Audrey Tautou was born on August 9, 1978 in Beaumont, Puy-de-Dôme, France. She grew up as the eldest of four children (one brother and two sisters) in a town called Montluçon where she graduated and got her university-entrace diploma (baccalauréat). Afterwards she decided to go to Paris and after two years, she received her DEUG (diploma after stage studies). In the meantime she took acting classes at the “Cours Florent” and had a first underpart in the TV movie “Coeur de Cible” (1996), directed by Laurent Heynemann.
Several small roles in other French TV movies and series followed: 1997 she got a role in “La vérité est un vilain défaut” as a telephone operator and appeared in an episode of “Les Cordier, juge et flic” as Léa. A year later, 1998, Audrey could be seen in the short film “La Vieille Barrière”, in the TV dramas “Bébés Boum” (1998) and “Chaos Technique” (1998) and in an episode of “Julie Lescaut”. Besides, she starred next to Christine Gagnepain in the five minute… read more
Audrey Tautou was born on August 9, 1978 in Beaumont, Puy-de-Dôme, France. She grew up as the eldest of four children (one brother and two sisters) in a town called Montluçon where she graduated and got her university-entrace diploma (baccalauréat). Afterwards she decided to go to Paris and after two years, she received her DEUG (diploma after stage studies). In the meantime she took acting classes at the “Cours Florent” and had a first underpart in the TV movie “Coeur de Cible” (1996), directed by Laurent Heynemann.
Several small roles in other French TV movies and series followed: 1997 she got a role in “La vérité est un vilain défaut” as a telephone operator and appeared in an episode of “Les Cordier, juge et flic” as Léa. A year later, 1998, Audrey could be seen in the short film “La Vieille Barrière”, in the TV dramas “Bébés Boum” (1998) and “Chaos Technique” (1998) and in an episode of “Julie Lescaut”. Besides, she starred next to Christine Gagnepain in the five minute short movie “Casting: Archi-dégueulasse”.
In the same year she participated in the ninth “Jeune Comédien de Cinéma Festival” in Bezier and won the competition. She came to the attention of French director Tonie Marshall and got a role in her new movie “Vénus Beauté” (Venus Beauty Institute) (1999). Next to Natalie Baye and Samuel Le Bihan Audrey did a fantastic job portraying young Marie and consequently won a “César” for “Most Promising Actress”. 1999 she also shot “Le Boîteux: Baby Blues”, a TV movie, as well as “Triste à Mourir”, a 15 minute short movie in which she played Caro.
In 2000, Harriet Marin casted her for the romantic comedy “Épouse-Moi” (Marry Me) as one of the main characters alongside Michèle Laroque and Vincent Perez. In “Voyous Voyelles” (Pretty Devils) Audrey snatched one of the leading parts as well as in “Le Battement d’ailes du Papillon” (Happenstance). She met again with Vincent Perez at the set of “Le Libertin” (The Libertine), a satirical comedy set in the 18th century.
Audrey’s breakthrough followed in 2001: Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet casted her for “Le fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain” (The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain), a wonderful romantic comedy about an innocent and naive young woman in Paris who decides to help those around her and along the way, discovers love. Audrey Tautou did an overwhelming performance as Amélie, the audience loved her and France had found her new star: the movie celebrated a huge success in France and also later in the States. Through her irresistible charme and her marvellous talent, Audrey enchanted critics and audiences all over the world.
Since “Amélie”, Audrey has landed leading parts only and through the variety of her parts she showed how flexible and talented she is: in Pascale Pailly’s comedy “Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite” (God Is Great, I’m Not) (2001) she played Michèle, a young woman who tries to find the right religion. She went psycho as Angélique in Laetitia Colombani’s “A la folie… pas du tout” (He loves me, He loves me not) and in Cédric Klapisch’s box office hit “L’Auberge Espagnole” (The Spanish Apartment) (2002) she played Martine, the capricious girlfriend of the main character, Xavier.
Audrey became more and more famous and it didn’t come as much of a surprise when British director Stephen Frears wanted her to star in his new thriller “Dirty Pretty Things” (2002). In her first English-speaking movie she played Senay, a young Turkish immigrant who illegally works at a London hotel and discovers what dangerous activities are going on there. The movie received several awards and helped Audrey getting more famous in the international film business.
In 2003, Audrey appeared in three French movies: she played Lalla in the drama “Les Marins Perdus” (The Lost Seamen), Huguette Verberie in the musical “Pas sur la Bouche” (Not on the Lips) and Val Chipzik in the comedy “Nowhere to go but Up”. She worked steadily and continued her way to the top.
Reuniting with director Jean-Pierre Jeunet marked another highlight in Tautou’s career: they teamed up again for “Un long dimanche de fiançailles” (A Very Long Engagement) in 2004, a movie based on the novel of Sébastien Japrisot that tells the story of young Mathilde who tries to find her fiancé, Manech, who has disappeared from the trenches in World War I. A year later, in 2005, Audrey worked again with Cédric Klapisch and reprised her role as Martine in “Les Poupées Russes” (The Russian Dolls), the sequel of “L’Auberge Espagnole”.
Her role as Sophie Neveu in the Hollywood blockbuster “The Da Vinci Code” (2006) finally marked Audrey’s international breakthrough: she starred alongside Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Paul Bettany and Jean Reno in Ron Howard’s fictional thriller.
After all the promotion and turbulences surrounding “The Da Vinci Code” Audrey decided to back out a little and consecrated herself to the French cinema again: she signed for the main part in the romantic comedy “Hors de Prix” (2006) and will starred in the movie adaption of Anna Gavalda’s novel “Ensemble, c’est tout” (2006). —audrey-tautou.org
