Francesas
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Brigitte Lahaie was born on October 12, 1955 in Tourcoing, Nord, France. Her father was a banker and her mother was an accountant. Brigitte also has two brothers and a sister. Lahaie moved with her sister to Paris, France in 1975 and worked in a shoe store prior to getting her first film job through a newspaper advert. Brigitte began performing in explicit hardcore movies in 1976 just a year following the legalization of hardcore pornography in France. After establishing herself as a star attraction in adult fare, Brigitte played a small role in the horror picture The Grapes of Death (1978) for cult cinema director Jean Rollin. Lahaie went on to tackle a lead role in Fascination (1979) for Rollin. Moreover, in the early 1980's Brigitte decided to stop doing porn and made a concentrated effort to appear in more traditional mainstream films under the alias Brigitte Simonin. (She has small parts in such mainstream movies as Diva (1981) and Henry & June (1990).) In addition, Lahaie published an autobiography in 1987, recorded and released a pop single, and even did a successful one-woman stage show about her life and career before going on to become the hostess of her own daily talk radio show that largely centers on issues concerning sexuality and relationships. Brigitte was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame as a Film Pioneer in 2014.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Daniela Giordano was born on November 7, 1946 in Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Giordano attended school in Milan, Italy, where she lived with her family for ten years before returning to Palermo at age fourteen. Daniela was the winner of several local beauty pageants in her home town of Palermo and, in the wake of winning the 1966 Miss Italia contest at age nineteen, finished in second place in the 1967 Miss Europe contest. Giordano went on to work as a model prior to acting in her first movie in 1967. Among the notable directors that Daniela acted in films for are Mario Bava, León Klimovsky, Alfonso Brescia, Luigi Cozzi, Sergio Martino, and Paul Naschy.- Actress
- Producer
French/US actress, Roxane Mesquida grew up in Le Pradet, a little town in the South of France. At the age of 11, while walking with her mother, writer Francoise Mesquida, she was spotted by director Manuel Pradal who cast her in Mary from the Bay of Angels (Marie Baie de Anges). In 1998, she played opposite Isabelle Huppert in Benoit Jacquot's The School of Flesh (L'ecole de la Chair) which was presented at that year's Cannes Film Festival. A few years later, she crossed paths with the renowned and provocative director Catherine Breillat. Not only did the director bring Roxane to international attention, she taught the actress her craft. In 2001, their first film Fat Girl (A ma soeur!) was presented at festivals around the world including Berlin and Toronto. The following year, the director and her actress collaborated on Sex is a Comedy which was presented at the Cannes Film Festival, 2002. They worked together again on The Last Mistress (Une vieille maitresse) with Asia Argento. The film was presented in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. In 2006, after making Sheitan with Vincent Cassel directed by Kim Chapiron, Mesquida moved to the United States. She spent several months in New York attending The Barrow Group, a prestigious non-profit Off-Broadway Theatre Company and acting School before settling in Los Angeles. In 2010, two of her films were presented at Cannes: Kaboom by independent filmmaker Gregg Araki and Rubber by Quentin Dupieux a.k.a Mr. Oizo (a corruption of the French word for "bird"). She also starred three music videos: Buck 65's "Paper Airplane", Grudd Rhys's "Shark Ridden Waters" and Marilyn Manson's "No Reflection" in 2012. 2011 was a very busy year for Mesquida who played Beatrice, the sister of Louis Grimaldi in TV series Gossip Girl and appeared in the features The Most Fun You Can Have Dying by Kirstin Marcon, Kiss of the Damned by Alexandra Cassavetes (daughter of John Cassavetes) and Homesick by young independent filmmaker Frederic Da. She also appeared in the art video for Opening Ceremony.
When she was 14, Mesquida was spotted by Elite Model Management and she has been working as a model ever since. She is signed by worldwide modeling agency IMG Modelssince 2008.- Actress
- Zahia Dehar, born in Ghriss (Algeria) on February 25, 1992, is a former French-Algerian escort-girl, now a model, lingerie designer and actress. In April 2010, Zahia Dehar made the news when broke in France "Zahia case". Footballers from France are suspected of having sex with Zahia Dehar, then a minor. Interviewed by the press, she presents herself as an escort-girl and not a prostitute. The instruction ends shortly thereafter. A few months later, the girl reappears under the eye of the paparazzi, transfigured in a Missoni dress. Zahia Dehar has become a french fashion icon. She poses for the prestigious magazines Vanity Fair and V, and plays in clips of the American underground scene. In 2012, Zahia Dehar presented her own line of lingerie, for which she surrounded herself with the greatest professionals (the Caraco workshops, the corset maker François Tamarin). She represents the European free woman. She plays in 2019, the lead role in "An Easy Girl" feature film by director Rebecca Zlotowski.
- Mina Farid is known for An Easy Girl (2019) and L'invité (2000).
- Born in Nimes, France, Alice started her acting career at the age of 7 by playing in numerous local theater production. From 1999 to 2003 she studied acting method at Theatre Du Chene Noir under the direction of Raymond Vinciguerra. Starting from 2003 Alice started to play in various theater productions. In 2008, she joins the production "Confidence to Allah", a play based on a best-selling book of the same name, where she play the main lead "Jbara". For two years Alice stayed on the show and took part of the national tour of the play. For her performance as Jbara, Alice won in 2010 "Best Female Newcomer" award at the Moliere Awards. From 2011 to now on, Alice has started to act in numerous movies and TV shows. She is currently playing "Sophie" on Canal Plus' shows "Working Girl" and "Sophie and Sophie".
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- Casting Department
Anca Radici was born on 5 May 1977 in Sibiu, Romania. She was an actress, known for Taken (2008), Hitman (2007) and Alex Hugo (2014). She died on 9 February 2023 in Paris, France.- Karina Testa was born on 5 August 1981 in Cannes, Alpes-Maritimes, France. She is an actress, known for Frontier(s) (2007), Dolls and Angels (2008) and Odysseus (2013).
