Gina Gershon Biography
You’ve got to have something when you co-star in one of the most laughable, disastrous feature films of all times yet come bouncing out of it with a career. This is precisely what happened to auburn-haired, pouty-lipped, smoky-eyed Gina Gershon, who uttered some embarrassing screen dialogue as Cristal Connors, the strip dancing queen in “Showgirls” (1995). Immediately after, while everyone else from above the line was ducking for cover, she went and filmed “Bound” (1996), playing an ex-con lesbian who teams with a mob moll (Jennifer Tilly) to steal millions from the hoods.
Gershon first won notice within the theater world as a co-founder of Naked Angels, a company of actors (including Rob Morrow, Sarah Jessica Parker) and writers (like Frank Pugliese, Jon Robin Baitz). Around the same time, she made her feature film debut with a small role in “Pretty in Pink” (1986) and her TV-movie debut in “Stark: The Mirror Image” (CBS, 1986). It took another two years before Gershon won a film role that anyone really noticed, playing a socialite who seduces Tom Cruise in “Cocktail”. That same year, she had a solid co-starring role opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Red Heat”, in which she played an ex-hooker. She continued to appear in small roles including one in John Sayles’ “City of Hope” (1991) and as a nasty development executive in Robert Altman’s “The Player” (1992). Before landing “Showgirls”, Gershon had her widest exposure in the 1992 CBS miniseries “Sinatra”, in which she was the singer’s first wife and mother of his children.
- Born:
on 06/10/1962 in Los Angeles, California - Job Titles:
Actor
Significant Others
- Companion: Damien Loeb. dated in spring 2000
- Companion: David Blaine. no longer together
- Companion: Sean MacPherson. have had on-again, off-again relationship; reportedly dating again as of late 2001
Education
- Beverly Hills High School, Beverly Hills, California
- Circle in the Square Professional Theater School, New York, New York
- New York University, New York, New York
- American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, California
Milestones
- — Cast opposite Ben Affleck and Rebecca Romijn in “Man About Town,” the indie feature set in the world of Hollywood; written and directed by Mike Binder (lensed 2004)
- — Will appear opposite George Clooney and Matt Damon in “Syriana” (lensed 2004)
- 1986 Made TV debut in CBS movie, “Stark: Mirror Image”
- 1986 Made feature film debut in “Pretty in Pink”
- 1988 Had first substantial role in a feture, “Red Heat”
- 1992 Played Frank Sinatra’s first wife, Nancy, in CBS miniseries “Sinatra”
- 1995 Co-starred in the disastrous “Showgirls”
- 1996 Bounced back as star of “Bound”
- 1997 Had featured role as Nicolas Cage’s love interest in “Face/Off”
- 1998 Co-starred as an actress accused of murder in the TNT movie “Legalese”
- 1998 Had supporting role as a mobster’s mistress in “One Tough Cop”
- 1999 Debut as a series regular in “Snoops” (ABC), playing a female private detective
- 2001 Broadway debut in the role of Sally Bowles in the acclaimed revival of “Cabaret”; returned to the role in late 2001
- 2001 Played the ex-wife of Sylvester Stallone’s character in “Driven”
- 2003 Co-starred with Drea de Matteo in “Prey for Rock & Roll” which centers around an all-girl rock and roll band
- Founding member of Naked Angels theater company in New York
Julie Christie Biography
Combining radiant, striking beauty and genuine talent, Julie Christie emerged as one of the more engaging female leads of the 1960s and 70s. She got her break as star of British TV’s “A For Andromeda” (1960) and had small parts in two Ken Annakin films before achieving big-screen success with leading roles in John Schlesinger’s “Billy Liar” (1963) and the tailor-made “Darling” (1965), for which she won an Oscar as Best Actress. Although usually exemplifying the sexually liberated, contemporary woman, Christie also starred as the object of desire in lavish period films: David Lean’s “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), with Omar Sharif, and Schlesinger’s “Far From the Madding Crowd” and Joseph Losey’s “The Go-Between” (both 1971), alongside Alan Bates.
