# Isabelle Adjani

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani (born 27 June 1955) is a French actress and singer of Algerian and German descent. She has received various accolades, including five César Awards and a Lumière Award, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. Adjani was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 2010 and a Commandeur of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2014.
Adjani has won a record five Césars for Best Actress for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), La Reine Margot (1994), and La Journée de la jupe (2009). Her other César-nominated roles were in The Story of Adèle H. (1975), Barocco (1976), Subway (1985), and The World Is Yours (2018). Other notable films include The Slap (1974), The Tenant (1976), The Driver (1978), Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), All Fired Up (1982), Deadly Circuit (1983), Ishtar (1987), Diabolique (1996), Adolphe (2002), Bon voyage (2003), French Women (2014), and Peter von Kant (2022).
Adjani came to international prominence for her portrayal of Adèle Hugo in The Story of Adele H., for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress at age 20, becoming the youngest nominee in the category at the time. She later collected a second Best Actress nomination for portraying Camille Claudel in Camille Claudel, thus becoming the first French actress to receive two Academy Award nominations for foreign-language films. Adjani also won the Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress Award for her performances in Possession and Quartet (1981), which makes her the only actress to win a joint award for two films in the same competition slate, and the Berlinale's Silver Bear for Best Actress for Camille Claudel.

## Early life and education

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani was born on 27 June 1955 in the 17th arrondissement of Paris, to Mohammed Cherif Adjani, an Algerian Muslim from Constantine, and Emma Augusta "Gusti" Schweinberger, a German Catholic from Bavaria.
Adjani's parents met near the end of World War II, when her father was in the French Army and stationed in Germany. They married and her mother returned with him to Paris, despite not speaking a word of French. She asked him to take Cherif as his first name as she thought it sounded more "American".
Isabelle grew up bilingual, speaking French and German fluently, in Gennevilliers, a northwestern suburb of Paris, where her father worked in a garage. After winning a school recitation contest, Adjani began acting by the age of 12 in amateur theater. She successfully passed her baccalauréat and was auditing classes at the University of Vincennes in 1976.
Adjani had a younger brother, Éric, who was a photographer. He died on 25 December 2010, aged 53.

