Top 10 French actresses

10. Mélanie Laurent

Mélanie Laurent is the daughter of Annick, a ballet teacher, and Pierre, a voice actor, who is most recognized for the french version of "The Simpsons" (1989). Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She also has a younger brother, Mathieu. In 1998, she was visiting the set of Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999) with a friend when she caught the attention of Gerard Depardieu. He offered her a role in his next film The Bridge(1999). She only played a small role, but it was enough to further Mélanie's interest in acting.

9. Roxane Mesquida

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. Ozio. 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.

8. Emmanuelle Béart

Emmanuelle Béart was born August 14, 1963, in Saint-Tropez, France. She lived with her mother, brothers, and sister on a farm in Gassin, not far from Saint-Tropez in Provence (southern France) because her father, French singer and poet Guy Béart, didn't want the children to be affected by the glamour world of Paris. When Emmanuelle was 13, 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) (TV). David Hamilton, the photographer/director, was impressed by her beauty and gave her a role in Premiers désirs (1984). She met her spouse-to-be, Daniel Auteuil, while making L'amour en douce (1985). The film that made her famous in France wasManon 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 Un Coeur en Hiver (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.

7. Anne Parillaud

Anne Parillaud was born in Paris, France on May 6, 1960 and even though all her travels took her to many lands, is still a Paris resident. Anne studied ballet in school, and her first appearance was in the film Un amour de sable (1977) where she played "La jeune fille avec un petit chat" ("The girl with a kitten"). However, her first real role was as "Estelle" in Holiday Hotel (1978) and, even though she had only appeared in this film during summer vacation, by then she had caught the show business bug. Anne was in eight other films, and then she gave her breakout performance in her signature role as "Nikita" in the wildly popular La Femme Nikita (1990), which spun off the American remake Point of No Return (1993) starring Bridget Fonda, and the USA Network television series "La Femme Nikita" (1997) starring Peta Wilson. Anne had taken judo lessons for three months to prepare for this part. Anne said that when acting, she can abandon herself; indeed the character Nikita is nothing like her. Anne hates guns and even said of Nikita: "For a while, she was in me like a demon".

        When it comes to which films and directors to work with, Anne has her one rule: it must touch her heart. Obviously director Luc Bessontouched her heart, they had a daughter together, but the couple separated shortly after La Femme Nikita (1990); (in 1997, Besson was briefly married to Milla Jovovich, but they divorced). Anne traveled to America to do several films, including Innocent Blood (1992), in which she plays a French vampire. She said of her character "Marie", that she wasn't born a vampire, didn't decide to be one; in that sense, the movie is a parable about dealing with the problem of being different in society. And difference equates to loneliness. Anne is still busy appearing in movies. Offscreen, Anne enjoys simple pleasures such as dancing, and talking with friends. And she is always led by her heart, Anne says she is someone who lives by impulse first. Her many fans would say it seems she has made a lot of right choices.

6. Audrey Tautou

Audrey Justine Tautou (; born 1976 or 1978) is a French film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless (2006) and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel. She won the César Award for Most Promising Actress in Venus Beauty Institute (1999).

In 1998, Tautou participated in a Star Search-like competition sponsored by Canal+ called "Jeunes Premiers" (The Young Debut) and won Best Young Actress at the 9th Béziers Festival of Young Actors. Tonie Marshall gave her a role in the César-winning Venus Beauty Institute (1999, aka Vénus beauté (institut)). In 2000, she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as her country's most promising young film actress.

In 2001, Tautou rose to international fame for her performance as the eccentric lead in the romantic comedy Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain (Amélie). In June 2004, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

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 (Priceless), released 13 December 2006. The film has been compared to Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Tautou starred with Guillaume Canet in Claude Berri's Ensemble, c'est tout in 2007, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Anna Gavalda.

Tautou played the lead role in the biopic of fashion designer Coco Chanel, titled Coco avant Chanel, and directed by Anne Fontaine. Filming began in Paris in September 2008, and released in France on 22 April 2009. The script is partially based on Edmonde Charles-Roux’s book “L’Irrégulière” (”The Non-Conformist”). As part of promoting the film, Tautou was named as the next spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5, replacing Nicole Kidman. She was directed in the advertisement by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with whom she worked on Amélie and A Very Long Engagement. The advertisement was released in 2009 to coincide with the film's release.