Christie moved to the United States in the 1970s; her sojourn there distinguished by three movies she made with lover (and later pal) Warren Beatty. She was excellent as Beatty’s business partner in Robert Altman’s deconstructionist Western “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971, earning a Best Actress Oscar nomination) and handled her assignment in Hal Ashby’s “Shampoo” (1975) with ease and flair. Her final dismissal of Beatty (who also co-scripted with Robert Towne) was a dramatic highlight of the film. As the woman who inspires Beatty in the remake “Heaven Can Wait” (1978), however, Christie seemed miscast but still pulled off her part as the love interest who makes the connection between two distinct vessels the Beatty animus occupies. Perhaps her best performance of the decade was for her cinematographer-turned-director Nicolas Roeg in the downright scary yet erotic thriller “Don’t Look Now” (1973). Co-starring with Donald Sutherland, they played a couple who encounter the supernatural in Venice while trying to recover from their daughter’s drowning.
Since the 80s, the extremely private Christie has chosen fewer, and lower profile, projects, while continuing to turn in exemplary performances, as in “Heat and Dust” (1983), “Miss Mary” (1986) and as the ravishingly beautiful, alcoholic widow in the otherwise disappointing “Fools of Fortune” (1990). Reuniting with director Schlesinger and frequent co-star Alan Bates, she showed herself at her very best in the HBO production of “Separate Tables” (1983). Christie returned to films after a six year absence to co-star with Dennis Quaid in the medieval epic “Dragonheart” and went on to co-star as Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh’s full-length version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” (both 1996). The following year, she proved once again how seductive she could be–to co-stars and moviegoers alike–as a former B movie actress engaging in an extramarital affair with a much younger man in Alan Rudolph’s “Afterglow”, for which she received her third Oscar nomination as Best Actress.
Despite the late-career fanfare, Christie continued to work at her own pace and generally eschewed commercial fare for more visionary and independent minded projects, including supporting turns in Hal Hartley’s mythic “No Such Thing” (2001), Rudolf van den Berg’s poignant “Snapshot” (2002) opposite Burt Reynolds, and the little-seen romantic comedy “I’m With Lucy” (2002). Her next film was far more high-profile, with the actress playing Thetis, the mother of Brad Pitt’s Achilles in “Troy” (2004), the action-oriented adaptation of Homer’s epic poem about the Trojan War; the actress was better served with her subsequent role in “Finding Neverland” (2004), playing the stern, disapproving matriarch of a family who has captured the imagination of “Peter Pan” creator J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp).
- Also Credited As:
Julie Frances Christie - Born:
on 04/14/41 in Chukua, Assam, India - Job Titles:
Actor, Washed bottles at Schweppes
Family
- Brother: Clive Christie.
- Father: Frank St John Christie. deceased
- Mother: Rosemary Christie. deceased
Significant Others
- Companion: Don Bessant. together in the late 1960s
- Companion: Duncan Campbell. together since c. 1977; British
- Companion: Warren Beatty. together in the late 1960s and early 1970s; co-starred together in “McCabe and Mrs. Miller” (1971), “Shampoo” (1975) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1978)
Education
- Central School of Speech and Drama, London, England
Milestones
- 1948 Sent to England to attend boarding school at age seven (date approximate)
- 1957 Stage debut with Frinton-on-Sea Repertory
- 1960 Starred in TV series “A for Andromeda”
- 1962 Film acting debut in “Crooks Anonymous”
- 1963 First starring film role in John Schlesinger’s “Billy Liar”
- 1963 Joined the Birmingham Repertory Company
- 1964 Broadway debut with the RSC in “The Comedy of Errors”
- 1964 Performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company; toured Europe and USA with company in “The Comedy of Errors”, starring Paul Scofield
- 1965 Appeared in small role in “Young Cassidy” (the only sequences directed by John Ford before he became ill)
- 1965 Starred opposite Omar Sharif as the ill-fated Lara in David Lean’s “Dr Zhivago”
- 1965 Won Academy Award for her performance in Schlesinger’s “Darling”
- 1967 Moved to L.A.
