favorite French actresses

1. Mélanie Laurent

Mélanie Laurent was born in Paris, France. She 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). She has a younger brother, Mathieu, and has both Sephardi Jewish (from Tunisia) and Ashkenazi Jewish (from ...

2. Eva Green

Actress | Casino Royale

French actress and model Eva Gaëlle Green was born on July 6, 1980, in Paris, France. Her father, Walter Green, is a dentist who appeared in the 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, Marlène Jobert, is an actress turned children's book writer. Eva's mother was born in Algeria, of French...

3. Marion Cotillard

Actress | La Môme

Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard was born on September 30, 1975 in Paris. Cotillard is the daughter of Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor, playwright and director, and Niseema Theillaud, an actress and drama teacher. Her father's family is from Brittany.

Raised in Orléans, France, she ...

4. Emma de Caunes

Actress | Mr. Bean's Holiday

Emma de Caunes was born on September 9, 1976 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) and A Brother... (1997). She has been married to Jamie Hewlett since September 10, 2011. She was previously married to Sinclair...

5. Juliette Binoche

Actress | The English Patient

Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, France, to Monique Yvette Stalens, a director, teacher, and actress, and Jean-Marie Binoche, a sculptor, director, and actor. Her mother was born in Czestochowa, Poland, of French, Walloon Belgian, and Polish descent, while her father is French. Juliette was only...

6. Audrey Tautou

Actress | Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain

Audrey Justine Tautou was born on August 9, 1976 in Beaumont, France, to Evelyne Marie Laure (Nuret), a teacher, and Bernard Tautou, a dental surgeon. Audrey showed an interest for comedy at an early age and started her acting lessons at 'Cours Florent'. In 1998 she won the best young actress award...

7. Julie Delpy

Actress | Trois couleurs: Blanc

Julie Delpy was born in Paris, France, in 1969 to Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet, both actors.

She was first featured in Jean-Luc Godard's Detective (1985) at the age of fourteen. She has starred in many American and European productions since then, including Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993), ...

8. Mathilda May

Actress | Lifeforce

Mathilda May (born Karin Haïm) is a French actress and dancer from Paris. She is primarily known to English-speaking audiences for playing the alien vampire Space Girl, the main villain of the cult horror film "Lifeforce" (1985). The role required her to appear naked for most of the film, though ...

9. Lizzie Brocheré

Actress | Rings

Lizzie Brocheré was born on March 22, 1985 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Rings (2017), Full Contact (2015) and American Horror Story (2011).

10. Léa Seydoux

Actress | La vie d'Adèle

French actress Léa Seydoux was born in 1985 in Paris, France, to Valérie Schlumberger, a philanthropist, and Henri Seydoux, a businessman. Her grandfather, Jérôme Seydoux, is chairman of Pathé, and her father is a great-grandson of businessman and inventor Marcel Schlumberger (her mother also ...

11. Irène Jacob

Actress | La double vie de Véronique

This beautiful, dark-haired French actress made a hit with a supporting role in her first film, as the piano teacher in Louis Malle's "Au revoir, les enfants" (1987). Educated in London and Geneva, and a Paris resident since the age of 18, Jacob became a promising starlet with her Malle success and...

12. Béatrice Dalle

Actress | À l'intérieur

Rebellious. Passionate. Gifted. Beautiful. Béatrice Dalle could be a mix of some artist from many centuries ago and a rock star. Discovered in Betty Blue (1986), Dalle has become a sex symbol and a respected performer. Known for her problems with justice, her relationships with rapper JoeyStarr and...

13. Marine Vacth

Actress | Jeune et jolie

Marine Vacth was born on April 9, 1991 in Paris. She grew up in the Paris suburb of Maisons-Alfort with a younger brother. She had difficult childhood growing up with a violent father, a lorry driver - his company is named after his daughter Marine, and a mother, an accountant at Malaysia Airlines,...

14. Maïwenn

Actress | Polisse

Maïwenn (sometimes credited as Maïwenn Besco or her birth name Maïwenn Le Besco, born 17 April 1976) is a French actress, film director and screenwriter.

Maïwenn Le Besco was born in Les Lilas, Seine-Saint-Denis, France, a suburban area east of Paris. Maïwenn is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French, ...

15. Élodie Bouchez

Actress | Les roseaux sauvages

Élodie Bouchez was born on April 5, 1973 in Montreuil, Seine-Saint-Denis, France. She is an actress and producer, known for Wild Reeds (1994), The Dreamlife of Angels (1998) and CQ (2001). She is married to Thomas Bangalter. They have two children.

16. Vahina Giocante

Actress | Lila dit ça

Vahina Giocante was born on June 30, 1981 in Orléans, Loiret, France. She is an actress, known for Lila dit ça (2004), Trader Games (2010) and 99 Francs (2007).

17. Géraldine Pailhas

Actress | Don Juan DeMarco

Géraldine Pailhas was born on January 8, 1971 in Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Don Juan DeMarco (1994), Young & Beautiful (2013) and La neige et le feu (1991). She is married to Christopher Thompson. They have two children.

18. Emmanuelle Béart

Actress | 8 femmes

Emmanuelle Béart was born August 14, 1963, in Gassin, France. She lived with her mother, brothers, and sister on a farm not far from Saint-Tropez in Provence (southern France), because her father, singer and poet Guy Béart, did not want his children to be affected by the glamour world of Paris. ...

19. Adèle Exarchopoulos

Actress | La vie d'Adèle

Known for her performance in La Vie d'Adèle (Blue Is The Warmest Color) by Abdellatif Kechiche, that landed her both the Palme d'Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and the César for Most Promising Actress that same year, Adèle Exarchopoulos has been on the French and International big screen ...

