Julie Delpy born 21 December 1969 is a French-American actress, film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter. She studied filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, or acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa (1990), Voyager (1991), Three Colors: White (1993), the Before trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013), An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), and 2 Days in Paris (2007).
She has been nominated for three César Awards, two Online Film Critics Society Awards, and two Academy Awards. After moving to the United States in 1990, she became an American citizen in 2001.
Family
Julie Delpy was born in Paris, the only child of Albert Delpy, a French actor and theater director, and Marie Pillet, a French actress in feature films and the avant-garde theater. Her mother was also known for having signed the 1971 Manifesto of the 343, which was signed by women advocating for reproductive rights and admitting to having had an abortion when abortions were illegal in France. In Delpy’s 2007 film 2 Days in Paris, her character’s mother was played by her real mother and acknowledges signing the manifesto, mirroring her action in real life. Pillet died in 2009.
At an early age, Julie was exposed to the arts by her parents. She later said:
I couldn’t hope for better parents. They really raised me with a love of art, bringing me to museums and seeing things that a child wouldn’t see at that age. I would see Ingmar Bergman movies when I was 9 and totally go for it. And they would bring me to see Francis Bacon’s paintings, which I loved: so dark and at the same time it’s so wonderful.
Film career
In 1984, at the age of fourteen, Delpy was discovered by film director Jean-Luc Godard, who cast her in Détective (1985). Two years later, Delpy starred in the title role in Bertrand Tavernier’s La Passion Béatrice (1987). For her performance, Delpy was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She used the money she earned to pay for her first trip to New York City.
Delpy in 1991
Delpy became an international celebrity after starring in the 1990 film Europa Europa directed by Agnieszka Holland. In the film, she plays a young pro-Nazi who falls in love with the hero, Solomon Perel, not knowing that he is Jewish. She did not speak German so she performed her role in English and was later dubbed over.
Following the success of Europa Europa, Delpy appeared in several Hollywood and European films, including Voyager (1991) and The Three Musketeers (1993). In 1993, she was cast by director Krzysztof Kieślowski to play the female lead in Three Colors: White, the second film of Kieślowski’s Three Colors Trilogy. Delpy also appeared briefly in the other two films—Blue and Red—in the same role. That same year, she appeared opposite Brendan Fraser in the Percy Adlon feature Younger and Younger starring Donald Sutherland. In 1994, she starred opposite Eric Stoltz in Roger Avary’s directorial debut Killing Zoe, a cult heist film capturing the Generation X zeitgeist.
Delpy achieved wider recognition for her co-starring role opposite Ethan Hawke in director Richard Linklater’s 1995 film Before Sunrise, for which she wrote much of her own dialogue. The film received glowing reviews and was considered one of the most significant films of the 1990s’ independent film movement. The success of the film led to the casting of Delpy in the 1997 American film An American Werewolf in Paris.
Delpy reprised her Before Sunrise character, Céline, with a brief animated appearance in Waking Life (2001), and again in the sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). The initial follow-up movie earned Delpy, who co-wrote the script, her first Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
In late 2001, she appeared alongside comedian Martin Short in the 30-minute short film CinéMagique, a theatre-show attraction presented several times daily at Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris. Delpy attended the March 2002 opening of the park and the inauguration of the film-based attraction which sees her star as Marguerite—a female actress with whom Short’s character, George, falls in love as he stumbles through countless classic movies. CinéMagique won the 2002 Themed Entertainment Association award for “outstanding” themed attraction.
In 2009, Delpy starred in The Countess, also her third film as a director in which she played the title role of Elizabeth Báthory. The film also starred Daniel Brühl and William Hurt.
Writing and directing
Delpy has had an interest in a career as a film director since her childhood, and enrolled in a summer directing course at New York University. She wrote and directed the short film Blah Blah Blah in 1995 which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, Delpy co-wrote Before Sunset, a sequel to the 1995 movie Before Sunrise, with director Richard Linklater and co-star Ethan Hawke. Describing the experience Delpy said, “I’m not a feminist wearing overalls and hating the male gender. But I’m a definite feminist. I don’t want to make Before Sunset into a little male fantasy, ever.” She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for her work on the film.
Delpy in 2011
She made her feature length directorial debut in 2002, with a film entitled Looking for Jimmy which she also wrote and produced. In 2007, Delpy directed, wrote, edited, and co-produced the original score for 2 Days in Paris co-starring Adam Goldberg. The film also features Delpy’s real-life parents, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy, as her character’s parents.