She appeared in the video of "I Love Your Smile", a song by British singer-songwriter Charlie Winston.

5. Marion Cotillard

Academy Award-winning French actress Marion Cotillard was born on September 30, 1975 in Paris to Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor, playwright and director, and Niseema Theillaud, an actress and drama teacher. While still a teenager, Cotillard made her cinema debut in the film L'histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse (1994). Her first prominent screen role was as "Lilly Bertineau" in Taxi (1998/I), a role which she reprised in two sequels.

In 2007, Cotillard received international recognition for her iconic portrayal of legendary French singer Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007). The role won Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a César (France's equivalent to the Oscar), 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.

Cotillard has worked much more frequently in English-language movies following her Academy Award recognition. In 2009, she acted oppositeJohnny Depp in Public Enemies (2009), and later that year had a role in musical Nine (2009). The following year, she took on the main antagonist role in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), and in 2011 she had memorable parts in Midnight in Paris (2011) and Contagion (2011). In 2012, Cotillard received wide-spread acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival for her role in Rust and Bone (2012), and reteamed with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises (2012). 

With long-time boyfriend Guillaume Canet, Cotillard gave birth to her first child, Marcel, in May 2011.

4. Sophie Marceau

Sophie Marceau (born Sophie Maupu) grew up far from the studio spotlights. When she was 14 she was living in the Paris suburb of Gentilly with her father, a truck driver. 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 La boum 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.

3. Laetitia Casta

Born in Pont-Audemer, France, Laetitia Casta spent her childhood in the lush countryside of Normandy. At age 15, she was approached by an agent of Paris' Madison Models while building sand castles on a beach in Corsica. After her father agreed to let the agency take some test photographs, Laetitia's wondrous natural beauty impressed the founder of Madison models as well as the director of the French magazine Elle. Modeling contracts ensued and in 1993 Laetitia signed on with Guess? Jeans for a very successful advertising campaign. 

In 1996, Laetitia became one of the lead models of Victoria's Secret and from there was featured in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition for three consecutive years. She has appeared on over 100 covers of fashion magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Glamour, as well as doing commercials for the cosmetics company L'Oreal. Laetitia made her feature film debut in Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999), the most expensive French film ever made and a smash hit in Europe. Her acting career gained momentum when she starred in the TV movie "The Blue Bicycle" (2000), set in WWII France. 

Laetitia currently owns a flat in London and enjoys painting, writing, rollerblading, going to the cinema, and dancing in her spare time.

2. Eva Green

Eva Green was born Eva Gaëlle Green on July 5, 1980, in Paris, France. She has a non-identical twin sister. Her father, named Walter Green, is a Swedish dentist who once appeared in the 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, named Marlène Jobert, is an Algerian-born (during the time Algeria was part of France) French actress who retired from acting and became a writer of children's books. Young Eva Green left French school at 17. She switched to English in Ramsgate, Kent, and went to the American School in France for one year. She 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 also studied directing at the Tisch School of Arts at New York University.

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). She also attracted a great deal of attention from male audiences for her full frontal nudity in several scenes of the film. Besides her work as an actress Green also composed original music and recorded several sound tracks for the film score.

After The Dreamers Green's career ascended to the level where she revealed more of her multifaceted acting talent. She played the love interest of cult French gentleman stealer Arsène Lupin (2004) opposite Romain Duris. In 2005 she co-starred opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam Neesonin Kingdom of Heaven (2005) produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The film became a blockbuster in the US and worldwide and brought her a wider international exposure. She turned down the femme fatale role in The Black Dahlia that went to Hilary Swank because she didn't want to end up always typecast as a femme fatale after her role in The Dreamers. Instead, Eva Green accepted the prestigious role of Vesper Lynd, one of three Bond girls, opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006) and became the 5th 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).

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 currently shares time between her two residencies; one is in Paris, France, and one in London, England.

1. Isabelle Adjani

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani born in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris. She born to a Kabyle father from Constantine and Djelfa, Mohammed Cherif Adjani, and a German mother, Augusta, called "Gusti". She grew up speaking German fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theater by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat (1970). Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Award for Best Actress (5), which she won for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), Queen Margot (1994) and Skirt Day (2009). She was also given a double Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1981. She also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She performs in French, English, Italian and German. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2010.