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- Born and raised in Paris France, Camille started acting in middle school and continued performing through High School. By the age of sixteen, she had performed and taken the lead in various school plays. She trained professionally at Cours Florent, Bilingual Acting Paris, Acting International, and Celia Browne Acting Studio. She also has a marketing degree. Camille has appeared in major French Productions such as "Budapest" and "Tout Le Monde Debout".
- Actress
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French actress and model Eva Gaëlle Green was born on July 6, 1980, in Paris, France. Her father, Walter Green, is a dentist who appeared in the 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, Marlène Jobert, is an actress turned children's book writer. Eva's mother was born in Algeria, of French, Spanish, and Sephardic Jewish heritage (during that time, Algeria was part of France), and Eva's father is of Swedish, French, and Breton descent. She has a fraternal twin sister, Joy. Eva left French school at 17. She switched to the American School in France for one year. She left the American School and studied acting at Saint Paul Drama School in Paris for three years, then had a 10-week polishing course at the Weber Douglas Academy of dramatic Art in London. She returned to Paris as an accomplished young actress, and played on stage in several theater productions: "La Jalousie en Trois Fax" and "Turcaret". There, she caught the eye of director Bernardo Bertolucci. Green followed a recommendation to work on her English. She studied for two months with an English coach before doing The Dreamers (2003) with Bernardo Bertolucci. During their work, Bertolucci described Green as being "so beautiful it's indecent".
Green won critical acclaim for her role in The Dreamers (2003). After "The Dreamers", Green played the love interest of cult French gentleman-thief, Arsène Lupin (2004), opposite Romain Duris. In 2005, she co-starred, opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The film brought her a wider international exposure. She turned down the femme fatale role in The Black Dahlia (2006), that went to Hilary Swank, because she didn't want to end up typecast after her role in "The Dreamers". Instead, Eva accepted the prestigious role of "Vesper Lynd", one of three Bond girls, opposite Daniel Craig, in Casino Royale (2006) and became the fifth French actress to play a James Bond girl, after Claudine Auger in Thunderball (1965), Corinne Cléry in Moonraker (1979), Carole Bouquet in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Sophie Marceau in The World Is Not Enough (1999). She achieved international recognition for the film, one of the highest-grossing Bond movies ever.
Since then, Green has starred in the films Dark Shadows (2012), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016). She also starred as Vanessa Ives in Showtime's horror drama Penny Dreadful (2014). Her performance in the series earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.
Since her school years, Green has been a cosmopolitan multilingual and multicultural person. Yet, since her father always lived in France with them and her mother, she and her twin sister can't speak Swedish. She developed a wide scope of interests beyond her acting profession and became an aspiring art connoisseur and an avid museum visitor. Her other activities, outside of acting, include playing and composing music, cooking at home, walking her terrier, and collecting art. She shares time between her two residencies, one is in Paris, France, and one in London, England.- Valentina Vargas is a Chilean-born French actress. She developed most of her career in France, where she was raised.
Vargas began her career in the dramatic art within the workshop of Tania Balachova in Paris and also later at the Yves Pignot School of Los Angeles. Her cinematographic career started via the filming of three French movies, namely Pierre Jolivet's Strictly Personal (1985), Luc Besson's The Big Blue (1988) and Jean-Jacques Annaud's The Name of the Rose (1986). Over the years, Vargas also worked with Samuel Fuller in Street of No Return (1989), Miguel Littín in Los Náufragos (1994) and Alfredo Arieta in Fuegos (1987).
Vargas is trilingual in Spanish, French and English. This has enabled her to pass without notice in films as varied as the cinematic horror film Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996) where she played the Cenobite Angelique, to the comedy Chili con carne (1999) of Thomas Gilou. She appeared opposite Jan Michael Vincent (Dirty Games (1989)), Malcolm McDowell and Michael Ironside (Southern Cross (1999)), and James Remar (Die Tigerin (1992)).
After her performance in Bloody Mallory (2002) where she played "Lady Valentine/Carmina Belladone", she turned to playing roles for television. Initially she played in a version of Dangerous Liaisons (2003) directed by Josée Dayan. She starred in this production with Catherine Deneuve, Rupert Everett, Leelee Sobieski and Nastassja Kinski. - Marine Vacth was born on April 9, 1991 in Paris. She grew up in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort with a younger brother. She had difficult childhood growing up with a violent father, a lorry driver - his company is named after his daughter Marine, and a mother, an accountant at Malaysia Airlines, "who pacified nothing". The enduring passion of Marine's youth was judo, which she did for seven years until the age of 17, reaching brown belt. When she was 15, she was spotted by a model agent while she was shopping with her mother in H&M department store. She found modeling as an escape from troublesome family. She was educated at the Lycée Eugène Delacroix in Maisons-Alforts. Despite being good at her studies, she felt cramped and ended school without having waited for the certificate and has gone to Paris. The beautiful brunette quickly went on to be photographed by the likes of Jean-Baptiste Mondino, Juergen Teller or Paolo Roversi. In 2011, she succeeded Kate Moss as the face of YSL's Parisienne perfume and became a face of many prestigious fashion houses as Chloé, Louis Vuitton, or Ralph Lauren. The director Cédric Klapisch noticed the mysterious beauty of Marine and gave her the role of Tessa in My Piece of the Pie (2011) in 2011. Despite a critical failure, Marine immediately caught eye of Alexandre Arcady and gained a small role in his film What the Day Owes the Night (2012) and Joan Chemla's short The Man with the Golden Brain (2012). She also auditioned for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011) and was part of the final four candidates. Unfortunately, she didn't get the role. Around this time, French director François Ozon was looking for a lead actress to cast in his new movie Young & Beautiful (2013). After seeing Marine on the cover of Libération Next, he decided she's the right girl to portrait Isabelle, adolescent girl who leads a secret life as a call girl. In 2013, the movie was presented in Cannes and received a critical success. This experience definitively convinced Marine to pursue acting as a profession. The breakthrough role of Isabelle led Marine to roles in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Families (2015), The Confession (2016), directed by Nicolas Boukhrief (2016) and recently she worked again with director François Ozon in erotic thriller Double Lover (2017). This movie took Marine to Cannes in 2017 for the second time. In January 2018 is released Marine's newest movie If You Saw His Heart (2017) by Joan Chemla, co-starring with Gael García Bernal. On the private side, Marine is very discreet. She doesn't use any social media and doesn't like giving interviews and if so, she chooses her words very carefully. She is living with a photographer Paul Schmidt, with whom she has a son Henri, born on the March 15, 2014. She also owns a cat named Alphonse. Marine describes herself as pragmatic and introvert, yet she likes to take risks as an actress. Marine is an ambassador of the Parisian fashion house Chanel and recently featured in their Cruise 2017/18 campaign. Marine is one of the best young French actresses with a huge career ahead of her.
