Juliette Binoche

Occupation: Actress
Born:1964, Paris, France

Appealing, raven-haired lead of international films who gained recognition as the sexually repressed Tereza (the one without the hat) in THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF BEING. Binoche made her professional acting debut as the age of 20 in the French production LES NANAS (1984)/THE CHICKS. She went on to deliver a series of impressive performances for films by several leading French directors including Jean-Luc Godard's HAIL MARY (1985)/JE VOUS SALUE, MARIE, as a jealous former lover of Joseph, and Leo Carax's BAD BLOOD (1986)/MAUVAIS SANG. After her initial impact in UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS, Binoche returned to her native France and has made only infrequent sojourns to the States for projects. She turned in a heart-wrenching performance as a young Polish prostitute befriended by Scott Glenn (as a thinly veiled Henry Miller) in Mike Figgis' segment of HBO's WOMEN & MEN II (1991). Binoche further enhanced her reputation in the early 90s by appearing in Louis Malle's DAMAGE (1992), as the catalyst for Jeremy Irons' downfall, and in BLUE (1993), the first installment of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's French trilogy, as a woman who must cope with the future after a tragedy. She won the best actress award from the Venice Film Festival for her performance.