Audrey Tautou

Biography

Audrey Justine Tautou is a César Award-winning, BAFTA Award-nominated, and European Film Award-nominated French actress celebrated as one of the most enchanting, versatile, and internationally iconic faces of contemporary French cinema. Studying acting at the Cours Florent in Paris, Tautou made her feature film debut in Tonie Marshall's Venus Beauty Institute (Vénus Beauté (Institut), 1999), winning the César Award for Most Promising Actress. She achieved immortal global stardom and universal adulation headlining Jean-Pierre Jeunet's romantic whimsical masterpiece Amélie (Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, 2001), delivering a wide-eyed, mischievous, and deeply soulful performance that became a generational cultural touchstone, earning BAFTA and European Film Award nominations for Best Actress. Tautou showcased extraordinary dramatic range starring in Stephen Frears's gritty London immigration thriller Dirty Pretty Things (2002 opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor) and reunited with Jean-Pierre Jeunet for the sweeping World War I romantic mystery A Very Long Engagement (Un long dimanche de fiançailles, 2004), receiving a César nomination for Best Actress. She crossed over into global Hollywood blockbusters starring as cryptologist Sophie Neveu opposite Tom Hanks in Ron Howard's adaptation of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code (2006), which grossed over $760 million worldwide. Tautou earned widespread acclaim portraying fashion icon Coco Chanel in Anne Fontaine's biographical drama Coco Before Chanel (Coco avant Chanel, 2009), earning a second BAFTA nomination. Appointed an Officer of the Legion of Honour and Order of Arts and Letters, Audrey Tautou is a beloved national treasure of France.