- 1967 Reteamed with Schlesinger for “Far From the Madding Crowd”, co-starring Alan Bates and Terrence Stamp
- 1971 First of three starring turns opposite Warren Beatty in Robert Altman’s “McCabe and Mrs. Miller”; nominated for an Academy Award as Best Actress
- 1973 Acted opposite Donald Sutherland in Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now”; Roeg had served as cinematographer for three of Christie’s earlier films
- 1973 Co-starred on Broadway in Mike Nichols’ staging of “Uncle Vanya”
- 1975 Was in the ensemble cast of “Shampoo”, directed by Hal Ashby and co-written by Warren Beatty
- 1978 Played female lead in “Heaven Can Wait”, a remake of “Here Comes, Mr. Jordan”, co-written, co-directed and starring Beatty
- 1983 Reunited with Schlesinger and frequent co-star Alan Bates for the HBo remake of “Separate Tables”
- 1986 Last mainstream Hollywood vehicle to date, Sidney Lumet’s “Power”
- 1986 Worked with Argentine director Maria Luisa Bemberg, playing a stern English governness who comes to work for a rich and powerful Argentine family in “Miss Mary”
- 1992 Was one of 160 people who signed an advertisement which ran in THE TIMES (of London) urging the legalization of marijuana
- 1995 Starred in West End revival of Harold Pinter’s “Old Times”
- 1996 Played Gertrude in Kenneth Branagh’s “Hamlet”
- 1996 Portrayed a rich woman exploited by her husband in Dennis Potter’s miniseries “Karaoke” (aired in USA on Bravo)
- 1996 Returned to screen acting after six year absence in “Dragonheart”
- 1997 Acted the part of a former B-movie actress in Alan Rudolph’s “Afterglow”; received third Academy Award nomination as Best Actress
- 2001 Appeared in writer-director Hall Hartley’s “No Such Thing”
- 2002 Co-starred with Burt Reynolds in “Snapshots”
- 2004 Cast as Madame Rosmerta in “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” directed by Alfonso Cuarón
- 2004 Cast as Mrs. Emma du Maurier, the disapproving mother of Sylvia (Kate Winslet) in “Finding Neverland” which details the experiences of ‘Peter Pan’ author J.M. Barrie (Johnny Depp)
- 2004 Played Thetis, mother of Achilles (Brad Pitt) in director Wolfgang Petersen’s epic “Troy”
- Toured the south of England in “Suzanna Andler”, a play by Marguerite Duras (”Hiroshima, Mon Amour”)
Kathy Bates Biography
While Hollywood has always been about looks, talent sometimes wills out. For Kathy Bates, it took some twenty years before she truly broke through in films playing the deranged fan of a mystery writer (James Caan) in the screen adaptation of Stephen King’s “Misery” (1990), directed by Rob Reiner. After copping a Best Actress Oscar, she continued to offer a series of finely detailed character roles as well as developing a burgeoning secondary career as a director.
The youngest of three daughters, Bates was born and raised in Tennessee. Possessed with fine porcelain skin, striking blue-green eyes and full, pouty lips, she is an attractive woman who is capable of hiding her looks as the role required. Her one admitted problem was a tendency to gain weight, considered a cardinal sin in film and TV. Casting agents bluntly told her she was too unattractive for the roles for which she auditioned and even some critics (chiefly John Simon) ridiculed her appearance. Bates persevered and carved a rich career. She made her feature debut (billed as Bobo Bates) as an auditioning singer performing a song she wrote in Milos Forman’s “Taking Off” (1971) but quickly turned to the theater. Bates achieved her first taste of success as one of the Texas belles in the Off-Broadway hit “Vanities” (1976) and originated the role of Lenny, the eldest sibling, in Beth Henley’s “Crimes of the Heart” (1978) and finally made it to Broadway in the short-lived “Goodbye Fidel” (1980), supporting Jane Alexander.
In 1982, Bates created the role of the loudmouthed Stella May in the Broadway production “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” (reprising it in Robert Altman’s film version later that year). The following year, she scored a major hit as the depressed daughter bent on committing suicide in the Pulitzer-winning “‘night Mother”, earning several awards and a Tony nomination. She rounded out the decade as a frustrated waitress discovering love in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” (1987-88) a part written expressly for her by playwright Terrence McNally and replacing Amy Irving as a South African schoolteacher in Athol Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca” (1988-89).
