Audrey Tautou - biography

Audrey Justine Tautou was born on 9th August 1976 at Beaumont, in the Auvergne region of France.  Her father, a dentist, and mother, a schoolteacher and local councillor, claim to have named her after the actress Audrey Hepburn.  She made her acting debut in the mid-1990s, appearing in several films and series on French television before, aged 22, she landed her first notable film role, in Tonie Marshall’s 1999 film Vénus Beauté (Institut), which won her the 2000 César for the Most Promising Actress.  

Tautou’s international breakthrough came shortly after with Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s phenomenally successful 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain, in which she played the lead role Amélie opposite the actor-director Mathieu Kassovitz.  On the back of this success, she has become one of the most sought-after and highly paid actresses in France.  She has worked with some of France’s leading filmmakers, including Cédric Klapisch (L’Auberge espagnole, 2002), Alain Resnais (Pas sur la bouche, 2003) and Anne Fontaine (Coco avant Chanel, 2009).  

Whilst Tautou’s career has so far been largely confined to France, she has also starred in some well-publicised English language films: Stephen Frears’s Dirty Pretty Things (2002) and Ron Howard’s The Da Vinci Code (2006).  In 2009, she leant her image to the promotion of the luxury perfume Chanel No. 5.  Although she has proved herself equally adept at playing light comedy and serious drama, Tautou is still concerned about moving beyond her Amélie persona.  This may be partly what prompted her to make her stage debut in 2010, in a production of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Théâtre de la Madeleine in Paris. 

A highly popular actress, loved by film audiences and admired by the critics, Audrey Tautou is blessed with a special combination of gamine charm, glamour and acting talent.  Having made her name, she now looks set for a long and distinguished career on both stage and screen.

© filmsdefrance.com 2012



“I don’t know where I’m going to be in three years.  Because I have the feeling that the future is so full of possibilities, to stop being an actress, to do something else...  for me, the future is just a huge bunch of discoveries.”

“After each experience, you grow up, you get enriched with something, and you don’t know how you’re going to be in six months, you don’t know what you’re going to want, what you’re going to need.”

“I wouldn’t mind being in an American film for a laugh, but I certainly don’t want to be in Thingy Blah Blah 3, if you know what I mean.”

“In France we have a law which doesn’t allow the press to publish a photo that you didn’t approve.  It lets the paparazzi take the picture, but if they publish this picture, you have the choice to sue the newspaper.  So me, I always sued them.”

“I never want to do the same things twice.  I like surprises.”

“I’m not sure I’m quite ready to have someone be a prospector of jobs for me, because I believe there’s some kind of destiny involved with meeting people...  some things are just meant to happen.”

“People in France are very intrusive when they recognize you.  In New York, they are very polite, with quick words, so it’s great.”

Audrey Tautou has appeared in the following films:
Voyous voyelles (1999)
Vénus beauté (institut) (1999)
Épouse-moi (2000)
Le Libertin (2000)
Le Battement d’ailes du papillon (2000)
Le Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain (2001)
Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite (2001)
L’Auberge espagnole (2002)
À la folie... pas du tout (2002)
Dirty Pretty Things (2002)
Les Marins perdus (2003)
Pas sur la bouche (2003)
Nowhere to Go But Up (2003)
Un long dimanche de fiançailles (2004)
Les Poupées russes (2005)
The Da Vinci Code (2006)
Hors de prix (2006)
Ensemble, c’est tout (2007)
Coco avant Chanel (2009)
De vrais mensonges (2010)
La Délicatesse (2011)