Audrey Tautou born August 9, 1978 is a French film actress, known to
worldwide audiences for playing the title character in the
award-winning French film Amélie (2001, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie
Poulain) and also Sophie Neveu in The Da Vinci Code (2006).
Biography
Early life
Tautou
was born in the Puy-de-Dôme département of Auvergne, and was raised in
Montluçon in the nearby Allier, still in Auvergne. Her father is a
dental surgeon and her mother is a teacher. She has a younger brother
and two younger sisters. She has always been, and remains today,
absolutely fascinated with monkeys. Her childhood hero was Dian Fossey,
the primatologist, and she wanted to follow in her hero's footsteps.
Even now, many of her trips and voyages abroad are influenced by her
passions for monkeys and gorillas. In fact, after the premiere of the
film Amélie (for which she received phenomenal amounts of paparazzi and
press coverage) she travelled to the jungles of Indonesia to help with
the preservation of a monkey sanctuary.
Many may have claimed that she
left France because of all the media attention that she was unwillingly
receiving, while others say it was fuelled by her passions for the
animals. Tautou showed an interest for comedy at an early age and
started her acting lessons at the Cours Florent. This theatrical
institution is highly prestigious and she is one of several famous
actors to have passed through its doors (others including Muriel Robin,
Daniel Auteuil and Guillaume Canet). It is said that she almost didn't
actually go through with the Cours Florent course, because when she was
living up in Paris, she was living on the same road as a model agency
and mistook all the models walking past her home to be the average
Parisian woman. This apparently made her feel immediately insecure, but
nonetheless, she continued the course and came out at the end and went
on to star in some of French cinema's biggest and most famous films.
Career
Tautou has said
that Meryl Streep, Paul Newman, Juliette Lewis, Jodie Foster and
Julianne Moore are her acting idols. In 1998, Tautou participated in a
Star Search-like competition sponsored by Canal+ called "Jeunes
Premiers" (The Young Debut) and won Best Young Actress at the 9th
Béziers Festival of Young Actors. Then, she came to the attention of
Tonie Marshall, who gave her a role in the César-winning Venus Beauty
Institute (1999, aka Vénus beauté (institut)). In 2000 , she won the
Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as her country's most promising young film
actress.
Already well-known in France for her work in Venus Beauty
Institute, in 2001 Tautou rose to international fame for her
performance as the eccentric Amélie in the romantic French comedy Le
Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain. In June 2004 she was invited to join
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). She accepted
the invitation and is still a member as of September 1, 2006.
In 2005, Tautou worked in her first full Hollywood production,
opposite Tom Hanks, in the film version of Dan Brown's best-selling
novel The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and released in May
2006. She acted alongside Gad Elmaleh in Pierre Salvadori's Hors de
prix, released December 13, 2006. Tautou says she still considers
France her base, and plans to pursue a career predominantly there
rather than crossing over to the United States. As she told Stevie Wong
of The Straits Times, "I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I
am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but
my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never
move to Los Angeles".
Tautou starred with Guillaume Canet (best known outside of France
for his role in the film adaptation of The Beach) in Claude Berri's
French-language Ensemble, c'est tout in 2007.
Personal life
Her
favourite authors are Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and Paul Auster, and her
favourite poets are Charles Baudelaire and Tristan Tzara. Tautou's
favourite music composers are Ravel, Mozart and Frédéric Chopin.
Tautou takes pictures of each reporter who interviews her and
keeps them in a scrapbook. Tautou has said that "Everyone [outside
France] thinks I have an ethnic origin", though she is actually
"100-percent French". In France, many consider her as the "typical
Occitan Auvergnate". She was brought up attending church, though she
has now stated that she is "not officially" a Catholic.
The Brand New song 'Tautou', from the album Déjà Entendu is named after her.
Filmography
Ensemble, c'est tout - Camille (2007)
(English title: Hunting And Gathering)
Hors de prix - (2006) Irène (2006)
(English title: Priceless)
The Da Vinci Code - Sophie Neveu (2006)
Les Poupées russes - Martine (2005)
(English title: The Russian Dolls)
Un long dimanche de fiançailles - Mathilde (2004)
(English title: A Very Long Engagement)
Nowhere to Go But Up - Val Chipzik (2003)
(aka Happy End (Movie))
Pas sur la bouche - Huguette Verberie (2003)
(English title: Not on the Lips)
Les Marins perdus - Lalla (2003)
(English title: Lost Seamen)
Dirty Pretty Things - Senay (2002)
L'Auberge espagnole - Martine (2002)
(aka Pot Luck - UK)
(aka Euro Pudding - International: English title)
(aka The Spanish Apartment - USA)
À la folie... pas du tout - Angélique (2002)
(English title: He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not)
Dieu est grand, je suis toute petite - Michèle (2001)
(English title: God Is Great, I'm Not)
Le Fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - Amélie Poulain (2001)
(aka Amélie - International: English title - USA)
(aka Amelie from Montmartre - International: English title)
(aka The Fabulous Destiny of Amelie Poulain - USA: literal English title)
Le Battement d'ailes du papillon - Irène (2000)
(aka Happenstance - UK and USA)
(aka Amelie 2 - Hong Kong: English title)
(aka The Beating of the Butterfly's Wings - International: English title)
Le Libertin - Julie d'Holbach (2000) (English title: The Libertine)
Voyous voyelles - Anne-Sophie (2000)
(aka Bad Girls - Australia: TV title)
(aka The Little Grifters - USA: cable TV title)
(aka Pretty Devils - USA: new title)
Épouse-moi - Marie-Ange (2000) (English title: Marry Me)
Triste à mourir - Caro (1999)
Vénus beauté (institut) - Marie (1999)
(aka Venus Beauty Institute - USA: literal English title)
(aka Venus Beauty Salon - UK)
Le Boiteux: Baby blues - Blandine Piancet (1999) (TV)
La Vieille barrière - La jeune fille du quartier (1998)
Casting: Archi-dégueulasse - Comédienne 1 (1998)
Chaos technique - Lisa (1998) (TV)
Bébés boum - Elsa (1998) (TV)
La Vérité est un vilain défaut - La standardiste (1997) (TV)
Coeur de cible (1996) (TV)
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