While her stage career was blossoming, Bates was making small inroads in other media, most notably in TV. She had made her primetime debut as a bride on “The Love Boat” in 1977 and had guest roles on “Cagney and Lacey”. “L.A. Law” and “China Beach”. There was even a 1984 recurring role on ABC’s daytime soap “All My Children” as the cell mate of an incarcerated Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). Her film roles, though, tended to be negligible except for “Straight Time” (1978), in which she was Gary Busey’s put-upon wife. Tired of watching roles she had created go to other actresses (perhaps the biggest insult was the casting of the gorgeous Michelle Pfeiffer as the mousy waitress in the film “Frankie and Johnny”), Bates relocated to L.A. and made a concerted effort to raise her profile. Indelible character turns in such films as “Men Don’t Leave” and “Dick Tracy” (both 1990) laid the groundwork for her superlative work as the psychotic Annie Wilkes in “Misery”. Following her Academy Award win, the actress delivered a strong turn as Aidan Quinn’s repressed missionary wife whose grief over the death of their son causes her to have a breakdown in “At Play in the Fields of the Lord” (1991). She rounded out the year playing the slightly passive role of the woman listening to the stories of a nursing home resident (Jessica Tandy) in “Fried Green Tomatoes”.
Despite her acclaim and standing, Bates found good roles difficult to find; a function partly of her being a character player, partly of the lack of imagination by casting agents and producers and partly because of both her age and her full figure. When she did land roles, she often proved better than the material (i.e., “Used People” 1992; “A Home of Our Own” 1993). Ironically, perhaps, it was embodying another of Stephen King’s crusty characters that gave her career a boost. As “Dolores Claiborne” (1995), Bates was terrific, delivering a showy turn as a murder suspect. Although some felt her miscast as a hard-boiled detective investigating a possible homicide in the pallid remake “Diabolique” (1996), she injected a much needed spark to the film. Similarly, her foul-mouthed, aggressive agent-turned-producer in the HBO movie “The Late Shift” (1996) proved her ability to handle comedy as well as drama. James Cameron tapped her to portray another larger-than-life character, Molly Brown, in his epic “Titanic” (1997) and, though her appearances were brief, the actress made a memorable impression as the nouveau riche Coloradan. “Primary Colors” offered her yet another rich role, a straight-talking, no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners political campaign advisor, and while “The Waterboy” (both 1998) was hardly high-brow, it was entertaining and her white trash mother to Adam Sandler was another gem.
In 1995, Bates made her directorial debut staging the PBS adaptation of “Talking With”, a series of monologues performed by women (she also delivered one). Since then, she has gradually honed her craft, tackling episodes of the police dramas “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “NYPD Blue” as well as the gritty HBO prison drama “Oz” and “several episodes of HBO’s dark dramedy “Six Feet Under,” along with the family-oriented “Everwood.” Although still a relative novice, Bates tackled her first longform, guiding Sam Shepard and Judy Davis through their paces as Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman in the 1999 A&E biopic “Dash and Lilly,” for which she was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries or a Movie.
But Bates also continued to thrive before the camera, winning multiple awards and nominations–including an Academy Award nomination– for her turn as the hard-driving politco Libby Holden in the presidential campaign drama “Primary Colors,” and taking small but pivotal and often comedic roles in films such as “A Civil Action” (1998), “Rat Race” (2001), “American Outlaws” (2001) and “Dragonfly” (2002) on the big screen. Her zesty performance as Miss Hannigan in the TV-movie version of the stage hit “Annie” (1999) earned her a new round of critical kudos and shed light on her powerful singing voice–it also snagged her an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. That same year, in which she was also nominated as a director, Bates was nominated as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for a stint on “3rd Rock from the Sun.” Her next career-defining performance came in the 2002 film “About Schmidt,” in which she played Roberta Hertzel–the eccentric, low-class mother of Jack Nicholson’s prospective son-in-law. Bates attacked the role with comedic gusto and no regard for vanity, resulting in critical accolades and an Academy Award nomination for her supporting turn. In 2003 she began a recurring role on “Six Feet Under” playing the earthy, outspoken Bettina, who helps Ruth Fisher (Frances Conroy) break out of her self-repressing ways, and earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
In 2004 Bates had a cameo role as Queen Victoria in the contemporary remake of “Around the World in 80 Days” and she turned up in support of Brittany Murphy in the middling comedy “Little Black Book” (2004) as the daytime talk show hostess Kippie Kahn. She received rave reviews for her turn as physical therapist Helena Mahoney, who helps Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Kenneth Branagh) come to terms with his debilitating case of polio in the acclaimed HBO telepic “Warm Springs” (2005), for which she was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. That same year she directed and starred in the Lifetime telepic “Ambulance Girl” playing a former food writer who overcomes a bout of clinical depression when she begins working as a paramedic.
