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Background:
“I like to play roles different from myself so I can hide behind them.”
Charlotte Gainsbourg
One of the brightest stars of modern French cinema, actress-singer Charlotte
Gainsbourg became a star as a teenager in France thanks to her remarkable
portrayal of the inexperienced but rebellious protagonist in Claude Miller’s
L’Effrontee/ Impudent Girl (1985), where she picked up a César Award. First
coming to the attention of American public with the César-nominating performance
of a sullen teenager in La Petite Voleuse/ The Little Thief (1988), she cracked
America and the international film world with the leading role in the 1996
remake of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, for director Franco Zeffirelli. She
further boosted her good reputation with fine acting in Love, etc. (1996, earned
a César nod) and La Bûche/ Season’s Beatings (1999, won a César Award). The
compelling performer also gained rave reviews for playing roles in Ma Femme Est
une Actrice/ My Wife Is an Actress (2001) and 21 Grams (2003, netted a Phoenix
Film Critics Society Award). As for music, the daughter of the legendary French
musician Serge Gainsbourg has currently released a return album in England with
5:55.
Off screen, the member of jury at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival whose
measurements are 32-24-37 is married to French actor-director-writer Yvan Attal,
with whom she has collaborated in many projects, and has two children with him.
Daughter of Celebrities
Childhood and Family:
In London, England, UK, Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg was born on July 21, 1971 to
unmarried parents, the famous French singer, poet, songwriter and actor Serge
Gainsbourg (died in 1991) and the British actress/singer Jane Birkin. Her
parents split up when she was nine years old. Charlotte was raised in Paris, and
is the half sister of Kate Barry (born 1967, father composer John Barry) and
French actress Lou Doillon (born 1982, father director Jacques Doillon).
Charlotte is the wife of French actor and director Yvan Attal and they have been
together since 1991. The couple have two children, son Ben (born in June 1997)
and daughter Alice (born November 2002).
21 Grams
Career:
Daughter of celebrity parents, England-born, France-raised Charlotte Gainsbourg
started her professional career at age 13, when she landed the role of Catherine
Deneuve’s daughter in a drama film about divorce, Paroles et Musique/ Love Songs
(1984). The same year, she starred opposite her father in his controversial
“Lemon Incest” music video, which featured the two cuddling on a bed surrounded
by feathers. Gainsbourg, however, did not become a leading actress until in 1985
with the role of the naive but disobedient protagonist, Charlotte Castang, in
L’Effrontee/ Impudent Girl, for director Claude Miller. Delivering an impressive
performance, she won both the heart of critics and audience alike that resulted
in picking up a 1986 César, the French counterpart of the Academy Award, for
Most Promising Young Actress.
Gainsbourg followed it up with a starring role opposite her father in the
ill-received drama Charlotte Forever (1986), which was helmed and written by her
father. She also was seen in Kung Fu Master! (1987), a drama starring and penned
by her mother, and rejoined director Miller for La Petite Voleuse/ The Little
Thief in 1988, where she was cast in the starring role of a glowering teen
experimenting with sex and a variety of illegal pursuits named Janine Castang.
With the role, Gainsbourg gained first attention in America, as well as a Best
Actress César nomination.
After Aux yeux du monde/In the Eyes of the World (1990, with future husband Yvan
Attal and Kristin Scott Thomas) and Sole anche di notte, Il/Sunshine Even by
Night (1990, starred with Julian Sands), Gainsbourg reprised her rebellious
teenaged role in Merci La Vie/ Thanks for Life (1991), a black comedy that
paired her with Anouk Grinberg as two young women on a rampage against men and
almost whomever else crosses their path. The actress expanded her array by
undertaking roles in writer/director Jacques Doillon’s Amoureuse/Lover (1992),
an ensemble film about a group of women get together to discuss love and life,
and the British The Cement Garden (1993), a drama helmed by her uncle Andrew
Birkin and also marked Gainsbourg’s first English language outing. 1995 saw
Gainsbourg hit the stage for the first time with a starring role in the Paris
production of David Mamet’s “Oleanna” at the Théâtre de la Gaîté-Montparnasse.
Gainsbourg attracted the attention of American and international public in 1996
with her title role in Franco Zeffirelli’s adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane
Eyre. The actress played the adult Jane, an impecunious governess who falls for
her menacing employer (played by William Hurt). Though the film was poorly
received by critics, it successfully introduced the actress to a wider
international audience. Gainsbourg received additional recognition with her
César-nominating performance, starring as Marie, opposite her husband Yvan Attal,
in the comedy/romance Love, etc. (1996) and the brilliant, scene-stealing role
of Milla Robin, a youngest sister dealing with the impending Christmas holidays,
in La Bûche/ Season’s Beatings (1999), from which she was handed a 2000 César
for Best Supporting Actress. Also in 1999, she starred in photographer David
Bailey’s feature directorial debut The Intruder.
The following years found roles in several European films and television
productions, including the TNT miniseries “Nuremberg” (2000) and Patrice
Leconte’s Felix et Lola (2001, opposite Philippe Torreton), but Gainsbourg is
perhaps best-remembered for playing the highly attractive actress-wife of an
envious Parisian sportswriter in her real-life husband writer-actor-director
Yvan Attal’s lively and enjoyable French romantic serio comedy Ma Femme Est une
Actrice/ My Wife Is an Actress (2001). The film earned rave reviews in many
critical circles.
Gainsbourg returned to American cinema in 2003 and received strong notice for
her role as Mary, the formerly alienated spouse of a dying math professor (Sean
Penn) in 21 Grams, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu. The film brought her
a Phoenix Film Critics Society for Best Ensemble Acting, an award she shared
with other costars, including Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Benicio Del Toro.
Her more recent film credits include Ils se marièrent et eurent beaucoup
d’enfants/And They Lived Happily Ever After (2004), Lemming (2005), The Science
of Sleep/ Science des rêves, La (2006), The Golden Door/ Nuovomondo (2006) and
Prête-moi ta main (2006). She will star alongside Heath Ledger, Richard Gere,
Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams in the
drama/music I’m Not There (2006). The forthcoming film is helmed and written by
Todd Haynes.
Aside from acting, Gainsbourg is a talented singer. She has collaborated with
various musicians like Madonna in “What It Feels Like For a Girl” (2001), Damon
Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) in his album Have You Fed the Fish? (2002, as a
backing vocalist) and the acclaimed French artist Ètienne Daho in single “If”
(2003). After a long-term hiatus, Gainsbourg, who launched her debut album in
1986 with Charlotte For Ever, released her sophomore effort, 5:55, on September
4, 2006. Released in the UK by Because Music, the album includes a new single,
“The Songs That We Sing.”
Awards:
- Phoenix Film Critics Society: Best Ensemble Acting, 21 Grams, 2004
- César: Best Supporting Actress, La Bûche (Season’s Beatings), 2000
- César: Most Promising Actress, L’Effrontée (Impudent Girl), 1986
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