Juliette Binoche aka Juliette biography

Juliette Binoche is an Academy Award, BAFTA, and César Award winning actress, and probably the biggest French star in the world. She was voted one of the “100 Sexiest Stars in Film History,” by Empire Magazine in 1995, and was one of People Magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People,” in 1997. She’s best known to American audiences for her work in The Engish Patient, in 1996, and Chocolat, in 2000. She took a misstep from the path of her usually high standards in 2007, appearing in an American romantic comedy, Dan in Real Life. However, she is paying her penance by appearing in the November 2007 issue of Playboy magazine in France.

Juliette was born in Paris to Jean-Marie Binoche, a director, actor, and sculptor, and Monique Stalens, a teacher, director, and actress. Her maternal grandparents, who were Polish, were imprisoned at Auschwitz because they were intellectuals. Juliette is of French, Flemish, Brazilian, and Moroccan heritage.

Juliette began studying theater at a young age, and directed her first play when she was 17. She then went on to study at the National Conservatory for Dramatic Arts in Paris, where she found her first agent. Juliette broke into acting for the silver screen in the early eighties, and one of her first films was for legendary French director Jean-Luc Godard. Crossing over into the arena that we care about, Juliette did her first English language film, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, based on the Milan Kundera novel, in 1986. The ‘90’s saw a major rise in Juliette’s international star power starting with her starring in Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Three Colors: Blue, in 1993, which won her the acting award at the Venice Film Festival, the César Award, and a Golden Globe nomination. Following on the heels of this, in 1996, was The English Patient, for which Juliette was awarded the Academy Award, National Board of Review Supporting Actress Award, BAFTA Award, and Berlin International Film Festival Actress Award.

2007 and 2008 are slated to be Juliette’s busiest years yet, each packed full of projects. Hopefully there will be no more slumming, like her turn in the Steve Carell and Dane Cook middle-brow comedy, Dan in Real Life. Judging from her upcoming roles in more artistic films, it seems that Juliette has learned her lesson from her time with Dane “Box Office Poison” Cook, and will pursue more intellectual fare. Juliette also promises to pursue her charity work both at home in France, and abroad (as if her appearance in Playboy isn’t altruistic enough).