Catherine Deneuve was born in 1943, in Paris, France. Her parents were actors. She made her movie debut in 1957, when she was a teenager and continued with small parts in minor films, until Roger Vadim gave her a meatier part in Vice et la vertu, Le. But her breakthrough came with the excellent musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in which she gave an unforgettable performance as a romantic middle-class girl who falls in love with a young soldier but gets imprisoned in a loveless marriage with another man; the director was the gifted Jacques Demy who also cast Deneuve in the less successful The Young Girls of Rochefort. She then played a schizophrenic killer in Roman Polanski's Repulsion and a married woman who works as a part-time prostitute every afternoon in Luis Buñuel's masterpiece Belle de jour. She also worked with Buñuel in Tristana and gave a great performance for François Truffaut in Mississippi Mermaid, a kind of apotheosis of her "frigid femme fatale" persona. In the 1970s, she didn't find parts of that caliber, but her magnificent work in Truffaut's The Last Metro as a stage actress in Nazi-occupied Paris revived her career. She was also very good in the recent epic drama Indochina for which she earned her first Academy Award Nominaton (Best Actress). Although the elegant and always radiant Deneuve has never appeared on stage, she is universally hailed as one of the "grandes dames" of French cinema, joining a list that includes such illustrious talents as Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Huppert, and the younger Juliette Binoche.
Dangerous Liaisons (2003): 610,000 euros
8 Women (2002): 457,000 euros + 9% of the gross
Temps retrouvé, Le (1999): 305,000 euros
Beautiful Mother (1999): 610,000 euros
Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#38). [1995] An archetype for Gallic beauty, she succeeded Brigitte Bardot as the model for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic seen on French coins and stamps. Ranked #89 in Empire (UK) magazine's "The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time" list. [October 1997] Has a son by Roger Vadim: Christian Vadim (b. 18 June 1963). Has a daughter by Marcello Mastroianni: Chiara Mastroianni (b. 28 May 1972). Catherine is the third of four daughters born to the French actors Maurice Dorléac and Renée Deneuve (whose name she uses). Sister of Françoise Dorléac, Sylvie Dorléac and Danielle Dorléac (b.1946). She liked Breaking the Waves by Lars von Trier so much that she wrote a personal letter to him, asking him for a role in a film of his. The result of this is her part in Dancer in the Dark. Has never performed in the theatre due to stage fright. Festival tribute at the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, France. [1994] Was once fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent's muse, who dressed her for the films Belle de jour, Heartbeat, Mississippi Mermaid, Dirty Money, and The Hunger. Had a brand of perfume named after her. Measurements: 33 1/2-24-35 (1965 - "My bust is small."), 34 1/2B-25 1/2-36 (in 1985) (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine). She speaks fluent Italian and French, as well as semi-fluent English and German. Marilyn Monroe is her favorite actress, and The Misfits is her favorite movie starring Marilyn. Vice president of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994. Is a grandmother. Her granddaughter is named Anna (b.2003) and her grandson is Milo (b.1997). Mother-in-law of singer Benjamin Biolay. Her role in Mississippi Mermaid was played by Angelina Jolie in Original Sin, the American remake of the movie. Published her diary "A l'ombre de moi-meme" (In my shadow) in which she writes about the shootings of Indochina, and Dancer in the Dark (2005). Sang duets with Bernadette Lafont (1975), Gérard Depardieu (1980), Malcolm McLaren (1993), Joe Cocker (1995) and Alain Souchon (1997). In 1981, she released an album with songs of Serge Gainsbourg. Designer of glasses, shoes, jewelry, and greetings cards. Member of the international jury of the Shangaï Television festival in 1988. Her performance as Séverine Sérizy in Belle de jour is ranked #59 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006). She had a relationship with 'Francois Truffaut' in the 1970s. When the relationship failed, Truffaut had a nervous breakdown. Deneuve attended his funeral in 1984 and later appeared in 8 Women with Fanny Ardant, who was Truffaut's partner at the time of his death and the mother of his youngest daughter. Head juror of the 2006 Venice Film Festival. She and Marcello Mastroianni made five movies together: Cent et une nuits de Simon Cinéma, Les, Liza, Touche pas à la femme blanche, It Only Happens to Others, and Événement le plus important depuis que l'homme a marché sur la lune, L'. She was a guest of Belgrade Film Festival - FEST 2005.