Mélanie Laurent

Already well-known for her screen work in her native France, Mélanie Laurent came to the attention of the world film community in 2009 through her portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. With her fellow actors from the film, she shared the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Laurent was also an Empire Award nominee and earned Best Actress citations from the Online Film Critics Society as well as the Austin Film Critics Association.

Her film credits include Jennifer Devoldère's Jusqu'à toi and The Day I Saw Your Heart, the latter with Michel Blanc; Jérôme Le Gris' Requiem for a Killer; Rose Bosch's La Rafle, which also starred Jean Reno; Radu Mihaileanu's The Concert; Cédric Anger's Le tueur; Cédric Klapisch's Paris; Rachid Bouchareb's Cannes award-winning Days of Glory; Jacques Audiard's The Beat That My Heart Skipped; Michel Blanc's Summer Things; Frédéric Auburtin and Gérard Depardieu's The Bridge; and Philippe Lioret's Don't Worry, I'm Fine, for which she won a César Award (France's Oscar® equivalent) and a Lumiere Award. Laurent has also been honored with the prestigious Prix Romy Schneider.

In parallel to her French career Melanie continues to play in international movies. Mike Mills' Beginners, which also starred Ewan McGregor; Louis Leterrier's Now You See Me; Denis Villeneuve's Enemy, which also starred Jake Gyllenhaal; Billie August's Night Train to Lisbon; and Claudia Llosa's Aloft.

In 2010, Laurent performed on stage for Nicolas Bedos' Promenade de Santé in which she was nominated for Best Female Newcomer at the Molière Awards.

Laurent wrote and directed the short films À ses pieds and De moins en moins; the latter was showcased at the Cannes International Film Festival. She then directed and starred in The Adopted, from her original screenplay, opposite Denis Menochet.

Her second feature Breathe was selected in Cannes in 2014 and was a critical success.

Universal Pictures