- Also Credited As:
Bobo Bates, Kathleen Doyle Bates, Kathy D. Bates - Born:
on 06/28/48 in Memphis, Tennessee - Job Titles:
Actor, Director, Songwriter
Family
- Father: Langdon Doyle Bates. deceased
- Mother: Bertye Kathleen Bates. died on February 15, 1997 at age 91
- Sister: Mary Bates. older
- Sister: Patricia Bates. older
Significant Others
- Husband: Tony Campisi. together from c. 1977; married in April 1991; divorced in 1997
- Companion: Bernard Hill. appeared together in “Titanic”
Education
- Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, theater, BFA, 1969
Milestones
- 1970 Moved to NYC to pursue career
- 1971 Feature film debut in bit role as a singer auditioning in Milos Forman’s “Taking Off”; also wrote song “And Even Horses Had Wings” she performed in film; credited as Bobo Bates
- 1973 Stage debut as a duck in “Virginia Folk Tales” at Wayside Children’s Theatre in Middletown, Virginia
- 1976 Off-Broadway debut as Joanne, one of the Texas Southern belles. in the three-character drama “Vanities”
- 1977 Made TV debut on an episode of “The Love Boat”
- 1977 Reprised her stage role in L.A. production of “Vanities”
- 1978 Was a member of the company of the Actors Theatre of Louisville (Kentucky); appeared in Beth Henley’s “Crimes of the Heart”
- 1980 Broadway debut in support of Jane Alexander in the short-lived production “Goodbye Fidel”
- 1981 Appeared in the Actors Theatre of Louisville production of “Extremities”
- 1981 Relocated to L.A.
- 1982 Originated role of Stella May in short-lived Broadway production of “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean”, staged by Robert Altman; reprised part in Altman’s film version
- 1983 Starred on Broadway in “‘night Mother”; received Tony nomination for her portrayal of a depressed woman bent on suicide
- 1984 Played Belle, the cellmate of Erica Kane, on the ABC daytime drama “All My Children”
- 1986 TV-movie debut, “Johnny Bull” (ABC)
- 1987 Had supporting role in the CBS miniseries “Murder Ordained”
- 1987 Starred Off-Broadway and in Los Angeles (1988) in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” in a role written for her by playwright Terrence McNally
- 1988 Appeared in a two-part episode of the ABC drama “China Beach”
- 1988 Replaced Amy Irving in the Off-Broadway production of Athol Fugard’s play “The Road to Mecca”; reprised role in 1981 feature version
- 1990 Breakthrough screen performance, “Misery”; received Best Actress Academy Award
- 1991 Co-starred in “Fried Green Tomatoes”
- 1992 Played supporting role in “Prelude to a Kiss”
- 1994 Made uncredited appearance in the ABC miniseries “Stephen King’s The Stand”
- 1995 Starred as the title character, a woman accused of murder, in the feature adaptation of Stephen King’s “Dolores Claiborne”
- 1995 TV directorial debut, the PBS production “Talking With”; also acted in one segment
- 1996 Cast as the tenacious police woman investigating the disappearance of the school’s headmaster in the remake of “Diabolique”
- 1996 Helmed episodes of “Homicide: Life on the Street” and “NYPD Blue”
- 1996 Portrayed manager Helen Kushnik in the HBO movie “The Late Shift”
- 1997 Directed the failed pilot “Fargo”
- 1997 Portrayed Molly Brown in James Cameron’s blockbuster “Titanic”
- 1998 Delivered a scene-stealing supporting turn as a political consultant in “Primary Colors”
- 1998 Directed an episode of the HBO series “Oz”
- 1998 Made uncredited appearance as a judge in “A Civil Action”
- 1998 Portrayed Adam Sandler’s mother in the suprise hit “The Waterboy”
- 1999 Helmed the TV-movie “Dash & Lilly” (A&E), about Dashiell Hammett and Lillian Hellman; received Emmy nomination
- 1999 Starred as Miss Hannigan in the ABC TV production of “Annie”; received Emmy nomination
- 2001 Directed episodes of “Six Feet Under”
- 2001 Made uncredited cameo appearance as a squirrel seller in the comedy “Rat Race”
- 2001 Portrayed the mother of the James brothers in the revisionist Western “American Outlaws”
- 2002 Had a recurring role as Bettina, in the acclaimed HBO series “Six Feet Under”
- 2002 Co-starred in the television feature “My Sister’s Keeper”; received a SAG nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries
- 2002 Had a bravura turn as Roberta, the future in-law to Jack Nicholson’s Warren Schmidt in “About Schmidt”; received nominations for a Golden Globe, a SAG and an Oscar for her supporting role performance
- 2002 Had co-starring role in “Dragonfly”
- 2002 Played a fan who helps the male lover of a murdered pop star investigate the killing in “Who Shot Victor Fox?”
