Mélanie Laurent

Mélanie Laurent born 21 February 1983 is a French actress filmmaker and singer The recipient of two César Awards and a Lumières Award she is an accomplished actress in the French film industry Globally she is best known for her roles in Inglourious Basterds Now You See Me 6 Underground and Operation Finale Born in Paris to a Jewish family Laurent was introduced to acting at the age of sixteen by Gérard Depardieu who cast her in a minor role in the romantic drama The Bridge 1999 She gained wider recognition for her supporting work in several French films most notably the 2006 comedy Dikkenek for which she won Étoiles dOr for Best Female Newcomer Her breakthrough role came in the 2006 drama film Dont Worry Im Fine for which she later won the César Award for Most Promising Actress and the Prix Romy Schneider Laurent made her Hollywood debut in 2009 with the role as Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantinos blockbuster war film Inglourious Basterds Her performance won the Online Film Critics Society and the Austin Film Critics Association Best Actress Awards While she has worked mainly in independent films including Paris 2008 and Enemy 2013 Laurent also appeared in commercially successful Hollywood films including the comedy drama Beginners 2011 and the caper film Now You See Me 2013 the former earning her a nomination at the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Laurents other notable works include the arthouse drama The Round Up 2010 the comedy drama Et soudain tout le monde me manque 2011 and the mystery thriller Night Train to Lisbon 2013 She is also known for voicing Mary Katherine and Disgust in the French dubs of Epic 2013 and Inside Out 2015 respectively Additionally she starred in Chris Weitzs 2018 drama Operation Finale with Oscar Isaac and Ben Kingsley telling the story of the capture of Nazi Adolf Eichmann In addition to her film career Laurent has appeared in stage productions in France She made her theatre debut in 2010 in Nicolas Bedoss Promenade de santé The short film De moins en moins 2008 marked her debut as a filmmaker Her feature film directorial debut is The Adopted 2011 Respire 2014 her second production as a director was screened at the International Critics Week section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival She made her singing debut with a studio album En tattendant in May 2011 the album contains twelve songs five of which are cowritten and coproduced by Irish folk musician Damien Rice