Virginie Ledoyen was born Virginie Fernandez on 15 November 1976 in Aubervilliers, near Paris. At the age of 2, she was already shooting advertisements for television. At 9, she started going to the École des Enfants du Spectacle, and made her film debut at 10 in Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan, Les. She was then nominated for the César (the French equivalent of an Oscar) for most promising actress in 1993, 1994 and 1995.

Her international breakthrough was in 1999, when she became ambassador for the cosmetics L'Oréal; this led to her casting in The Beach, with Leonardo DiCaprio.



She took the stage name Ledoyen, which is her paternal grandmother's maiden name. Her grandmother had been a French stage actress. Her paternal grandfather was of Spanish decent. Her brother, Michael, was a production assistant. Graduated from Paris' L'Ecole des Enfants du Spectacle. Nominated for Most Promising Young Actress at the 1996 César Awards for her role in Benoît Jacquot's La fille seule (1995). Also nominated for Best Actress at the Paris Film Festival for the film Jeanne et le garçon formidable (1998). Met ex-companion Louis while they both were working on the set of La fille seule (1995). Hosted the Cannes Festival's awards presentation. [26 May 2002] Favourite actresses are Sophie Marceau and Isabelle Huppert. Shares birthday with actors Helmut Fisher and Jonny Lee Miller, and singer Chad Kroeger from rock band "Nickelback".