Jeanne Balibar

When she was a child, Jeanne Balibar wanted to be a dancer. She was
already attracted by the stage and the show and admired great opera
singers like Maria Callas. As she was going to take the last exam for
becoming a lecturer, she decided not to go to the exam but to take an
exam to become a stage actress. She went to the French academy for
young actors, in Paris (like The Actors Studio, as if acting isn’t
taught in the same way) and she passed the very difficult exam without
having previously acted in any play nor movie. When she finished her
studies for acting, she started to work for La Comédie Française, a
world-known French company which only produces French classics. She
played the part of Elvire, from Molière’s “Don Juan” in the biggest
French stage festival: the festival of Avignon. She was really
acclaimed by the French critics and public. She started to play in
French cinema with directors such as Arnaud Desplechin (“My sexual like
or how I get into an argument”) or Olivier Assayas (“Last August, Early
September” for which she earned a best actress award in the Spanish
movie festival of San Sebastian). As though, these parts were dramatic,
she was also wonderful in comedies such as “Ca ira mieux demain”
(Jeanne Labrune) which made her more famous. She was really acclaimed
for these movies but not very popular, as these films weren’t
blockbusters. The film which really made her famous is Rivette’s “Who
Knows” where she played the lead role of Camille, a French stage
actress and created a very impressionating and innovative way of
acting. She replaced Emmanuelle Béart for this part and became a very
respected actress. She started to sing in 2003 and she did a record
called “Paramour” with songs such as “Johnny Guitar” (from the Nicholas
Ray’s movie), “Pearl” (from “The Night of the Hunter”) or even “Hélas”
(a duet with Maggie Cheung who acted with her in “Clean”, by Olivier
Assayas). She is still a stage actress and started an international
career with Winterbottom’s “Code 46” (she played the part of Tim
Robbin’s girlfriend). As if she is not the most popular French actress,
she is one of the most talented and her talents seem to have no limit:
stage and movie acting, singing and soon dancing in Berliner’s “Fred
Astaire”.- IMDb Mini Biography By: jr