Marion Cotillard - biography

Marion Cotillard is one of France’s most highly regarded film actresses, internationally acclaimed and eagerly sought after by some of the world’s leading filmmakers. She was born in Paris, France on 30th September 1975, to parents who were both in the acting profession.  She has two twin brothers, Quentin (a painter-sculptor) and Guillaume (a screen writer and film director).  She studied drama at the Orléans conservatory of dramatic art, at which she was awarded the first prize in 1994. 

Cotillard made her screen debut in 1993 in the French-Canadian TV series Highlander and appeared in several other French TV series and films before she had her cinema breakthrough with Luc Besson’s 1998 film Taxi, for she was nominated for a César.  She then starred in Pierre Grimblat’s 2001 film Lisa (playing Jeanne Moreau’s younger self) and Gilles Paquet-Brenner’s acclaimed debut feature Les Jolies choses (2001), in which she played two contrasting characters.  In 2003, Tim Burton gave her a leading role in his film Big Fish.  The same year, Cotillard starred opposite her future partner Guillaume Canet in Yann Samuell’s idiosyncratic romantic comedy Jeux d’enfants.  In 2005, she won her first César, in the Best Supporting Actress category, for her role in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s wartime drama Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004).

It was in 2007 that Marion Cotillard met with international acclaim and celebrity, through her portrayal of Édith Piaf in the musical biopic La Môme, directed by Olivier Dahan.  The film was a worldwide hit and earned Cotillard a brace of awards, including the 2008 Best Actress César, the 2008 Gold Globe, the 2008 Best Leading Actress BAFTA and the 2008 Academy Award for the Best Actress in a Leading Role.  Cotillard has the distinction of being the only actress to date to win an Oscar in a French language film (Simone Signoret had won the Oscar in 1960, but in the British film Room at the Top).  No other actress (so far) has won an Oscar and a César for the same role. 

Cotillard launched her Hollywood career in 2009, starring opposite Johnny Depp in Michale Mann’s box office hit Public Enemies.  This was shortly followed by a Nine (2009), a musical in which she appeared with Daniel Day-Lewis, Nicole Kidman and Penélope Cruz.  She then returned to France to star in Le Dernier vol (2009), playing opposite her real-life partner Guillaume Canet, who then directed her in his next film Les Petits mouchoirs, the most successful French film of 2010. 

In 2010, Cotillard was back in Hollywood to play alongside Kate Winslet and Jude Law in Steven Soderbergh’s thriller Contagion (2011) (a part that made her the most highly paid actress in France), and then to appear in Woody Allen’s 2011 film Midnight in Paris.  This was followed by leading roles in Jacques Audiard’s De rouille et d’os (2012) and Christopher Nolan’s latest Batman adventure The Dark Knight Rises (2012). 

Whilst pursuing a busy and highly successful film career, Marion Cotillard has found time to start a career as a singer and also devotes much of her time to the one great concern of her life, protection of the environment.  She is an active member of Greenpeace and supports other conservationist groups including the Maud Fontenoy Foundation and Wild-Touch, which respectively militate for the protection of the oceans and the rain forests.  Cotillard's outspoken views have earned her a certain notoriety, but she remains one of France’s most popular film actresses.

© filmsdefrance.com 2012



“I don’t think you learn how to act.  You learn how to use your emotions and feelings.”

“It was an amazing adventure, it was my dream to be in an American musical...  I really hope you are going to love what you are going to see.”

“As a teenager, I didn’t want to be me; I wanted to be many different people.  Maybe I realized that they all lived inside me and that if I managed to connect with them, they would become aspects of me.”

“I have a tendency to often share the point of view of the conspiracy theory.”

“It’s pretty refreshing to be in a situation where the spotlight is on someone else.”

“My parents always told me that if you want something, you can do whatever you have to do to get it.  As long as it’s not against someone else.”

“The first thing I have to do to erase my French accent is think that it is actually possible, whereas for the moment, I think it’s not.  I have a lot of work.”

“[On accepting the Best Actress Oscar for La Vie en Rose:] Thank you life, thank you love, and - it is true - there is some angels in this city.”

Marion Cotillard has appeared in the following films:
L’Histoire du garçon qui voulait qu’on l’embrasse (1994)
Snuff Movie (1995)
Comment je me suis disputé... (ma vie sexuelle) (1996)
La Belle verte (1996)
Taxi (1998)
La Guerre dans le Haut Pays (1999)
Furia (1999)
L’Appel de la cave (1999)
Du bleu jusqu’en Amérique (1999)
Quelques jours de trop (2000)
Le Marquis (2000)
Taxi 2 (2000)
Heureuse (2001)
Boomer (2001)
Lisa (2001)
Les Jolies choses (2001)
Une affaire privée (2002)
Taxi 3 (2003)
Jeux d’enfants (2003)
Big Fish (2003)
Innocence (2004)
Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)
Edy (2005)
Cavalcade (2005)
Ma vie en l’air (2005)
Mary (2005)
Sauf le respect que je vous dois (2005)
La Boîte noire (2005)
Toi et moi (2006)
Dikkenek (2006)
Fair Play (2006)
A Good Year (2006)
La Môme (2007)
Public Enemies (2009)
Nine (2009)
Le Dernier vol (2009)
Les Petits mouchoirs (2010)
Inception (2010)
The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
De rouille et d’os (2012)