Catherine Deneuve French Actress Born in 1943

Early life

Catherine Deneuve was born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac on 22 October 1943 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. Her parents, Maurice Dorléac and Renée Simonot, were both stage actors. She attended Catholic schools. When she began acting she adopted her mother's maiden name, Deneuve, as her professional surname, which allowed her to be distinguished from other members of her acting family.

Career

Deneuve made her screen debut with a small part in the film Les Collégiennes (released in English as The Twilight Girls) in 1957, when she was a young teenager. She went on to appear in several films by Roger Vadim before the director Jacques Demy cast her in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), the musical that made her a star. Her English-language debut was Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965). Two years later she reunited with Demy for The Young Girls of Rochefort and starred in Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour, a role that earned her a BAFTA nomination. She worked with Buñuel again on Tristana (1970) and appeared in Mayerling (1968), Mississippi Mermaid (1969) and Demy's Donkey Skin (1970).

In the 1970s and 1980s she took parts in French, Italian and American productions, including Un flic (1972), Hustle (1975) and March or Die (1977). François Truffaut's The Last Metro (1980) brought her a first César Award for best actress, and she played a vampire in Tony Scott's The Hunger (1983) alongside David Bowie and Susan Sarandon. Fort Saganne followed in 1984.

Her role in Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992) won a second César and a nomination for the Academy Award for best actress. She then worked repeatedly with the director André Téchiné, and won the Volpi Cup at Venice for Place Vendôme in 1998. The 2000s began with Lars von Trier's Dancer in the Dark (2000) and The Musketeer (2001), in which she played Anne of Austria. Later films include 8 Women (2002), A Christmas Tale (2008), her 100th film appearance, Potiche (2010), Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012), The Brand New Testament (2015) and Hirokazu Kore-eda's The Truth (2019). Her record lists 144 screen credits, the first from 1957 and the latest, Parallel Tales, from 2026. The actor Gérard Depardieu appears with her in nine titles, and Marcello Mastroianni in five.

Outside film she became a public face for products and institutions. From 1985 to 1989 her likeness represented Marianne, the national symbol of France. She appeared in advertising for Chanel No. 5 in the late 1970s, for L'Oréal Paris from 2001, and later for Louis Vuitton. She published a diary in 2005 and voiced a role in the animated film Persepolis (2007).

Recognition

Her honours span acting prizes and career awards. She won the César Award for best actress for The Last Metro in 1981 and for Indochine in 1993, and the David di Donatello for best foreign actress for The Last Metro. She received the Volpi Cup in 1998, the European Film Award for best actress for 8 Women in 2002, and a Silver Bear at the Berlin festival the same year. Career honours include the Honorary Golden Bear (1998), the Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes (2005), the European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award (2013), the Praemium Imperiale (2018) and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at Venice (2022). In total her record lists 16 wins and 19 nominations, among them repeated César nominations for best actress.

Public roles

Deneuve served as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador from 1994 to 2003, with a focus on safeguarding film heritage. She asked that the fees owed to her for representing Marianne be given to Amnesty International.

Personal life

Deneuve married the photographer David Bailey in 1965; the marriage ended in 1972. She has two children, both actors: Christian Vadim and Chiara Mastroianni. She speaks French, Italian and English, and has long kept an apartment in the Saint-Sulpice area of Paris.