Binoche, Juliette

(1964- )

   Actress. Juliette Binoche was born in Paris. Her father, Jean-Pierre Binoche, is a sculptor and her mother, Monique Stalens, a professor and actress. Initially trained in the theater, Binoche is both a highly professional actress and a model (for Lancôme's perfume, Poême). She landed her first film role in Pascal Kane's 1982 film, Liberty Belle. In 1984, Binoche received a minor part in Jean-Luc Godard's Je vous salue, Marie and played a supporting role in the all-female cast of Annick Lanoë's Les Nanas. Her first major role was in André Téchiné's Rendez-vous (1985), for which she won the Prix Romy Schneider. In the same decade, she also appeared in Jacques Doillon's La Vie de famille (1985) and Jacques Ruffio's Mon beau-frère a tué ma soeur (1986). She reached the status of art-house icon with starring roles in two films by the demanding cinéma du look director Leos Carax, Mauvais sang (1986) and Les Amants du Pont Neuf (1988).

   In addition to being a vedette, or star, of French auteur films, Binoche has become one of France's most internationally recognized contemporary actresses. She first appeared in international film productions in Philip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), followed by Peter Kosminski's Wuthering Heights (1991), Chantal Ackerman's Un divan à New York (1995), and Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois couleurs: bleu (1993), for which she won prizes for Best Actress at the César Awards and the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival. In 1997, she won an Oscar and a British Film Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Anthony Minghella's The English Patient. She was later nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat (2000). In 2004, she costarred with Samuel Jackson in John Boorman's In My Country, a film about an interracial romance during the Truth and Reconciliation hearings in post-Apartheid South Africa. In the 1990s and beyond, she also delivered key performances in several notable French films, including Louis Malle's Damage (1992), Jean-Paul Rappeneau's heritage film Le Hussard sur le toit (1995), Diane Kurys's Les Enfants du siècle (1999), Téchiné's Alice et Martin (1998), Patrice Leconte's La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (2000), and Danièle Thompson's Décalage horaire (2002). She played leading roles in Michael Haneke's Code inconnu (2000) and Caché (2005). In 2005, she led opposite Richard Gere in Scott McGehee and David Seigel's Bee Season, a film based on the novel by Myla Goldberg. Also in 2005, she played Mary Magdalene in Abel Ferrara's Mary.