Adjani, Isabelle

(1955- )

   Actress and producer. Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born in Gennevilliers, France, the daughter of a German mother and an Algerian-Turkish father. In the 1970s she entered the Comédie Française and later landed her first cinematic role in Bernard Toublanc-Michel's Le petit bougnat (1970), followed by supporting roles in Nina Companéez's Faustine et le bel été (1972) and Claude Pinoteau' La gifle (1974). François Truffaut cast her in her breakthrough role in L'Histoire de Adèle H. (1975), in which she plays Victor Hugo's daughter. She has since won four César Awards for Best Actress — the most of any French actress to date— for her performances in Andrzej Zulawski's cult film Possession (1981), Jean Becker's L'Été Meurtrier (1983), Bruno Nuytten's Camille Claudel (1988), and Patrice Chéreau's La Reine Margot (1994). She also received Best Actress awards at the Cannes Film Festival for Possession and American director James Ivory's Quartet (1981). At the American Academy Awards, she received Oscar nominations for L'Histoire de Adèle H. (1975) and Camille Claudel, a film she coproduced. Although she often plays the role of the emotionally fragile lover, Adjani is known for her versatility and the complexity that she brings to her characters. She is simultaneously famous for her political activism in campaigns against racism, genocide, torture, the deportation of immigrants, and imperialism. In the 1980s, her public arguments in favor of research on HIV/AIDS caused a stir in the popular media.

   Other notable acting performances include her work in André Téchiné's Barocco (1976) and Luc Besson's Subway (1985), both of which won her nominations for the César for Best Actress. She also had leading roles in Roman Polanski's Le Locataire (1976), Jacques Rouffio's Violette et François (1977), Téchiné's Les soeurs Brontë (1979), Werner Herzog's Nosfertu the Vampyre (1979), Jacques Monnet's Clara et les chics types (1980), Jean-Loup-Hubert's L'Année prochaine . . . si tout va bien (1981), Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Tout feu tout flamme (1982), Carlos Saura's Antonieta (1982), Claude Miller's Mortelle randonée (1983), Agnès Varda's short T'as de beaux escaliers tu sais (1986), Merzak Allouache's L'Après Octobre (1989), and Philomène Esposito's Toxic affair (1993). In the twenty-first century, she starred in Laetitia Masson's La Repentie (2002), Benoît Jacquot's Adolphe (2002), and Rappeneau's Bon Voyage (2003). She plays the role of a Brigitte Bardot in François Dupeyron's Monsieur Ibrahim et le fleurs du Coran (2003). Adjani also acted in American films such as Walter Hill's The Driver (1978) and Elaine May's Ishtar (1987). She worked for Canadian director Jeremiah Chechik in his remake of Henri-Georges Clouzot's Diabolique (1996). She acted as jury president for the fiftieth Cannes Film Festival.