Audrey Tautou

Audrey Justine Tautou born 9 August 1976 is a French actress. She made her acting debut at 18 on television and her feature film debut in Venus Beauty Institute (1999), for which she received critical acclaim and won the César Award for Most Promising Actress.

Tautou achieved international recognition for her lead role in the 2001 film Amélie, which met with critical acclaim and was a major box-office success. Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards, four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards.

Tautou has since appeared in films in a range of genres, including the thrillers Dirty Pretty Things (2002) and The Da Vinci Code (2006), and the romantic-comedy Priceless (2006). She has received critical acclaim for her many roles including the drama A Very Long Engagement (2004) and the biographical drama Coco avant Chanel (2009). She has been nominated three times for the César Award and twice for the BAFTA for Best Actress in a leading role. She became one of the few French actors in history to be invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in June 2004.

Tautou has modeled for Chanel, Montblanc, L’Oréal and many other companies. She is an active supporter of several charities.

Early life

Tautou was born in Beaumont and was raised in Montluçon. Her father Bernard Tautou is a dental surgeon, and her mother Eveline is a teacher. Tautou showed an interest in acting at an early age and started her acting lessons at the Cours Florent. There she learned English and Italian.

Acting career

1990s

In 1998, Tautou participated in a Star Search-like competition sponsored by Canal+ called “Jeunes Premiers” (The Young Debuts) and won Best Young Actress at the 9th Béziers Festival of Young Actors. Tonie Marshall gave her a role in the César-winning Venus Beauty Institute (1999, also known as Vénus beauté (institut)). In 2000, she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as her country’s most promising young film actress.

2000s

In 2001, Tautou rose to international fame for her performance as the eccentric lead in the romantic comedy Amélie (original French title: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain; English: The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain), a film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume Laurant, the film is a whimsical depiction of contemporary Parisian life, set in Montmartre. It tells the story of a shy waitress, who decides to change the lives of those around her for the better, while struggling with her own isolation. The film was an international co-production between companies in France and Germany.

The film met with critical acclaim and was a major box-office success. Amélie won Best Film at the European Film Awards; it won four César Awards (including Best Film and Best Director), two BAFTA Awards (including Best Original Screenplay), and was nominated for five Academy Awards. Grossing over $33 million in limited theatrical release, it is still the highest-grossing French-language film released in the United States.

In 2002, she acted in the British thriller film Dirty Pretty Things directed by Stephen Frears and written by Steven Knight, a drama about two illegal immigrants in London. It was produced by BBC Films and Celador Films. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and won a British Independent Film Award for “Best Independent British Film” in 2003.

In 2004, she starred in A Very Long Engagement, a romantic war film co-written and directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It is a fictional tale about a young woman’s desperate search for her fiancé who might have been killed in the Battle of the Somme, during World War I. It was based on a novel of the same name, written by Sebastien Japrisot, first published in 1991. In June, she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

In 2005, Tautou starred in her first full Hollywood production, opposite Tom Hanks, in the film version of Dan Brown’s best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and released in May 2006.

She starred alongside Gad Elmaleh in Pierre Salvadori’s Hors de prix (Priceless), released 13 December 2006. The film has been compared to Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Tautou starred with Guillaume Canet in Claude Berri’s Ensemble, c’est tout in 2007, an adaptation of the eponymous novel by Anna Gavalda.

2010s–present

Tautou played the lead role in the biopic of fashion designer Coco Chanel, titled Coco avant Chanel, and directed by Anne Fontaine. Filming began in Paris in September 2008, and released in France on 22 April 2009. The script is partially based on Edmonde Charles-Roux’s book “L’Irrégulière” (“The Non-Conformist”). Instead of releasing Coco Before Chanel in the United States itself, Warner Bros. let Sony Pictures Classics handle the release there. The film grossed $6 million in the United States.

Coco Before Chanel was nominated for four BAFTA Awards, three European Film Awards, six César Awards and the Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

In 2011, she appeared in Delicacy, a French romantic comedy-drama directed by David and Stéphane Foenkinos and based on the novel of the same name by David Foenkinos. David was nominated for the 2012 Best Writing (Adaptation) César Award and the film was nominated as Best Film.

She appeared in the music video of “I Love Your Smile”, a song by British singer-songwriter Charlie Winston.

She was the host of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

She was a member of the jury of the 2015 Berlin Film Festival. She appeared in The Odyssey as Simone Melchior Coustea.