20. Ludivine Sagnier

Actress | Lupin

The French actress Ludivine Sagnier was born on July 3, 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in France's Yvelines department. Ludivine studied acting as a young girl and had made her movie debut at the age 10 in Les maris, les femmes, les amants (1989). She has established her reputation as one of the ...

21. Sara Forestier

Actress | Le nom des gens

As of her youth, Sara Forestier revealed an artistic temperament, loving to write, to paint, and especially to act. When she was thirteen and half years old, she decided to accompany one of her friends to an audition. She took the audition with brilliance, and her career in the acting started here....

22. Adèle Haenel

Actress | Portrait de la jeune fille en feu

Adèle Haenel was born on February 11, 1989 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), The Unknown Girl (2016) and Love at First Fight (2014).

23. Nicole Garcia

Writer | Mal de pierres

Nicole Garcia was born on April 22, 1946 in Oran, France [now Algeria]. She is an actress and writer, known for From the Land of the Moon (2016), My American Uncle (1980) and Alias Betty (2001).

24. Isabelle Huppert

Actress | Elle

Isabelle Huppert was born March 16, 1953, in Paris, France, but spent her childhood in Ville d'Avray. Encouraged by her mother Annick Huppert (who was a teacher of English), she followed the Conservatory of Versailles and won an acting prize for her work in Alfred de Musset's "Un caprice". She then...

25. Joana Preiss

Actress | Paris, je t'aime

Joana Preiss was born on May 22, 1972 in Marseille, France. She is an actress and director, known for Paris, I Love You (2006), Raw (2016) and Dans Paris (2006).

26. Déborah Révy

Actress | Love

Déborah Révy was born on March 10, 1987 in Lyon, Rhône, France. She is an actress, known for Love (2015), Desire (2011) and My Little Princess (2011).

27. Karin Viard

Actress | Polisse

Karin Viard was born on January 24, 1966 in Rouen, Seine-Maritime, France. She is an actress and writer, known for Polisse (2011), The Bélier Family (2014) and Paris (2008).

28. Garance Marillier

Actress | Grave

Garance Marillier is a French actress, she is best known for her lead role in Raw (2016). Marillier began her acting career in 2011 in the short movie Junior (2011) by Julia Ducournau. She also appeared in the short movie It's Not a Cowboy Movie (2012). She was a musician before turning to acting, ...

29. Liah O'Prey

Actress | Mary Queen of Scots

Liah O'Prey was born in Barcelona, Spain to an Irish father and a French mother. She speaks English, French, Catalan and Spanish natively. Her first acting experiences were for various TV commercials in Italy, Spain and France. She naturally made the crossover into film with a few small roles which...

30. Ophélie Bau

Actress | Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno

Ophélie Bau was born on July 29, 1992 in Besançon, Doubs, France. She is an actress and director, known for Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno (2017), Grace (2020) and Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due.

31. Anaïs Demoustier

Actress | L'enfance du mal

Anaïs Demoustier was born on September 29, 1987 in Lille, Nord, France. She is an actress, known for Sweet Evil (2010), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (2011) and Alice and the Mayor (2019).

32. Zahia Dehar

Actress | Une fille facile

Zahia Dehar, born in Ghriss (Algeria) on February 25, 1992, is a former French-Algerian escort-girl, now a model, lingerie designer and actress. In April 2010, Zahia Dehar made the news when broke in France "Zahia case". Footballers from France are suspected of having sex with Zahia Dehar, then a ...

33. Stacy Martin

Actress | Nymphomaniac: Vol. I

Stacy Martin was born on March 20, 1990 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Nymphomaniac: Vol. I (2013), All the Money in the World (2017) and The Serpent (2021).

34. Charlotte Gainsbourg

Actress | Nymphomaniac: Vol. II

Charlotte Gainsbourg was born in London, England in 1971. She is an Anglo-French actress and singer. The daughter of English singer and actress Jane Birkin and French songwriter, singer and actor Serge Gainsbourg, she was raised in Paris. Charlotte made her motion picture debut in 1984. In 1986, ...

35. Virginie Ledoyen

Actress | 8 femmes

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 What Every Frenchwoman Wants (1986)....

36. Chiara Mastroianni

Actress | Persepolis

Chiara Mastroianni was born on May 28, 1972 in Paris, France. She is an actress, known for Persepolis (2007), Ready to Wear (1994) and Beloved (2011). She was previously married to Benjamin Biolay.

37. Amira Casar

Actress | Call Me by Your Name

Amira Casar was born on May 1, 1971 in London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Call Me by Your Name (2017), The Contractor (2022) and The Last Summer of the Rich (2014).

38. Roxane Mesquida

Actress | À ma soeur!

French/US actress, 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...

39. Laetitia Dosch

Actress | Jeune femme

Laetitia Dosch was born on September 1, 1980 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Montparnasse Bienvenüe (2017), Dog on Trial (2024) and Keeper (2015).

40. Valeria Bruni Tedeschi

Actress | La pazza gioia

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi was born on November 16, 1964 in Turin, Piedmont, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for Like Crazy (2016), Il est plus facile pour un chameau... (2003) and Human Capital (2013).

41. Ana Girardot

Actress | Escobar: Paradise Lost

Ana Girardot was born on August 1, 1988 in Paris, France. She is an actress and director, known for Escobar: Paradise Lost (2014), The Returned (2012) and Babyphone (2023).

42. Nora Arnezeder

Actress | Faubourg 36

Nora Arnezeder was born in Paris, France to an Austrian father and an Egyptian mother. While she was still in high school, she studied acting, dancing and singing at the renowned drama school Cours Florent in Paris. Nora's first major role was in 2008 in Paris 36 (French title: Faubourg 36) which ...