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Stacy Martin was born on 20 March 1990 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013), All the Money in the World (2017) and The Serpent (2021).- Actress
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Anna Mouglalis was born on 26 April 1978 in Fréjus, Var, France. She is an actress and director, known for Romanzo Criminale (2005), Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009) and Baron noir (2016). She was previously married to Vincent Raes.- Actress
- Producer
Rebecca Dayan grew up in the south of France. When she was 17 she moved to Paris to study art, fashion design and theatre. While studying she also worked as a model. After a few years in Paris she decided to study acting in New York where she now lives and works.- Camille Rowe was born on 7 January 1990. She is an actress, known for The Deep House (2021), Cosmic Dawn (2022) and No Limit (2022).
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Laetitia Dosch was born on 1 September 1980 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Montparnasse Bienvenüe (2017), Dog on Trial (2024) and Keeper (2015).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Known for her performance in La Vie d'Adèle (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche, that landed her both the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the César for Most Promising Actress that same year, Adèle Exarchopoulos has been on the French and International big screen regularly since then. Going forward with original projects, such as "Qui Vive" by Marianne Tardieu (2014) or "Les Anarchistes" by Elie Wajeman (2015), she took part in international projects like "The Last Face" by Sean Penn and "Noureev" by Ralph Fiennes before returning to Cannes in 2019 with "Sibyl", a psychological drama by Justine Triet. The past year marks another turning point in her career as she was in two critically acclaimed comedy projects: the successful TV show "La Flamme" by Jonathan Cohen and long awaited movie "Mandibules" by Quentin Dupieux. She will soon be seen in the big action drama "Bac Nord" by Cedric Jimenez as well as a few other projects including "Rien à Foutre" by Emmanuel Marre and "Les Cinq Diables" by Léa Mysius.- Born and raised in the south of France and Paris, Loan Chabanol studied painting and drawing at a young age before embarking on a successful international modeling career. At age 15 she won the Elite Model Look contest and soon graced the covers of Elle, Marie Claire and several other major fashion publications. In 2010 she shifted her focus to acting and began work at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. Her studies quickly paid off and in 2013 she was cast by Director/Actor John Turturro in Fading Gigolo, performing in a notable scene alongside Woody Allen. This caught the attention of Director, Paul Haggis who next cast Loan in a co-starring role playing alongside James Franco and Mila Kunis, in his film Third Person. During this time she also continued her painting and exhibited her work in four different shows around NY. In 2015 Loan was cast in a lead role in The Transporter Refuelled, alongside actor Ed Skrein. In 2022 Loan was cast as a female lead in the first installment of the anthology series, Tales of the Walking Dead, the latest incarnation of the successful AMC series. Loan lives in Los Angeles, and speaks fluent French and English.
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Vanessa Paradis is a renowned French actress, model and singer born in 1972. She started her career as a model and singer before becoming a movie star. Her song "Joe Le Taxi" brought her success in 15 countries at the age of 14. Later, in 1990, she was awarded a 'César' (French equivalent of Oscar) for her debut movie White Wedding (1989). For the next 5 years, she concentrated on her musical career, she rejected Pedro Almodóvar and John Boorman. In 1995, she appeared in Élisa (1995), but decided to concentrate on her private life with Johnny Depp and their children. After several years, Vanessa continued her singing and acting career.- Caroline Ducey was born on December in Sainte-Adresse, Seine-Maritime, France. She is an actress, known for Romance (1999) by Catherine Breillat, Trop de bonheur (1994) by Cédric Kahn, Carrément à l'ouest ( 2001) by Jacques Doillon, La Chambre Obscure by Marie-Christine Questerbert, Doo Wop by David Lanzmann, Bangkok Fighter by Jean-Marc Minéo, Balo a tre passi by Salvatore Mereu, Prendimi l'Anima by Roberto Faenza, La grenouille et Dieu (2014) and a lot of shorts, series. She is the only person at that day authorized by Mrs Anna Strasberg to perform on a stage the written of Mrs Marilyn Monroe, since 2015, from the book "Fragments : poèmes, écrits intimes, lettres" published by Le Seuil and Stanley Buchthal. She performed in Paris in 2015-2016, and Avignon Festival in 2017 and 2019. Her family name is Trousselard. She's been living with the french director David Lanzmann for 20 years and have a daughter together. She is the sister of Marion Trousselard.
- Vahina Giocante was born on 30 June 1981 in Orléans, Loiret, France. She is an actress, known for Lila dit ça (2004), Trader Games (2010) and 99 Francs (2007).
