Noémie Merlant

Noémie Merlant (birthname: Noémie Merlant) is a French actor who has won the coveted Lumière Award for best actress for her breakthrough performance in Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019). After six years of acting in mainly TV series and short films, Merlant was cast in writer-director Kim Chapiron’s comedy-drama, La Creme de la creme (2014), earning three Lumière nominations.

She had a more prominent role in writer-director Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar’s drama, Once in a Lifetime (2014), and then played support in writer-director Jean-François Richet’s One Wild Moment (2015), with Vincent Cassel and François Cluzet. The following year, Noémie Merlant appeared in director-star Lucien Jean-Baptiste’s comedy, Dieumerci! (2016).

Merlant received wide acclaim, as well as major nominations for Most Promising Actress (from both the Césars and the Lumières) for her first starring performance in writer-director Mention-Schaar’s drama, Heaven Will Wait (2016), with Sandrine Bonnaire, and premiering at the Toronto Film Festival. Showing her comedy chops, Merlant played opposite stars Jean Dujardin and Melanie Laurent in Laurent Tirard’s French-Belgian comedy, Return of the Hero (2018).

Noémie Merlant’s third feature with filmmaker Mention-Schaar was as part of the large ensemble in All About Mothers (2018), with Marie-Christine Barrault, Nicole Garcia, Gustave Kervern, and Audrey Fleurot. Merlant’s second starring role was in writer-director Lou Jeunet’s erotic drama, Curiosa (2019), with Niels Schneider and Damien Bonnard.

Merlant made her international breakthrough in 2019 as the co-star (with Adele Haenel) of Celine Sciamma’s acclaimed romantic drama, Portrait of a Lady on Fire, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won the Queer Palm, and earned Merlant the Best Actress prize in the Lumière Awards.

Merlant next starred in writer-director Zoe Wittock’s Jumbo (2020), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and followed in the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation section. Returning for her fourth feature with Mention-Schaar, Merlant starred in A Good Man (2020), which was selected for the Cannes Film Festival competition before it was cancelled during the COVID pandemic and premiered at the Deauville Film Festival.

After having made two short films of her own, Merlant wrote, directed and co-starred in the Romania-set Mi lubita, mon amour (2021), premiering at the Cannes Film Festival. Merlant’s second collaboration with Sciamma—who, in this case, was co-writer–was as a co-star in director Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District (2021), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Merlant was back on the major festival red carpet for the Berlin Film Festival competition title, writer-director Isaki Lacuesta’s Spanish-French drama, One Year, One Night (2022), with co-star Nahuel Perez Biscayart.

In her first major English-language performance, Noémie Merlant delivered a stunning supporting performance in writer-director-producer Todd Field’s acclaimed Tár (2022), starring Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, and Mark Strong, and premiering at the Venice Film Festival. Merlant’s second English-language film was writer-director Bess Wohl’s Baby Ruby (2022), with Kit Harington, Meredith Hagner, and Reed Birney.

Merlant joined veteran filmmaker André Téchiné for the French army drama, Les Pieds sur terre (2022), with Benjamin Voisin, Audrey Dana, and Andre Marcon. Merlant then starred with James Gaspar de Almeida and   Mathieu Almaric in co-writer-directors Olivier Nakache’s and Eric Toledano’s A Difficult Year (2023). Following this, Merlant launched her second feature as writer-director with Les Femmes au Balcon (date to be announced).