Marion Cotillard - 80th Annual Academy Awards

Marion Cotillard Profile

Name: Marion Cotillard

Birth Date: September 30, 1975

Birth Place: Paris, France

Age: 32

Occupation: French Actress

Marion Cotillard Biography

Marion Cotillard (born September 30, 1975) is an Academy Award-, BAFTA-, two-time César Award-, Czech Lion-, and Golden Globe-winning French actress, best known for her Oscar winning role as Édith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (2007).

Cotillard began acting during her childhood, appearing on stage in one of her father's plays. Her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s. She rose to prominence in the late 1990s when she was cast in the Luc Besson production Taxi (1998) as Lili Bertineau, a role that she reprised in two sequels. She then earned very good reviews and the attention of cinephiles via her portrayal of twins who exchange their lives after one of them dies in Les Jolies Choses.

Although more widely known in France, Cotillard is building an international presence. In 2003, she had a small role in Tim Burton's film, Big Fish, which introduced her to English-speaking audiences. It was also her first both critically and financially successful film. She also played Sophie Kowalski in Yann Samuell's Jeux d'enfants (English title: Love Me If You Dare), which proved her ability to play a complex yet appealing modern romantic lead, though the film received mixed reviews. She appeared in two critically successful films in 2004: A Very Long Engagement, where Cotillard further demonstrated the range of her abilities by playing the murderous Tina Lombardi (garnering the César Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role), and the drama mystery Innocence. In 2006, she appeared in Ridley Scott's A Good Year.

She was chosen by director Olivier Dahan to portray the iconic French singer Édith Piaf in the biopic La Môme (English title: La Vie En Rose) before he had even met her, saying that in the eyes of Édith Piaf he noticed a similarity with Marion's own. Her portrayal was widely praised, including by the eminent theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn, who described it as "one of the greatest performances on film ever." It was dubbed "the most awaited film of 2007" in France, where critics said that she had reincarnated Édith Piaf to sing one last time on stage.

On February 10, 2008, Cotillard became the first French actress to be awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role since the BAFTAs combined the Best British and Best Foreign actress award into one Best Actress category, beginning in 1969. She is also the first actress to be nominated for an Academy Award for a French language performance since Catherine Deneuve for Indochine in 1992. She is the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a foreign language performance since 1972, when Liv Ullmann won for The Emigrants. As La Vie En Rose was also a Czech production, Marion Cotillard was nominated for the Czech Lion for "Best Actress in a Leading Role" on February 21.

On February 22, 2008 she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress, and two days later she received the Academy Award for Best Actress. After Claudette Colbert in 1934 and Simone Signoret in 1959, Marion Cotillard is the third French actress to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. She is the first Best Actress winner in a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren's win in 1961. She is also the first and so far only winner of an Academy Award for a performance in the French language. In her Oscar acceptance speech, the overwhelmed Cotillard proclaimed "thank you life, thank you love" and, speaking of Los Angeles, said "it is true, there is some angels in this city!"

On March 1st, 2008, Marion Cotillard won the Czech industries highest acting honor, the Czech Lion Award for Best Actress. Unfortunately, she could not attend the ceremony in Prague due to the filming of her next American film, Public Enemies.

Cotillard is currently in talks to play Luisa Contini in the film adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical Nine.