- Esther Garrel is a French actress known for her work in Luca Guadagnino's Call Me by Your Name (2017) and Lover for a Day (2017), which premiered at 2017 Cannes Film Festival.
She is the youngest member of a family long associated with French cinema, as she is granddaughter of actor Maurice Garrel, daughter of director Philippe Garrel and actress/director Brigitte Sy and sister of actor Louis Garrel.
Esther made her first appearance on screen at the age of eight in a short film by Gérard Courant (Zanzibar à Saint-Sulpice (1999)).
In 2008, French filmmaker Christophe Honoré cast her with her first role in "The Beautiful Person (2008)," a modernized adaptation of "La Princesse de Clèves".
She starred in "The Apollonide," where she played a prostitute, and "17 Girls (2011)," where she played a pregnant teenager, both premiered at 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
With some of the top French actors of her generation, she starred in the short film "Après Suzanne (2016)", selected for Official competition at 2016 Cannes Film Festival.
She recently worked with American filmmaker Nathan Silver on "Thirst Street (2017)," which premiered at 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and Venice International Film Festival and The Great Pretender which premiered at 2018 Tribeca Film Festival.
She speaks French, English and Italian. - Anamaria Vartolomei was born on 9 April 1999 in Bacau, Romania. She is an actress, known for Happening (2021), Méduse (2022) and My Little Princess (2011).
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Ana Girardot was born on 1 August 1988 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014), The Returned (2012) and Babyphone (2023).- Actress
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Nikita Bellucci was born on 6 November 1989 in Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France. She is an actress and director. She has been married to Ludovic Dekan since August 2021.- Louise Monot was born on 30 December 1981 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for OSS 117: Lost in Rio (2009), Little White Lies (2010) and Un amour à taire (2005).
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She graduated from the Institute of political science and started a law career. But she quickly decided to stop it to fulfill her dream to become an actress. She started in a theatre play in 1993 by Jean Périmony. Then she played a secretary in the film "la Dernière Carte" in 1994. Then she performed in many TV films or series.- Anne Marivin was born on 23 January 1974 in Senlis, Oise, Picardie, France. She is an actress, known for Welcome to the Sticks (2008), Tell No One (2006) and Little White Lies (2010).
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Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard was born on September 30, 1975 in Paris. Cotillard is the daughter of Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor, playwright and director, and Niseema Theillaud, an actress and drama teacher. Her father's family is from Brittany.
Raised in Orléans, France, she made her acting debut as a child with a role in one of her father's plays. She studied drama at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Orléans. After small appearances and performances in theater, Cotillard had occasional and minor roles in TV series such as Highlander (1992) and Extrême limite (1994), but her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s. While still a teenager, Cotillard made her cinema debut at the age of 18 in the film L'histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse (1994), and had small but noticeable roles in films such as Arnaud Desplechin's My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (1996) and Coline Serreau's comedy The Green Planet (1996).
In 1996, she had her first lead role in the TV film Chloé (1996), playing the title role - a teenage runaway who is forced into prostitution. Cotillard co-starred opposite Anna Karina, the muse of the Nouvelle Vague.
In 1997, she won her first film award at the Festival Rencontres Cinématographiques d'Istres in France, for her performance as the young imprisoned Nathalie in the short film Affaire classée (1997). Her first prominent screen role was Lilly Bertineau in Gérard Pirès's box-office hit Taxi (1998), a role which she reprised in two sequels: Taxi 2 (2000) and Taxi 3 (2003), this role earned her first César award nomination (France's equivalent to the Oscar) for Most Promising Actress in 1999.
In 1999, Cotillard starred as Julie Bonzon in the Swiss war drama War in the Highlands (1998). For her performance in the film, she won the Best Actress award at the Autrans Film Festival in France. In 2001, Marion starred in Pretty Things (2001) as the twin sisters Marie and Lucie, and was nominated for her second César award for Most Promising Actress.
Cotillard's breakthrough in France came in 2003, when she starred in Yann Samuell's dark romantic comedy Love Me If You Dare (2003), in which she played Sophie Kowalsky, the daughter of Polish immigrants who lives a love-hate relationship with her childhood friend. The film was a box-office hit in France, became a cult film abroad and led Cotillard to bigger projects.
Her first Hollywood movie was Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), in which she played Joséphine, the wife of William Bloom (played by Billy Crudup). A few years later, Marion starred in Ridley Scott's A Good Year (2006) playing Fanny Chenal, a French café owner who falls in love with Russell Crowe's character. In 2004, she won the Chopard Thophy of Female Revelation at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2005, Cotillard won the César award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance of Tina Lombardi in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement (2004).
In 2007, Cotillard received international recognition for her iconic portrayal of Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (2007). Director Olivier Dahan cast Cotillard to play the legendary French singer because to him, her eyes were like those of "Piaf". The fact that she can sing also helped Cotillard land the role of "Piaf", although most of the singing in the film is that of Piaf's. The role won Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a César, a Lumière Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. That made her only the second actress to win an acting Oscar performing in a language other than English next to Sophia Loren (Two Women (1960)). Only two male performers (Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Robert De Niro for The Godfather Part II (1974)) have won an Oscar for solely non-English parts. Trevor Nunn called her portrayal of "Piaf" "one of the greatest performances on film ever". At the Berlin International Film Festival, where the film premiered, Cotillard was given a 15-minute standing ovation. When she won the César, Alain Delon presented the award and announced the winner as "La Môme Marion" (The Kid Marion), he also praised her at the stage saying: "Marion, I give you this César. I think this César is for a great great actress, and I know what I'm talking about".
