IsaBelle

Date of Birth
27 June 1955, Paris, France

Birth Name
Isabelle Yasmine Adjani

Height
5' 4¼" (1.63 m)



Mini Biography

Isabelle Adjani, one of the most talented and accomplished actresses in the history of French and world cinema, was born on June 27, 1955 in Paris, France in the 17th Arrondissement, a working class neighborhood on the Right Bank of the Seine. She and her younger brother Eric were raised by her ethnic Algerian father and ethnic German mother in Gennevilliers in the Hauts-de-Seine department, an industrial city located near to and to the northwest of Paris. She started acting before her teen years, appearing in amateur theater by the time she was 12 years old and in her first movie at the age of 14.

The teenage Adjani, already a great beauty, appeared with the Comedie Francaise, France's premier theater, and scored a great success in Jean Giraudoux's play Ondine (1975) (TV) when she was 17 years old (she repeated the performance on TV in 1974). She attracted notice, on film, as the daughter in Gifle, La (1974), which was released in 1974, the year she left the Comedie Francaise. Also that year, she filmed what would prove to be her cinema breakthrough, playing the title role in French cinema great 'Francois Truffaut''s Histoire d'Adèle H., L' (1975) ("The Story of Adele H."), a biographical film about Victor Hugo's daughter. The role brought her her first Best Actress nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and from the French Academy (the Oscar and César, respectively).



Her beauty and talent made her an international star, and the multilingual Adjani has performed in English and German-language films as well as in her native French tongue. She garnered the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award for her English-language role in 'James Merchant''s 1981 film Quartet (1981) in 1991, then won the first of her four record Césars the next year for Possession (1981), which was directed by her then-lover (and father of her first child) Bruno Nuytten. She won her second Cé in 1983 for her role in Été meurtrier, L' (1983) ("One Deadly Summer" (1983)) and her third for playing French sculptor Camille Claudel (1988) in the eponymous film. That role also brought her her second Best Actress Oscar nomination (the film, which was produced by her own production company, also was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar). She won her record fourth César for Reine Margot, La (1994) ("Queen Margot" (1994)). This last film represented the high-water mark of her career.

The legendary Adjani has appeared in only five movies since "La Reine Margot" (and only 24 movies altogether since "Adele H."), being last seen on screen in 2003 in two films: the female lead in Bon voyage (2003) and a cameo in Monsieur Ibrahim et les fleurs du Coran (2003). As Adjani explained after quitting the Comedie Francaise a generation ago, work is not her consuming passion. In the past decade, she has devoted most of her time to her private life, including raising her two children, Barnabé Nuytten and Gabriel-Kane Adjani (born 1995), her son fathered by former lover Daniel Day-Lewis.
IMDb Mini Biography By: Jon C. Hopwood



Trivia

Raised and schooled in Paris

Has two children: Barnabé Nuytten, born in 1979 and fathered by Bruno Nuytten, and Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, born in 1995, fathered by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world [1990]

Engaged to musician Jean-Michel Jarre but later broke it off. [July 2002]

Measurements: 35-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Her exotic beauty comes by way of an Algerian-Kabyle father and a German mother.

Recorded a million-selling album in 1983 with the hit single "Pull Marine" written by Serge Gainsbourg. The video was shot by Luc Besson.

Is the only actress in the history of French cinema to get four César awards: the first in 1982 for Possession (1981), the second in 1984 for Été meurtrier, L' (1983), the third for Camille Claudel (1988) in 1989 and her last in 1995 for Reine Margot, La (1994).

Said in a 1970 interview with Paris-Match that she would never wear pants "because her hips were too big".

At the age of 19 she was the youngest person ever nominated for a Best Lead Actress Academy Award until Keisha Castle-Hughes broke the record for Whale Rider (2002) in 2004.

Announced that she has broken up with her boyfriend of two years, musician Jean-Michel Jarre, revealing to the magazine Paris-Match that he had cheated on her. (June 2004)

Fluent in English and German

Her favorite perfume is called "En avion" by Caron

Was selected as the second most beautiful woman (after Monica Bellucci) by the French public in the TV show "La plus belle femme du monde on Nov. 8, 2004.

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997

Born in the 17th district of Paris to an Algerian father and German mother.

Brother is photographer Eric Adjani.

Personal Quotes

"It's rare to find a director who really likes and knows how to look at a woman through the camera."

[speaking in 1977] "This is all very funny. Today I am a star - and tomorrow?"

"The Method is Judeo-Christian: if you go through pain, you can't miss. Rubbish. I'm more interested in the box itself than what's in it. How vs why."