- 2003 Received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series for her role in “Six Feet Under”
- 2004 Played Queen Victoria in the Disney live action feature “Around the World in 80 Days” based on the classical novel by Jules Verne
- 2004 Starred with Brittany Murphy in the romantic comedy “Little Black Book”
- 2005 Earned an Emmy nomination for her role as FDR’s physical therapist in the HBO Films original movie “Warm Springs”
- 2005 Elected secretary of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences
- Acted on stage in “The Art of Dining”
- Cast in Rob Reiner’s “Rumor Has It” with Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston (lensed 2004)
- Joined Malcolm McDowell and Jennifer Jason Leigh in the British satire “Funny Farm,” set in a celebrity drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility (lensed 2005)
- Raised in Memphis, Tennessee
- Will star opposite Danny DeVito and Ron Livingston in the indie “Relative Strangers” (lensed 2004)
- Will voice Bitsy in the animated feature “Charlotte’s Web,” based on the book by E.B. White (lensed 2005)
Emmanuelle Béart Biography
Initially cast for her extraordinary beauty, Emmanuelle Béart has emerged over the years as one of France’s preeminent actresses. The blonde, sapphire-eyed Béart first gained notice for her starring role in Manon des Sources, for which she won a Best Supporting Actress César, and went on to gain further respect with her roles in such films as La belle noiseuse, Un Coeur en Hiver, and Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud.
The daughter of pop singer and poet Guy Béart, Béart was born on August 14, 1965 in the small southern town of Gassin, near St. Tropez. Following her parents’ divorce when she was very young, Béart and her siblings were raised by her mother in a small mountain village in Provence. Béart began acting at a young age and had her first substantial role as one of a group of children struggling to survive after a nuclear holocaust in Demain les Momes (1976). A subsequent stint as an au pair in Montreal led to a chance meeting with director Robert Altman, who wanted the unknown actress to appear in one of his upcoming films and encouraged her to continue acting. The planned collaboration never came to fruition, and, after returning to France, where she began taking drama classes, Béart won her breakthrough role as the vengeful daughter of the late Jean de Florette in Manon des Sources (1986). Following the film’s success and her César win, she sought to avoid typecasting, taking on a number of diverse roles in films of varying quality. In 1989, she played a drug addict in Les Enfants du Desordre, while two years later she gained some of her strongest notices as an artist’s model in Jacques Rivette’s La belle noiseuse.
The following year, Béart starred in what many felt was her strongest film since Manon, Un Coeur en Hiver. She portrayed a high-strung violinist, starring alongside Daniel Auteuil, with whom she starred in Manon and with whom she had been involved with since the mid-1980s; they had a daughter together in 1992 and separated after ten years together. It was her last highly acclaimed film until 1995, when she starred with Michel Serrault in Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud, playing a dissatisfied young woman who gets caught up in psychological turmoil when she begins working for an emotionally repressed businessman. That same year, she starred with Auteuil in Regis Wargnier’s Une Femme Française, in a role written for her by Wargnier. The film, which cast Béart as a passionate woman caught up in a series of love affairs, was not the success it was expected to be, although Béart did win a Best Actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival. Following a window-dressing role in Mission Impossible (1996), her second English language feature, Béart again dedicated herself to making French films. In 1999, she starred in Le Temps retrouvé, Raul Ruiz’s acclaimed period drama inspired by the works of Marcel Proust. The film was screened in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to her screen work, Béart is also known in France for her political and social involvement. Aside from being the ambassador for UNICEF, she has made news for her opposition to anti-immigration legislation, making headlines in August 1996 when she was forcibly removed from a siege in a Paris church.