Cotillard has worked much more frequently in English-language movies following her Academy Award recognition. In 2009, she acted opposite Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's Public Enemies (2009), and later that year played Luisa Contini in Rob Marshall's musical Nine (2009) and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Time magazine ranked her as the fifth best performance by a female in 2009. The following year, she took on the main antagonist role, Mal, in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), and in 2011 she had memorable parts in Midnight in Paris (2011) and Contagion (2011) and reteamed with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).
In 2011 and 2012 respectively, Cotillard appeared on the top of Le Figaro's list of the highest paid actors in France, it was the first time in nine years that a female topped the list. Cotillard was also the highest paid foreign actress in Hollywood.
In 2012, Cotillard received wide-spread critical acclaim for her role as the legless orca trainer Stéphanie in Rust and Bone (2012). The film was a box office hit in France and received a ten-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Cotillard won the Globe de Cristal (France's equivalent to the Golden Globe), the Étoile d'Or award and was nominated for the Golden Globes, SAG, BAFTA, Critics' Choice and César Awards for her performance in the film. Cate Blanchett wrote an op-ed for Variety praising Cotillard's performance in "Rust and Bone", the two actresses competed for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in 2008, Cate was nominated for her performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Marion for her performance in La Vie En Rose (2007) and Cotillard won the Oscar.
She had her first leading role in an American movie in 2013, in James Gray's The Immigrant (2013), in which she played Ewa Cybulska, a Polish immigrant who wants to experience the American dream. Cotillard received wide-spread acclaim for her performance in the film at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered, and also won several critics awards. In 2014, Cotillard played Sandra in the Belgian film Two Days, One Night (2014) by the Dardenne brothers. Her performance was unanimously praised at the 67th Cannes Film Festival, earned several critics awards, Cotillard won her first European Award for Best Actress and also received her second Oscar nomination and her sixth César award nomination.
In 2015, she played Lady Macbeth opposite Michael Fassbender in Justin Kurzel's Macbeth (2015) and voiced two animated movies: The Little Prince (2015) in which she voiced The Rose, and April and the Extraordinary World (2015), in which she voiced the lead role, Avril. Her 2016 included Nicole Garcia's From the Land of the Moon (2016), Xavier Dolan's It's Only the End of the World (2016), Justin Kurzel's Assassin's Creed (2016), in which she worked again with her Macbeth co-star Michael Fassbender; and Robert Zemeckis's Allied (2016), with Brad Pitt.- Actress
Lola Le Lann was born into an artistic family. Her father is the famous trumpeter, Eric Lelann , and her mother is the actress and filmmaker, Valérie Stroh.
She appeared in her first film at 19 years old, playing the main role in One Wild Moment (2015). In the film she plays Louna, a 17 year old who falls for her best friend's father, who is also her father's best friend, when the four of them are on holiday together in Corsica.- Alice Isaaz was born on 26 July 1991 in Bordeaux, France. She is an actress, known for The Gilded Cage (2013), Elle (2016) and Smart Ass (2014).
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Alice began by studying piano at the Music Conservatory of Paris. Taking theater courses to overcome shyness, she quickly caught the drama bug.
She begins her film career in 2001 in the La bande du drugstore (2002) and Quatre copains (2001). She obtains one of the principal roles of Brocéliande (2003), plays in Le pharmacien de garde (2003) and Grande école (2004) in 2002.
The film The Story of My Life (2004) in 2003 gave her the recognition of the public. Alice next embarked on more prestigious productions of the year 2005. She was a pilot in Sky Fighters (2005), then acted in Le cactus (2005) and also acted with Gad Elmaleh in The Valet (2006) by Francis Veber.- Actress
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Virginie Ledoyen was born Virginie Fernandez on 15 November 1976 in Aubervilliers, near Paris. At the age of 2, she was already shooting advertisements for television. At 9, she started going to the École des Enfants du Spectacle, and made her film debut at 10 in What Every Frenchwoman Wants (1986). She was then nominated for the César (the French equivalent of an Oscar) for most promising actress in 1993, 1994 and 1995.
Her international breakthrough was in 1999, when she became ambassador for the cosmetics L'Oréal; this led to her casting in The Beach (2000), with Leonardo DiCaprio.- Actress
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Noémie Merlant is a French actress, writer and director, she is best known for Le ciel attendra (2016), Portrait de la jeune fille en feu (2019), Curiosa (2019), and Tár (2022).
She won an César Awards for best supporting actress to her role in L'innocent (2022).
She also starred in Les Olympiades Paris 13e (2021) an had a minor role in Un moment d'égarement (2015).- Actress
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Camélia Jordana was born on 15 September 1992 in La Londe-les-Maures, Var, France. She is an actress and director, known for Le brio (2017), The Things We Say, the Things We Do (2020) and Sisters in Arms (2019).- Mathilde Warnier is a French actress, model and columnist. She is best known for her minor roles in the film Curiosa (2019) and the Amazon Prime Original The Widow TV Series.
She also starred in TV Series like Au service de la France and the films Caprice (2015) and Les Garçons sauvages (2017). - Lucie Zhang was born on 27 October 2000 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Paris, 13th District (2021), Le Roi Soleil and Captives (2023).
- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Anaïs Demoustier was born on 29 September 1987 in Lille, Nord, France. She is an actress, known for Sweet Evil (2010), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011) and Alice and the Mayor (2019).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Romane Bohringer was born on 14 August 1973 in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, Oise, France. She is an actress and director, known for Savage Nights (1992), L'amour flou (2018) and The Apartment (1996).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Emmanuelle Béart was born August 14, 1963, in Gassin, France. She lived with her mother, brothers, and sister on a farm not far from Saint-Tropez in Provence (southern France), because her father, singer and poet Guy Béart, did not want his children to be affected by the glamour world of Paris. When Emmanuelle was thirteen, she saw Romy Schneider in the movie Mado (1976). From that time on, she wanted to be an actress. In Emmanuelle's teens, her parents sent her to Montreal, Quebec, Canada, for four years, so she could learn English. There, she was engaged for a Robert Altman movie that was never made. After returning to France, she took drama classes and got her first TV role, in Raison perdue (1984). David Hamilton, the photographer/director, was impressed by her beauty and gave her a role in First Desires (1983). She met her spouse-to-be, Daniel Auteuil, while making Love on the Quiet (1985). The film that made her famous in France was Manon of the Spring (1986), in which she played the role of a blonde shepherd dancing nude in the fields. Director Tom McLoughlin chose her out of 5,000 candidates for her first Hollywood picture, Date with an Angel (1987). Emmanuelle is a very sensitive and a perfectionist. For the part of Camille in the film A Heart in Winter (1992), she took violin lessons for a whole year. Her biggest success was as a nude model in the art film La Belle Noiseuse (1991), which starred Michel Piccoli and was directed by Jacques Rivette.- Monica Broeke is known for First Desires (1983) and A Summer in Saint Tropez (1983).
- Inge Maria Granzow is known for First Desires (1983).
- Sarah Pratt was born in 1966 in France. She is an actress, known for Brief Crossing (2001), Relic Hunter (1999) and The Last Mistress (2007).
- Delphine Chuillot is known for Pandorum (2009), Age of Uprising: The Legend of Michael Kohlhaas (2013) and The Woman in the Fifth (2011).
- Coralie Revel is known for Secret Things (2002), Relic Hunter (1999) and Sandra, the Rebel Princess (1995).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Blandine Bury was born on 13 April 1980. She is an actress, known for Killers (2010), Fanfan (2003) and The Successor (2023).
- Nadia Chibani is known for À l'aventure (2008).
- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Producer
Lise Bellynck is known for Par les montagnes (2012), The Exterminating Angels (2006) and Douce (2011).- Isabelle Pasco was born on 25 April 1966 in Perpignan, Pyrénées-Orientales, France. She is an actress, known for Undine (1992), Charlemagne (1993) and Prospero's Books (1991). She is married to Tchéky Karyo.
- Actress
- Writer
Catherine Leprince was born on 17 March 1956 in Paris, France. She is an actress and writer, known for Le choc (1982), Paulette, la pauvre petite milliardaire (1986) and Bilitis (1977).- Actress
Déborah Révy was born on 10 March 1987 in Lyon, Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Love (2015), Desire (2011) and My Little Princess (2011).- Actress
- Costume Designer
- Director
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Sophie Marceau was born Sophie Danièle Sylvie Maupu in Paris, France, to Simone (Morisset), a shop assistant, and Benoît Maupu, a truck driver. She grew up far from the studio spotlights. When she was 14 she was living in the Paris suburb of Gentilly with her father. She learned from friends that director Claude Pinoteau was looking for new faces for a movie about teenagers called The Party (1980). She auditioned for the role, got it, and the film was a success. She played in The Party 2 (1982), then bought back her contract with Gaumont when she was 16 years old for one million French francs. She is a critically acclaimed actress, having received the Cesar for Best Feminine Hope for "La Boum 2" in 1983. She was elected Romantic actress for Chouans! (1988) at the Festival International du Film Romantique (International Festival of Romantic Movie) of Cabourg in 1988, and was awarded the Moliere of the Best Theatrical Revelation for "Eurydice et Pygmalion" in 1994.- Anne Libert was born on 21 July 1946. She is an actress, known for A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973).
- Sandra Julien was born on 14 February 1950 in Toulon, France. She is an actress, known for The Shiver of the Vampires (1971), Au théâtre ce soir (1966) and Dany la ravageuse (1972).
- Lola Créton is a French actress. Her first debut was in a short film, Imago. Her first major role was in Barbe-Bleu, directed by Catherine Breillat. She plays Camille in Goodbye First Love, a film by Mia Hansen Løve. The film was an official selection at Locarno and New York Film Festival.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Daphné Baiwir was born on 18 July 1992. She is an actress and director, known for Le Film pro-nazi d'Hitchcock (2023), Homo Faber (trois femmes) (2014) and Danse Funèbre (2013).- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Léa Drucker was born on 23 January 1972 in Caen, Calvados, France. She is an actress and director, known for Close (2022), Custody (2017) and L'homme de sa vie (2006).- Ariel Besse was born on 7 October 1965 in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France. She was an actress, known for Beau-père (1981), On s'en fout... nous on s'aime (1982) and Mora (1982). She was married to X. Atanoux. She died on 29 May 2022 in Flayosc, Var, France.
- Actress
- Writer
Miou-Miou was born Sylvette Herry on February 22, 1950, in Paris, France. Her father was a gendarme, her mother was a sales-woman. Young Miou-Miou was selling strawberries helping out at her mother's fruit and vegetable stand at a street market. There she was spotted by actor-director Romain Bouteille, who invited her to work at Café de la Gare, a popular Parisian theatre, where Gérard Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere were principal actors. There she began as a cleaning lady, then became a dresser, then an actress. She was nicknamed Miou-Miou by Coluche because she was always nice, quiet, and clean as a kitty.
In 1971, Miou-Miou made her film debut in La vie sentimentale de Georges le tueur (1971) (The Sentimental Life of George Le Tueur 1971). At that time she became romantically involved with the fellow actor Patrick Dewaere. Their daughter, Angèle Herry-Leclerc, was born in 1974, but their relationship ended few years later, after their work in several films. Their relationship was portrayed in F... comme Fairbanks (1976), and later was documented in Patrick Dewaere (1992) (documentary).