## Acting career

At the age of 14, Adjani starred in her first motion picture, Le Petit Bougnat [fr] (1970). She first gained fame as a classical actress at the Comédie-Française, which she joined in 1972. She was praised for her interpretation of Agnès, the main female role in Molière's L'École des femmes. She soon left the theatre to pursue a film career.
After minor roles in several films, she enjoyed modest success in the 1974 film La Gifle (The Slap), which François Truffaut saw. He immediately cast her in her first major role in The Story of Adèle H. (1975), a project that he had finished writing five years prior but had waited to cast the right actress for the part. Critics unanimously praised her performance, with the American critic Pauline Kael describing her acting talents as "prodigious".
Only 19 when she made the film, Adjani was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, becoming the youngest Best Actress nominee at the time (a record she held for almost 30 years). She quickly received offers for roles in Hollywood films, such as Walter Hill's 1978 crime thriller The Driver. She had previously turned down the chance to star in films like The Other Side of Midnight. She had described Hollywood as a "city of fiction" and said, "I'm not an American. I didn't grow up with that will to win an award." Truffaut on the other hand said, "France is too small for her. I think Isabelle is made for American cinema." She agreed to make The Driver because she was an admirer of Hill's first film Hard Times. Adjani said:
   I think he is wonderful, very much in the tradition of Howard Hawks, lean and spare. The story is contemporary but also very stylized, and the roles that Ryan and I play are like Bogart and Bacall. We are both gamblers in our souls and we do not show our emotions or say a lot. For us, talk is cheap. I am really quite a mysterious girl in this film, with no name and no background. And I must say that it is restful not to have a life behind me; this way, I don't have to dig deep to play the part. All I know is that life for me is gambling and I am a loser. I have what people call a poker face.
The film was seen more than 1.1 million times in Adjani's native France but did not do as well in the US.
She played Lucy in the German director Werner Herzog's 1979 remake of Nosferatu which was well-received critically and performed well at box offices in Europe. Roger Ebert loved the film, calling Herzog's casting of Adjani one of his "masterstrokes" in the film. He wrote that she "is used here not only for her facial perfection but for her curious quality of seeming to exist on an ethereal plane." The cast and the crew filmed both English- and German-language versions simultaneously upon request of 20th Century Fox, the American distributor, as Kinski and Bruno Ganz could act more confidently in their native language.
In 1981, she received a double Cannes Film Festival's Best Actress award for her roles in the Merchant Ivory film Quartet, based on the novel by Jean Rhys, and in the horror film Possession (1981). The following year, she received her first César Award for Possession, in which she had portrayed a woman having a nervous breakdown.
In 1983, she won her second César for her depiction of a vengeful woman in the French blockbuster One Deadly Summer, and starred with Michel Serrault in the black diamond thriller Deadly Circuit directed by Claude Miller. That same year, Adjani released the French pop album Pull marine, written and produced by Serge Gainsbourg. She then starred in a music video for the hit title song, Pull Marine, which was directed by Luc Besson.
Adjani also drew controversy at the 1983 Cannes Film Festival when she refused to attend a traditional photocall after the press conference for One Deadly Summer. Adjani was annoyed at the time by the intrusion of photographers into her private life. The photographers in Cannes boycotted Adjani upon her arrival on the red carpet for the premiere, at which point they put down their cameras down and turned their backs to her.
In 1988, she co-produced and starred in a biopic of the sculptor Camille Claudel. She received her third César and second Oscar nomination for her role in the film, becoming the first French actress to receive two Oscar nominations. The film was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
She received her fourth César for the 1994 film Queen Margot, an ensemble epic directed by Patrice Chéreau. She received her fifth César for Skirt Day (2009), the most that any actress has received. The film features her as a middle school teacher in a troubled French suburb who takes her class hostage when she accidentally fires off a gun she found on one of her students. It was premiered on the French Arte channel on 20 March 2009, attaining a record 2.2 million viewers) and then in movie theaters on 25 March 2009. The film was her return to the cinema after eight years of absence.
In 2010, she made an appearance in the social comedy Mammuth, from directors Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern, and in which she played the phantom of Gérard Depardieu's first love. The same year, she lent her voice to the character of Mother Gothel in the french version of the animated film Tangled. In 2011, she co-starred in De Force, the first film directed by Frank Henry. She embodied the commander Clara Damico, head of the brigade for the repression of banditry.
She became the first French actress to star in a Bollywood film, playing the mother of Preity Zinta in the 2013 romantic comedy Ishkq in Paris, directed by Prem Soni and alongside Shekhar Kapur.
She joined the comedy The World Is Yours, playing the eccentric Dany, directed by Romain Gavras alongside Vincent Cassel, which entered into the Directors' Fortnight during the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.
In 2022, she played the movie star Sidonie von Grassenabb in the comedy drama Peter von Kant, tribute to Rainer Werner Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, directed by François Ozon alongside Denis Ménochet, which entered as the opening film into the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2023, Adjani released her second French pop album Bande originale, written and produced by Pascal Obispo, and arranged by Cécile DeLaurentis. She also joined the Netflix action film Wingwomen, directed by Mélanie Laurent, and then, the Netflix miniseries The Perfect Couple directed by Susanne Bier, alongside Nicole Kidman and Liev Schreiber.

## Personal life

In 1979, Adjani had a son, Barnabé Saïd-Nuytten, with the cinematographer Bruno Nuytten. She later hired Nuytten to direct her project Camille Claudel, a biopic of the sculptor who was the lover of Rodin.
During the mid-eighties, she had a relationship with Warren Beatty. He convinced her to appear with him in the epic comedy Ishtar, directed by Elaine May, co-starring Dustin Hoffman, and shot in Morocco.
From 1989 to 1995, she had a relationship with Daniel Day-Lewis, which ended before the birth of their son, Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, in 1995.
Adjani was later engaged to the composer Jean-Michel Jarre; they broke up in 2004.
On 14 December 2023, Adjani was handed a two-year suspended sentence for tax fraud.