In 2011 Delpy wrote and directed Le Skylab. The film received a theatrical release in France, but failed to find distribution in the U.S. In 2012 she released 2 Days in New York, a sequel to her 2007 film 2 Days in Paris. The film starred Delpy and actor Chris Rock. Delpy stated that she wrote the role specifically for Rock. In 2013, Delpy reunited with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke to write Before Midnight, the sequel to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. Delpy again starred with Hawke, and the film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to screen out of competition at the Berlin International Film Festival and was released in May 2013. Delpy was later nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards alongside Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke. Responding to criticism regarding the nudity in the film in an interview with GQ Magazine, Delpy remarked:
Some people were like, ‘it’s not feminist. You’re showing your tits and he’s not showing his ass.’ isn’t it the people who are hiding women behind layers of clothes who are the misogynists? I’m a real person, so it’s a statement to say, ‘Alright, I’m a forty year-old woman, and this is what you get with no plastic surgery.’
Lolo was Delpy’s second French-language feature film. It was also the first film she directed since 2 Days in New York. She was also slated to write and direct the HBO movie Cancer Vixen, starring Cate Blanchett as Marisa Acocella Marchetto, a cartoonist for The New Yorker who is diagnosed with cancer. The project has yet to materialize, as of 2020. In early 2014, Delpy announced her next writing-directing project would be called A Dazzling Display of Splendor and focus on a family of vaudeville performers. This project has also failed to materialize, as of 2020.
Delpy courted controversy in 2016 after the Oscar nominations showed no black honorees on the ballot. “Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media … It’s funny — women can’t talk. I sometimes wish I were African American because people don’t bash them afterward.”
Music
Delpy is also a musical artist. She released a self-titled album Julie Delpy in 2003. Three tracks from the album—”A Waltz For A Night,” “An Ocean Apart,” and “Je t’aime tant”—were featured in Before Sunset. She composed the original score for 2 Days in Paris in which she famously performed Marc Collin’s “Lalala” over the closing credits. She also wrote the music for her 2009 film, The Countess.
Personal life
Delpy moved to New York in 1990 and moved to Los Angeles a few years after that. She has been a naturalized citizen of the United States since 2001, although she also retains her French citizenship. She now divides her time between Paris and Los Angeles. From 2007 to 2012, she was in a relationship with German film score composer Marc Streitenfeld. The couple’s son, Leo Streitenfeld, was born in January 2009. In a BBC Radio 4 interview broadcast on 29 March 2018, Delpy referred to her husband, though she did not name him.
Delpy has expressed her commitment to correcting inaccurate assumptions regarding feminism, telling IndieWire “I’m very dedicated to feminism even if I’m a feminist, I don’t think all women are perfect. If we’re equal to men, we are also imperfect like men … try to say think that women are better than men, and I want to tell them, ‘no’.” In a 2007 interview with Jan Lisa Huttner, Delpy said, “I was raised by a feminist, so I’m not a feminist. I don’t need to be. I’m equal to men. I have no issues with the idea that I’m the same as a man. I have my differences; I have breasts, and different plumbing, different stuff down there. But outside of this, my consciousness, my capacity at creating, my capacity at doing things is the same as a man.” However, in a 2012 interview with Emily Greenhouse in The New Yorker, Delpy said, “You know, I’ve been raised by feminists, and I’m such a feminist, there’s no way I’m not going to be feminist, because my core is so deeply feminist that I can even make sexist comments about women, and I feel still a feminist.”
Delpy has said she has been plagued by health problems since childhood and had to wear callipers at age eight. She also occasionally experiences migraines and panic attacks.
Filmography
As actress
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Guerres civiles en France | Credited as Julie Pillet Segment La semaine sanglante |
|
| 1982 | Niveau moins trois | Short film | |
| 1985 | Classique | Short film | |
| 1985 | Détective | Wise young girl | |
| 1985 | L’Amour ou presque | Melie | |
| 1986 | Mauvais Sang | Lise | English: Bad Blood Nominated—César Award for Most Promising Actress |
| 1987 | Beatrice | Beatrice de Cortemart | French: La Passion Béatrice Nominated—César Award for Most Promising Actress |
| 1987 | King Lear | Virginia (uncredited) | |
| 1988 | L’autre nuit | Marie | |
| 1989 | La noche oscura | Virgin Mary | English: The Dark Night |
| 1989 | Trouble | Short film | |
| 1990 | Europa Europa | Leni | |
| 1991 | Les dents de ma mère | Julie | Short film |
| 1991 | Voyager | Sabeth | Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress |
| 1992 | Warsaw – Year 5703 | Fryda | |
| 1993 | The Three Musketeers | Constance | |
| 1993 | Younger and Younger | Melodie | |
| 1993 | Killing Zoe | Zoe | |
| 1993 | Three Colors: Blue | Dominique (cameo appearance) | |