Miou-Miou has been an unusual personality in the French cinema. She once refused to take the Cesar Award for Best Actress, which she won for the title role in Memoirs of a French Whore (1979). She explained that refusal citing her belief that artists should not compete against each other. Her career was hardly affected by such a gesture. She was nominated for Cesar nine times. Her better known works were made with Gérard Depardieu in Going Places (1974), Tell Her That I Love Her (1977), Ménage (1986), and Germinal (1993), an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Émile Zola.- Brigitte Ariel was born on 10 November 1953 in France. She is an actress, known for Piaf: The Early Years (1974), Rosebud (1975) and Des lauriers pour Lila (1974).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Maria Schneider was a French actress. At age 19 she became famous for Bernardo Bertolucci's film Last Tango in Paris (1972), and The Passenger (1975).
As a teenager, she adored films, going to the cinema up to four times a week. She left home at 15 after an argument with her mother and went to Paris, where she made her stage acting debut that same year.
Her film debut was an uncredited role in The Christmas Tree (1969).
In Last Tango in Paris she performed several nude scenes. After the film release she decided never to work nude again.
In early 1976, she abandoned the film set of Caligula and was replaced by Teresa Ann Savoy.
She and Brando remained friends until his death.
Schneider died of breast cancer on 3 February 2011 at age 58.- Actress
- Producer
Edwige Fenech was born Edwige Sfenek on December 24, 1948, in Bone, Constantine, France, to a Maltese father and an Italian mother. She began her show-business career as a participant in beauty contests (she won the title of "Miss Mannequin de la Cote d'Azur" at age 16 and even won a Miss France beauty contest) and worked as a photo model prior to making her film debut in the comedy Toutes folles de lui (1967). She appeared in such saucy West German sex farces as Alle Kätzchen naschen gern (1969) and Sexy Susan Sins Again (1968).
With her lustrous and long black hair, lovely and sensuous face, full shapely figure and smoldering screen presence, Edwige soon became a very popular and much sought-after actress in a diverse array of European productions made in Italy, France, Spain and West Germany. She achieved her greatest enduring cult cinema popularity by starring in several superior Italian giallos for director Sergio Martino: The Strange Vice of Mrs. Wardh (1971), They're Coming to Get You! (1972) and Your Vice Is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key (1972) (she was the onetime girlfriend of Martino's producer brother, Luciano Martino).
Edwige also acted for Martino in a handful of racy Italian sex comedies and the Italian mini-series Delitti privati (1993). Other noted Italian film directors Fenech has worked for are Mario Bava (Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970)), Giuliano Carnimeo (The Case of the Bloody Iris (1972)), Andrea Bianchi (Strip Nude for Your Killer (1975)), Umberto Lenzi (The Biggest Battle (1978)), Steno (Dr. Jekyll Likes Them Hot (1979)), Dino Risi (Sono fotogenico (1980)) and Ruggero Deodato (Phantom of Death (1987)).
She demonstrated her exceptional range and skill as an actress with enjoyably uninhibited performances in such amusingly bawdy Italian comedic romps as Quel gran pezzo della Ubalda tutta nuda e tutta calda (1972) and The School Teacher (1975). Edwige became a television personality in the 1980s and made frequent appearances on an Italian chat show along with fellow giallo goddess Barbara Bouchet. Moreover, Fenech launched her own fashion line and founded her own film production company, Immagine e Cinema S.r.l., with her son Edwin Fenech (she co-produced the 2004 film The Merchant of Venice (2004) as well as various Italian TV mini-series and made-for-TV features).
In the mid-1990s Edwige was engaged to famous Italian industrialist Luca Cordero di Montezemolo. She made a welcome return to acting with a small but funny part as an alluring art class professor in Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II (2007).- Actress
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Daughter of director Jacques Doillon and actress Jane Birkin, half-sister of Charlotte Gainsbourg, half-sister in law of Yvan Attal, Lou was born in the French movie industry. She had a rebellious adolescence, and started her acting career as her mother's daughter in Kung-Fu Master! (1988). Then, her father offered her her first great role in a movie, it was Trop (peu) d'amour (1998), and she also played in Mauvaises fréquentations (1999). She became a model because of her atypical beauty and is now a star in the French and European movie industry.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Sandrine Bonnaire was born on 31 May 1967 in Gannat, Allier, France. She is an actress and director, known for La Cérémonie (1995), To Our Loves (1983) and Vagabond (1985). She was previously married to Guillaume Laurant.- Anne-Sophie Maillé is known for To Our Loves (1983).
- Actress
- Composer
- Writer
Jehnny Beth was born on 24 December 1984 in Poitiers, Vienne, France. She is an actress and composer, known for Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Ex Machina (2014) and Stranger (2023).- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Camille Rutherford is known for Anatomy of a Fall (2023), Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) and Holy Motors (2012).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
The French actress Ludivine Sagnier was born on July 3, 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in France's Yvelines department. Ludivine studied acting as a young girl and had made her movie debut at the age 10 in Les maris, les femmes, les amants (1989). She has established her reputation as one of the brightest young stars in French and international cinema in her collaborations with French filmmaker François Ozon, starting with Water Drops on Burning Rocks (2000) (based on a screenplay by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 8 Women (2002) and in Swimming Pool (2003). For her performance in 8 Women (2002), she won a Cesar Award nomination (the French equivalent of the Oscar) and the Romy Schneider Award that is given each year to a promising young French actress. In that film, Sagnier proved her acting prowess by distinguishing herself in a stellar cast that included the legendary actresses Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert as well as Emmanuelle Béart and Fanny Ardant. Along with these grand ladies of the French cinema, Sagnier won the Best Actress Award from the European Film Academy Award and the Silver Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.
Swimming Pool (2003) represented her crossover into English-language cinema. (Sagnier played her first English language role in Toothache (2006).) Marketed in the U.S. with a comely shot of Sagnier sunbathing alongside a pool, Ozon's film became one of the biggest-grossing foreign movies in the U.S. during 2003. So far, she has turned down large monetary offers to appear in American films as the foreign girlfriend of young American superstars, as she remains committed to French cinema.
