Isabelle Huppert

Born 16 March 1953, Isabelle Huppert entered French cinema in the mid-seventies and never stopped working. Her first César nomination came for Aloïse in 1975; two years later The Lacemaker won her a BAFTA for Most Promising Newcomer. She collected Cannes Best Actress twice - for Violette Nozière in 1978 and The Piano Teacher in 2001 - and the Venice Volpi Cup twice, for Story of Women and La Cérémonie. That last film also gave her the first of two César wins; the second came twenty-one years later for Elle, the Paul Verhoeven provocation that earned her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe. She's worked with Chabrol, Godard, Haneke; she's racked up more than 120 films and holds the record for most César nominations at seventeen. In 2020, The New York Times named her one of the greatest actors of the 21st century, a century she entered already in full command.