### Political views

Adjani has been vocal against anti-immigrant and anti-Algerian sentiments in France. In 2009, she criticized statements by Pope Benedict XVI, who claimed that condoms are not an effective method of AIDS prevention.
In September 2009, she signed a petition in support of Roman Polanski, calling for his release after he was arrested in Switzerland in relation to his sexual abuse case.
In 2017, Adjani was interviewed by Vincent Josse on the French public radio station France Inter. During the interview, she expressed her vaccine hesitancy and opposition to mandatory vaccination.
In 2018 Adjani signed a letter calling to act "firmly and immediately" for stopping climate change and biodiversity loss.

## Performances and works
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1970 | Le Petit bougnat | Rose | Bernard Toublanc-Michel | |
| 1972 | Faustine et le Bel Été | Camille | Nina Companeez | Out of Competition – 25th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1974 | The Slap | Isabelle Doulean | Claude Pinoteau | |
| 1974 | Ariane | Ariane | Pierre-Jean de San Bartolomé | |
| 1975 | The Story of Adele H. | Adèle Hugo | François Truffaut | |
| 1976 | The Tenant | Stella | Roman Polanski | In Competition – 29th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1976 | Barocco | Laure | André Téchiné | |
| 1977 | Violette et François | Violette Clot | Jacques Rouffio | |
| 1978 | The Driver | The Player | Walter Hill | |
| 1979 | Nosferatu the Vampyre | Lucy Harker | Werner Herzog | In Competition – 29th Berlin International Film Festival |
| 1979 | The Brontë Sisters | Emily Brontë | André Téchiné | In Competition – 32nd Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1981 | Clara et les Chics Types | Clara | Jacques Monnet | |
| 1981 | Possession | Anna/Helen | Andrzej Żuławski | In Competition – 34th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1981 | Quartet | Marya "Mado" Zelli | James Ivory | In Competition – 34th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1981 | L'Année prochaine... si tout va bien | Isabelle Maréchal | Jean-Loup Hubert | |
| 1982 | All Fired Up | Pauline Valance | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | |
| 1982 | The Last Horror Film | Herself | David Winters | |
| 1982 | Antonieta | Antonieta Rivas Mercado | Carlos Saura | |
| 1983 | Deadly Circuit | Catherine Leiris/Lucie, 'Marie' | Claude Miller | |
| 1983 | One Deadly Summer | Eliane known as 'Elle' | Jean Becker | In Competition – 36th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1985 | Subway | Héléna | Luc Besson | |
| 1986 | T'as de beaux escaliers tu sais | Herself | Agnès Varda | Short film Special Screenings section – 39th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1987 | Ishtar | Shirra Assel | Elaine May | |
| 1988 | Camille Claudel | Camille Claudel | Bruno Nuytten | Also executive producer In Competition – 39th Berlin International Film Festival |
| 1990 | Lung Ta: Les cavaliers du vent | Narrator | Marie-Jaoul de Poncheville Franz-Christoph Giercke | Documentary |
| 1993 | Toxic Affair | Pénélope | Philomène Esposito | Out of Competition – 46th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1994 | La Reine Margot | Margot | Patrice Chéreau | In Competition – 47th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 1996 | Diabolique | Mia Baran | Jeremiah S. Chechik | |
| 1998 | Paparazzi | Herself | Alain Berbérian | |
| 2002 | The Repentant | Charlotte/Leïla | Laetitia Masson | |
| 2002 | Adolphe | Ellénore | Benoît Jacquot | |
| 2003 | Bon Voyage | Viviane Denvers | Jean-Paul Rappeneau | Gala Presentations section – 28th Toronto International Film Festival |
| 2003 | Monsieur Ibrahim | The Star | François Dupeyron | Out of Competition – 60th Venice International Film Festival |
| 2009 | La Journée de la jupe | Sonia Bergerac | Jean-Paul Lilienfeld | |
| 2010 | Mammuth | The Lost Love of Serge | Gustave Kervern Benoît Delépine | In Competition – 60th Berlin International Film Festival |
| 2010 | Tangled | Mother Gothel | Nathan Greno Byron Howard | Voice dub for French version; animated film |
| 2011 | De Force | Clara Damico | Frank Henry | |
| 2012 | David et Madame Hansen | Madame Hansen-Bergmann | Alexandre Astier | |
| 2013 | Ishkq in Paris | Marie Elise | Prem Raj | |
| 2014 | French Women | Lili | Audrey Dana | |
| 2016 | Carole Matthieu | Carole Matthieu | Louis-Julien Petit | Also associate producer |
| 2018 | The World Is Yours | Dany | Romain Gavras | Director's Fortnight section – 71st Cannes International Film Festival |
| 2021 | Soeurs | Zorah | Yamina Benguigui | |
| 2022 | Peter von Kant | Sidonie von Grassenabb | François Ozon | In Competition – 72nd Berlin International Film Festival |
| 2022 | Masquerade | Martha | Nicolas Bedos | Out of Competition – 75th Cannes International Film Festival |
| 2023 | Dammi | Herself | Yann Demange | Short film Piazza Grande section – 76th Locarno Film Festival |
| 2023 | Wingwomen | Marraine | Mélanie Laurent | |
| 2023 | Wish | Queen Amaya | Chris Buck Fawn Veerasunthorn | Voice dub for French version; animated film |
| 2025 | Natacha, presque hôtesse de l'air | Mona | Noémie Saglio | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Director | Notes |
| 1973 | L'école des femmes | Agnès | Raymond Rouleau | Television film produced by the Comédie-Française |
| 1974 | L'Avare | Mariane | René Lucot | Television film produced by the Comédie-Française |
| 1974 | Le Secret des Flamands | Maria | Robert Valey | Miniseries; 4 episodes |
| 1975 | Ondine | Ondine | Raymond Rouleau | Television film produced by the Comédie-Française |
| 2008 | Figaro | Countess Almaviva | Jacques Weber | Television film |
| 2011 | Aïcha | Doctor Assoussa | Yamina Benguigui | Episode: "Job à tout prix" |
| 2017 | Call My Agent! | Herself | Jeanne Herry | Episode: "Isabelle" |
| 2018 | Capitaine Marleau | Isabelle Laumont | Josée Dayan | Episode: "Ne plus mourir jamais" |
| 2022 | Diane de Poitiers, la plus que reine | Diane de Poitiers | Josée Dayan | Miniseries; 2 episodes |
| 2023 | Adieu Vinyle | Eve Faugère | Josée Dayan | Television film |
| 2024 | The Perfect Couple | Isabel Nallet | Susanne Bier | Miniseries; 5 episodes |
| 2025 | Qui sème le vent | TBA | Marie Jardillier Edouard Salier | Miniseries; 6 episodes |