Public image and modelling career

Tautou began modelling at a very young age, taking modelling courses and other activities, and has modelled for magazines such as Vogue, Elle, Harpers Bazaar, Marie Claire in many countries, and many others.

Tautou was named in 2009 as the next spokesmodel for Chanel No. 5, replacing Nicole Kidman. She was directed in the advertisement by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, with whom she worked on Amélie and A Very Long Engagement. The advertisement was released in 2009 to coincide with the film’s release. She has also become the face of L’Oreal and Montblanc and several other ad campaigns.

Tautou over the years has been declared a fashionista and icon by the press, appearing in many magazines, fashion, beauty, and culture. She has attended major fashion week events around the world as well as smaller events. The press sometimes refers to her as “The Chanel Muse”.

Personal life

She has studied at the Institut Catholique de Paris. A church-goer when young, she has stated that she is “not officially” Catholic.

Tautou says she considers France her base, where she plans to focus her career, rather than in the United States. She told Stevie Wong of The Straits Times “I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never move to Los Angeles.”

Credits

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Venus Beauty Institute	Marie	Cabourg Film Festival Award for Female Revelation César Award for Most Promising Actress Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress SACD Award for Best Actress
	Triste à mourir	Caro	Short film
2000	Épouse-moi	Marie-Ange
	Pretty Devils	Anne-Sophie	Original title: Voyou, voyelles
	Le Libertin	Julie d’Holbach
	Happenstance	Irène	Original title: Le Battement d’ailes du papillon
2001	Amélie	Amélie Poulain	Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Performer Lumières Award for Best Actress Sant Jordi Award for Best Actress Nominated – Audience award for Best Actress Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated – César Award for Best Actress Nominated – Empire Award for Best Actress Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role Nominated – Satellite Award for Best Actress Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society for Best Actress Nominated – Phoenix Film Critics Society for Best Newcomer Nominated – Online Film Critics Society for Best Actress Nominated – Vancouver Film Critics Circle for Best Actress
	God Is Great and I’m Not	Michèle	Original title: Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite
2002	He Loves Me… He Loves Me Not	Angélique	Original title: À la folie… pas du tout
	L’Auberge espagnole	Martine	Other titles: The Spanish Apartment and Pot Luck
	Dirty Pretty Things	Senay Gelik	Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role
2003	Les Marins perdus	Lalla
	Not on the Lips	Huguette Verberie	Original title: Pas sur la bouche
	Happy End	Val Chipzik
2004	A Very Long Engagement	Mathilde	Nominated – César Award for Best Actress Nominated – European Film Award for Best Actress in Leading Role
2005	Russian Dolls	Martine	Original title: Les Poupées russes
2006	The Da Vinci Code	Sophie Neveu
	Priceless	Irène	NRJ Ciné Award (shared with Gad Elmaleh) for Best Kiss
2007	Hunting and Gathering	Camille Fauque	Original title: Ensemble, c’est tout
2009	Coco Before Chanel	Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel	Nominated – BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Nominated – César Award for Best Actress Nominated – Lumières Award for Best Actress
2010	De vrais mensonges	Emilie Dandrieux	Other titles: Beautiful Lies and Full Treatment
2011	Delicacy	Nathalie Kerr	Original title: La délicatesse
2012	Headwinds	Sarah Anderen
	Thérèse Desqueyroux	Thérèse Desqueyroux
2013	Mood Indigo	Chloé	Original title: L’Écume des jours
	Chinese Puzzle	Martine	Original title: Casse-tête chinois
2015	Microbe & Gasoline	Marie-Thérèse Guéret	Original title: Microbe et Gasoil
	Eternity	Valentine
2016	The Odyssey	Simone Melchior	Nominated – Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress
	Open at Night	Nawel
2017	Santa & Cie	Wanda Claus
2018
	The Trouble With You	Agnès
2019	The Jesus Rolls	Marie

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Cœur de cible		TV movie
1997	La Vérité est un vilain défaut	The telephone operator	TV movie
1997	Les Cordier, juge et flic	Léa	TV movie, episode: “Le Crime d’à côté”
1998	La Vieille Barrière	A girl in the district	TV movie
1998	Bébés boum	Elsa	TV movie
1998	Chaos technique	Lisa	TV movie
1998	Julie Lescaut	Tracy	TV movie, episode: “Bal masqué”
1999	Le Boiteux	Blandine Piancet	TV movie, episode: “Baby blues”

Theatre

Year	Show	Role	Notes
2010	A Doll’s House	Nora	Théâtre de la Madeleine
2011			Tour