| 1994 | Three Colors: White | Dominique | |
| 1994 | Three Colors: Red | Dominique (cameo appearance) | |
| 1995 | Blah Blah Blah | Short film | Also as writer, director, and producer |
| 1995 | Before Sunrise | Céline | Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss |
| 1996 | Tykho Moon | Lena | |
| 1997 | Les mille merveilles de l’univers | Eva Purpur | English: The Thousand Wonders of the Universe |
| 1997 | An American Werewolf in Paris | Serafine Pigot | |
| 1997 | Alleys and Motorways | Video | |
| 1998 | The Treat | Francesca | |
| 1998 | L.A. Without a Map | Julie | |
| 1998 | Crime and Punishment | Sonia | Television film |
| 1999 | True Love | Television film | |
| 1999 | The Passion of Ayn Rand | Barbara Branden | Television film |
| 1999 | But I’m a Cheerleader | Lipstick Lesbian | |
| 2000 | Sand | Lill | |
| 2001 | Investigating Sex | Chloe | Also known as Intimate Affairs |
| 2001 | MacArthur Park | Wendy | |
| 2001 | Waking Life | Céline | |
| 2001 | Beginner’s Luck | Anya | |
| 2001 | ER | Nicole | Television program, 7 episodes |
| 2002 | Villa des roses | Louise Creteur | |
| 2002 | Looking for Jimmy | Al | Also as writer, director, and producer |
| 2002 | CinéMagique | Marguerite | Disney Theme Park Attraction |
| 2003 | Notting Hill Anxiety Festival | Charlotte | |
| 2004 | Before Sunset | Céline | Also as writer and composer Empire Award for Best Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress |
| 2004 | Frankenstein | Caroline Frankenstein | Miniseries |
| 2005 | Broken Flowers | Sherry | |
| 2006 | The Legend of Lucy Keyes | Jeanne Cooley | |
| 2006 | The Hoax | Nina van Pallandt | |
| 2006 | Guilty Hearts | Charlotte | |
| 2007 | The Air I Breathe | Gina | |
| 2007 | 2 Days in Paris | Marion | Also as writer, director, and producer |
| 2009 | The Countess | Erzsébet Báthory | Also as writer, director, and producer |
| 2011 | Skylab | Anna | Also as writer and director |
| 2012 | 2 Days in New York | Marion | Also as writer and director |
| 2013 | Before Midnight | Céline | Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Dublin Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical Nominated—Guardian Film Award for Best Actor Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (Runner-Up) Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress |
| 2015 | Avengers: Age of Ultron | Madame B. | |
| 2015 | Lolo | Violette | Also as writer and director |
| 2016 | Wiener-Dog | Dina | |
| 2017 | The Bachelors | Carine | |
| 2019 | My Zoe | Isabelle | Also director and writer |
As filmmaker
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Screenwriter | Producer | Composer | |||
| 1995 | Blah Blah Blah | Yes | Yes | Short film | ||
| 2002 | Looking for Jimmy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor | |
| 2004 | J’ai peur, j’ai mal, je meurs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Short film | |
| 2004 | Before Sunset | Yes | Yes | Nominated—Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay |
||
| 2007 | 2 Days in Paris | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Also editor Prix Jacques Prévert du Scénario for Best Original Screenplay Nominated—César Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated—European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Film Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Film Nominated—Globe de Cristal for Best Film |
| 2009 | The Countess | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2011 | Skylab | Yes | Yes | |||
| 2012 | 2 Days in New York | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| 2013 | Before Midnight | Yes | AARP Award for Best Screenwriter Broadcast Film Critics Association — Louis XIII Genius Award Dublin Film Critics’ Circle Award for Best Screenplay Hollywood Film Award for Screenwriter of the Year Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay |
|||
| 2013 | Making a Scene | Yes | Short film | |||
| 2015 | Lolo | Yes | Yes | 72nd Venice International Film Festival – Laguna Sud Award for Best Film | ||
| 2019 | My Zoe | Yes | Yes | Nominated—2019 Toronto International Film Festival – Platform Prize | ||
Awards and nominations
- 1987 César Award Nomination, Most Promising Actress for Mauvais sang (1986)
- 1988 César Award Nomination, Most Promising Actress for La Passion Béatrice (1987)
- 1991 European Film Award Nomination, Best Actress for The Voyager (1991)
- 1995 MTV Movie Award Nomination, Best Kiss for Before Sunrise (1995)
- 2004 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Academy Award Nomination, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Writers Guild of America Nomination, Best Adapted Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Empire Award, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Online Film Critics Society Award Nomination, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2005 Online Film Critics Society Award Nomination, Best Screenplay, Adapted for Before Sunset (2004)
- 2007 Mons International Festival of Love Films Award, Coup de Coeur for 2 Days in Paris (2007)
- 2008 César Award Nomination, Best Writing – Original for 2 Days in Paris (2007)
- 2014 Golden Globe Nomination, Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for Before Midnight (2013)
- 2014 Academy Award Nomination, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Before Midnight (2013)