Bérénice Bejo Actress - Born July 7, 1976 in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Height 5' 5¾" (1.67 m)

Mini Bio (1) Actress Bérénice Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of Silvia De Paoli, a lawyer, and Miguel Bejo, a filmmaker. When she was three, Bejo's family relocated to Paris, France. She embarked on a successful acting career in the 1990s, with various roles in French television and film productions. She made her American film debut as Christiana in A Knight's Tale (2001), but came to major international recognition with her role as Peppy Miller in the critical and popular hit, The Artist (2011), which was written and directed by her husband, Michel Hazanavicius. The film garnered many major awards and nominations. Bejo herself was nominated as Best Supporting Actress of the year at the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the Oscars. She was also nominated as Best Leading Actress at the BAFTA Awards.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous

Spouse Michel Hazanavicius (? - present) 2 children M1. Lucien F2. Gloria

Hazanavicius, Lucien

Hazanavicius, Gloria

Parents De Paoli, Silvia

Miguel Bejo

Often works with Michel Hazanavicius

Energetic and fiery screen persona

Daughter of director Miguel Bejo and Silvia De Paoli, a lawyer. She has three younger sisters. Her family is Argentinian, and has Spanish and Italian ancestry.

Supported Lionel Jospin's 2002 presidential campaign.

Returned to work three months after giving birth to her daughter Gloria to begin filming Populaire (2012).

Grew up in Paris, France.

Gave birth to her first child at age 31, son Lucien on June 25, 2008. Child's father is her husband, Michel Hazanavicius.

Gave birth to her second child at age 35, daughter Gloria on September 18, 2011. Child's father is her husband, Michel Hazanavicius.

Sister-in-law of Serge Hazanavicius.

Is one of 13 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Claudette Colbert, Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Emmanuelle Riva and Isabelle Huppert.

Is the second Argentine-born actress to be nominated for an Oscar. The first was Norma Aleandro.

Host of the 65th Cannes Film Festival.

Her favorite movie is Laura (1944).

She's a big fan of Marilyn Monroe.

She studied karate with Alain Figlarz in preparation for her role in Vertiges: Koan (2002).

Hobbies include biking, writing, photography and collecting 1920s hats.

A fan of The Sopranos (1999).

Some of her favorite directors include Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, René Clair and Clint Eastwood.

Her parents agreed to call her Bérénice because his father loved the Edgar Allan Poe short story by the same name while her mother, being fond of astronomy, had in mind the Coma Berenice (Berenice's hair) constellation.

Was considered for the role of Rita in Edge of Tomorrow (2014), but Emily Blunt was cast instead.

Michele Placido initially approached her for the leading female role in La scelta (2015).

Twice auditioned for a Bond girl role.

The only winner of the Best Actress César to be nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for the same performance.

Sister of Moira Grassi.

Had agreed to star in Florent-Emilio Siri's "La bande à Bonnot", but the project was shelved when the distributor (Pathé) withdrew from it for budgetary reasons. The movie would have co-starred Matthias Schoenaerts as criminal anarchist Jules Bonnot.

[on working with Asghar Farhadi on the set of The Past (2013)] When I say he's bossy . . . maybe that's not the right world in English. He just directs everything, he's in control of everything. If he controls everything so he has control in the image, then you can do your job. That's why I'm saying he's the boss--he's making sure your look is the right look for Marie, so he's very controlling of the costume designer, your hair and makeup to help you to look tired. So the only thing you have to do as an actor is say your lines and feel them, that's it. When I say he's the boss, he's just doing his job, which makes you feel more secure, because you don't have to take charge of the telling of the story, he's in charge of that and doing his job as a director.

[on Michel Hazanavicius] Michel changed my life. And I think I changed his life, too. Writing the part in The Artist (2011) for me, it was a gift. But I think I was really good in the movie, I tried my best. I gave back what he gave me.

I was the one who was more grounded during the [2011-12] Oscar season. I had just given birth. I knew I was going to lose every award. And that, I think, helped us to stay normal. It's important not to feel too cute. Do you know what I mean? Not to like the image of yourself too much. It's a joke. It's play.

[on the difficulties of acting in a silent movie] I think the approach of the character for us is the same in a silent movie as in a talking movie because we had balance, we had lines to learn. Actually the challenge is more for [Michel Hazanavicius], who has to tell the story without any sounds or dialogue and just images. But, for me, I worked the same. I tried to find a character and how I would be an American actress in the '30s. But if this was a talking movie, I'm sure she would be exactly the same for me.

[on her models for the Peppy Miller character] I connected very much with all the work of Joan Crawford because she started as a flapper. She used to dance and sing and she was very cute. She had something that was so different from what she is at the end of her life and she started in the silent movies and then went into the talkies. I thought the energy she had in the movies was something that Peppy should have. I loved her in Grand Hotel (1932) with John Barrymore and the way she would move her body, how she smiled and moved the eyes. She was very much someone I really looked for. And then, Marlene Dietrich for the way there was something so unique about her--the way she entered into a frame and everybody looks at her and the way she winks and looks up. I Googled her and looked at all the ways she winks in movies, the way she poses and takes her time talking. That was something very important to me, I think, in order to find and portray the character accurately. And then, I read Gloria Swanson's autobiography just because I wanted to know what it was like in the time. I think she's an amazing woman and I think Peppy is an amazing woman, too. She's very modern and Gloria Swanson had that. I think those three women were very important to my work.

Salary (1) The Artist (2011) €250,000

Bérénice Bejo (born 7 July 1976) is a French Argentine actress, who played Christiana in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale and Peppy Miller in the 2011 film The Artist.

Her work in The Artist received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won her the César Award for Best Actress. She won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2013 for her performance in The Past.

Personal life Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is the daughter of Argentine filmmaker Miguel Bejo and his wife Silvia, a lawyer.When she was three, her family moved to France, escaping from the Argentine Dirty War.

In 2006, she starred in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, where she met director Michel Hazanavicius, whom she later married. They have two children: Lucien and Gloria.

Career In 2001, Bejo made her American film debut, playing the role of Christiana in A Knight's Tale opposite Heath Ledger. Christiana is a lady-in-waiting to Jocelyn (Shannyn Sossamon).

In 2002, she toured in France with Marie-France Pisier and Guillaume Depardieu.

In 2003, Bejo starred as Olivia in 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman by Laurent Bouhnik.

Under the direction of Steve Suissa, she seduces Stephane Freiss and Titoff in The Grand Role (2004), and a comedy about the world of actors, and Cavalcade (2005), a drama dealing with the theme of disability.

In 2006, she made a comeback by acting alongside Jean Dujardin in OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies by Michel Hazanavicius. This is the first collaboration of the trio.

In 2007, she made an appearance in the short film La Pomme d'Adam.

In 2008, she appeared in two romantic comedies: Modern Love Bouquet and Stéphane Kazandjian. The same year she gave birth to her first child by Hazanavicius.

In 2009, she participated in the documentary by Serge Bromberg (fr), Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno. The documentary reconstructs Clouzot's film, alternating between scenes from the 1964 film and dialogue readings between Jacques Gamblin (for Serge Reggiani) and Béjo (for Romy Schneider).

In the 2011 film, The Artist, which is directed by Hazanavicius and stars Dujardin, Bejo plays Peppy Miller, a 1920s film actress. Her performance received critical acclaim, the César Award for Best Actress, and several award nominations: the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture award, BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role and the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

In 2012, she was announced as the host of the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. She dubbed the role of Mérida in the French dub of the Disney/Pixar film Brave. In June 2012, Bejo was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The same month, she received the Prix Romy Schneider.