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Juliette Binoche

Juliette Binoche was born in Paris in 1964 to theater actor/director/writer parents. She embarked on her own theater career at age 17 after directing and performing in an Ionesco play in grade school and went on to study at the National Conservatory as well as private schools.

Binoche first earned recognition in 1984 for playing a modernized, teenaged version of the Virgin Mary in Jean-Luc Godard's controversial Hail Mary. The following year, her acclaimed performance in André Téchiné's Rendez-vous garnered much applause at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1986, after collaborating with director Leos Carax on Bad Blood, Binoche starred in her first English-language film, Phillip Kaufman's The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Binoche teamed up again with Carax for Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. After The Unbearable Lightness of Being, she returned to the Paris theater and played Nina in The Seagull, directed by Andrew Konchalowsky. She also starred in the HBO short film Mara, directed by Mike Figgis.

In 1992, Binoche starred opposite Jeremy Irons in Louis Malle's Damage. The same year, the actress appeared with Ralph Fiennes in a new film version of Wuthering Heights and followed that with the lead role in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blue. Binoche was next seen in the 1995 release of The Horseman on the Roof. In 1996, she earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Anthony Minghella's The English Patient. She followed that success by returning to the stage, starring in Naked at the Almeida Theatre in London. Binoche then returned to her native France and collaborated with Téchiné again on the drama Alice et Martin. She was next cast in The Widow of Saint-Pierre, which earned Binoche a César nomination for Best Actress.

She teamed with director Michael Haneke in 1999 for the intersecting-lives drama Code Unknown. Later that same year, she starred in Lasse Hallstrom's Chocolat, preparing for the role by learning to make chocolate at a popular Paris sweet shop. The film was an international hit, and Binoche was nominated for Best Actress awards across the globe. She then returned to the stage, performing in Pinter's Betrayal on Broadway. In 2002, she played opposite Jean Reno in Jet Lag, her first comedic role. In 2004, Binoche appeared with Samuel L. Jackson in John Boorman's In My Country. She collaborated again with Haneke with the taut thriller Cache, which garnered many awards worldwide, including wins at the Cannes Film Festival, the British Independent Film Awards and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards. That same year, Binoche also starred alongside Richard Gere in the indie film Bee Season, then starred in Abel Ferrara's film Mary.

Binoche most recently appeared in Paris, je t'aime, A Few Days in September, and Breaking and Entering, the latter pairing her with Minghella for a second time. Binoche also recently wrapped filming on Looking for the Red Balloon by award-winning Taiwanese director Hsiao-hsien Hou, Paris by Cedric Klapish, Disengagement by Amos Gitai and L'heure d'ete by Olivier Assayas. Her forthcoming films include: Richard Eyre's The Other Man, Santiago Amigorena's Another Kind of Silence, Jean-Luc Godard's Socialisme and Abbas Kiarustami's Certified Copy.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2007.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Juliette Binoche Facts

OccupationActress
BirthdayMarch 9, 1964 (60)
SignPisces
BirthplaceParis, France
Height5' 6" (1m68)  How tall is Juliette Binoche compared to you?
Awards1997 Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actress (for The English Patient)
1997 BAFTA Awards: Actress in a Supporting Role (for The English Patient)

Selected Filmography

Dan in Real Life
The 33
Godzilla
The Son of No One
The Widow Of St. Pierre
Chocolat
Elles
L'Attesa
Clouds of Sils Maria
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