Catherine Deneuve

Catherine Deneuve, born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac in Paris in 1943, is a French actress whose film career has run for nearly seventy years. She took her mother's maiden name as a stage name to set herself apart from her sisters, including the actress Françoise Dorléac. Her breakthrough came in Jacques Demy's musical The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, after which she worked with directors such as Roman Polanski in Repulsion, Luis Buñuel in Belle de Jour, François Truffaut in The Last Metro, and Tony Scott in The Hunger. She is associated with the French New Wave and with the musical film, and in 1985 she became the official face of Marianne, the national symbol of France. Her honours include two César Awards for Best Actress, the Volpi Cup at Venice for Place Vendôme, and an Academy Award nomination for Indochine, along with honorary prizes from the Berlin, Cannes and Venice festivals.