands)
- 1999 Furia
- 1999 Du Bleu jusqu’en Amérique (Blue Away to America)
- 2000 Taxi 2
- 2001 Lisa
- 2001 Les Jolies choses (Pretty Things)
- 2002 Une affaire privée (A Private Affair)
- 2003 Taxi 3
- 2003 Love Me If You Dare
- 2003 Big Fish
- 2004 Innocence
- 2004 A Very Long Engagement (French title: Un long dimanche de fiançailles)
- 2005 Cavalcade
- 2005 Edy
- 2005 Ma vie en l’air (Love is in the air)
- 2005 Mary
- 2005 Sauf le respect que je vous dois (Burnt Out)
- 2005 La Boîte noire (The Black Box)
- 2006 Toi et Moi (You And Me)
- 2006 Dikkenek
- 2006 Fair Play
- 2006 A Good Year
- 2007 La môme (La Vie en rose, Édith Piaf, Life in Pink, The Little Girl, The Passionate Life of Édith Piaf)
- 2009 Public Enemies
- 2009 Nine

A few extracts from Taxi 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3b_a6PazdaA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGpNWeSST-A&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GItYzPGTVW8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BFX0MkiFCw&NR=1

• Alexandra Lamy (born on 14th October, 1971 in Alès, Gard)

Alexandra Lamy with husband and actor Jean Dujardin.

Alexandra Lamy is a famous French actress. She achieved fame in the TV serial “Un gars, une fille“(A guy, a girl) in which she plays the role of “Alex” alias “Chouchou“. In that serial, she can’t stop fighting with her boyfriend “Jean” alias “Loulou”. 486 episodes were released from October 1999 to June 2003. After a rocky start, it went on to become a success and garnered around 5 million viewers each day, that is to say a third of the people watching television at that timeslot in France.

Her partner in the serial is also her partner in life (Jean Dujardin).

Un gars une fille :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69IrClQpZ2s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9EdPnBWFGI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0AyeGcmkBQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mCFUDOnrCA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhbSW0ySqQ8