Sagnier became a mother on March 25, 2005, when she gave birth to a daughter named Bonnie by her boyfriend, French actor Nicolas Duvauchelle.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Solveig Dommartin was born on 16 May 1961 in Constantine, Constantine, France [now Algeria]. She was an actress and director, known for Wings of Desire (1987), Until the End of the World (1991) and Faraway, So Close! (1993). She died on 11 January 2007 in Paris, France.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Emmanuelle Seigner is the daughter of a well known photographer and her mother is a journalist. She was born in Paris, France on June 22, 1966. Her grandfather was Louis Seigner, chairman of the Comédie Française and who also appeared in several movies. Emmanuelle was raised at a convent school . At age fourteen she became a model. Her mysterious beauty made her an international cover-model. Jean-Luc Godard gave her a part in his crime movie Detective (1985), starring Johnny Hallyday and Nathalie Baye. In 1986 Emmanuelle played the part of Zanon a young girl in the movie Cours privé (1986) (by Pierre Granier-Deferre). She met Roman Polanski and married him. He gave her a part in the thriller Frantic (1988) with Harrison Ford. Four years later Polanski gave her the leading part in the movie Bitter Moon (1992).- Catherine Lascault is known for Cordier and Son: Judge and Cop (1992), La fille sur le pont (1999) and Widow of St. Pierre (2000).
- Actress
- Make-Up Department
- Director
Audrey Justine Tautou was born on August 9, 1976 in Beaumont, France, to Evelyne Marie Laure (Nuret), a teacher, and Bernard Tautou, a dental surgeon. Audrey showed an interest for comedy at an early age and started her acting lessons at 'Cours Florent'. In 1998 she won the best young actress award in the ninth 'Jeune Comedien de Cinema Festival' in Bezier. Then, she came to the attention of Tonie Marshall who gave her a role in her film Venus Beauty Institute (1999) for which she won a Best New Actress Cesar. It came as a surprise to even Audrey: "I was so certain I could not be chosen that I told her that she probably dialled a wrong number." The director chose her for her natural nature: "She came, she gaffed, she turned reddish, her ears were in a funny position and her hair was relaxed. In five minutes, she gave me the heart of the character, a petite young girl who would like to be a lady and will become a woman." In 2000, Audrey was again nominated for a Cesar and her movie Amélie (2001) has been a phenomenal success worldwide.- Lillemour Jonsson is known for Dog Day (1984), Brigade of Death (1985) and Deux enfoirés à Saint-Tropez (1986).
- Gabrielle Forest is known for The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011), Sandra et les siens (2000) and Un printemps à Paris (2006).
- Paloma Picasso was born on 19 April 1949 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Immoral Tales (1973), Age tendre et tête de bois (1961) and Bla, bla, bla (1981). She has been married to Eric Thévenet since 2000. She was previously married to Rafael Lopez-Cambil.
- Actress
- Executive
This beautiful, dark-haired French actress made a hit with a supporting role in her first film, as the piano teacher in Louis Malle's "Au revoir, les enfants" (1987). Educated in London and Geneva, and a Paris resident since the age of 18, Jacob became a promising starlet with her Malle success and followed up with another small role in Jacques Rivette's "La bande des quatre/The Gang of Four" (1989). 5Stardom (and a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award) arrived with Jacob's dual role as two women whose lives are mysteriously linked in Krzysztof Kieslowski's psychological drama "The Double Life of Veronique" (1991). She ventured to the US for a ronantic comedy, "Trusting Beatrice" (1991), fittingly, about a young French woman's arrival in the US. After the small film "The Van Gogh Wake" (1993), she played the ill-fated mother in Agnieszka Holland's touching and acclaimed "The Secret Garden" (1993). Several more small French films followed, but it took a reunion with Kieslowski to jump-start Jacob's career again. In his "Red/Rouge" (1994), the final segment of his "Three Colors" trilogy (and his swan song), Jacob starred as a Swiss fashion model who meets a cynical aging ex-judge (played by Jean-Louis Trintignant) after she runs over his dog. In the film, she served as an emotional and spiritual curative for the old man; the second time, Kieslowski employed Jacob as a woman who offers a man consolation and mystery. Jacob followed up as a religious devotee in Michaelango Antonioni's episodic "Beyond the Clouds/Par-dela les nuages" (1995), then ventured to England to play Desdemona to Laurence Fishburne's "Othello" (also 1995). Jacob has several foreign-made films in the can which have not yet been released in the US: she plays an East Indian beauty with Willem Defoe and Sam Neill in "Victory" (filmed in 1994), an ill-fated vacationer in "Fugueuses/Runaway" and a French actress in 1948 who befriends a mysterious tramp (Stephen Rea) in "All Men Are Mortal" (both shown at Cannes in 1995).- Iliana Zabeth is known for Young & Beautiful (2013), House of Tolerance (2011) and Jessica Forever (2018).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Adèle Haenel was born on 11 February 1989 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), The Unknown Girl (2016) and Love at First Fight (2014).- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Élodie Bouchez was born on 5 April 1973 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. She is an actress and producer, known for Wild Reeds (1994), The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) and CQ (2001). She is married to Thomas Bangalter. They have two children.- Gaïa Weiss is a French actress known for her roles in TV shows 'Vikings', 'Marie-Antoinette', or multi awarded sci-fi feature film 'Meander'. Born in Paris to a Polish mother and French father, and later raised between Paris and London, Gaïa is strong from her multi-cultural background. She discovered her love for the stage at the age of 4 with ballet, and went on to take drama classes at 7 years old. She later trained at the Cours Florent in Paris, followed by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
Gaïa is the niece of political journalist Andrzej Koraszewski.