### Music videos
#### As lead artist

| Title | Year | Director |
| "Pull marine" | 1984 | Luc Besson |
| "Princesse au petit pois" | 1986 | Jean-Paul Seaulieu |
| "Où tu ne m'attendais pas" | 2024 | Alexandre Mattiussi |

#### As featured artist

| Title | Year | Main artist(s) | Director(s) |
| "Meet Me by the Gates" | 2019 | The Penelopes | Nicolas Bary |
| "Quelques mots" | 2022 | Malik Djoudi | Antoine Carlier |

#### As guest appearance

| Title | Year | Artist | Director |
| "Y'a pas un homme qui soit né pour ça" | 2004 | Pascal Obispo feat. Florent Pagny and Calogero | Pascal Obispo |

## Discography

* 1983: Pull Marine by Serge Gainsbourg (Mercury/Universal)
* 1983: Journal by Alice James (Audiobook Éditions des Femmes)
* 1986: Princesse au petit pois / Léon dit (Mercury)
* 2003: Bon voyage (original film soundtrack Bon voyage by Jean-Paul Rappeneau)
* 2004: On ne sert à rien, by and with Pascal Obispo (album Sidaction, Ensemble contre le Sida, 10 ans ensemble)
* 2005: Je ne peux plus dire je t'aime, by and with Jacques Higelin (album Higelin Entre 2 Gares) (EMI)
* 2008: Wo wo wo wo, by and with Christophe (album Aimer ce que nous sommes)
* 2018 : Albert Camus et Maria Casarès, Correspondance (1944-1959) with Lambert Wilson (Audiobook Gallimard)
* 2018: D'accord, by and with Pascal Obispo, with Youssou N'Dour (album Obispo)
* 2019: Meet me by the Gates, by and with The Penelopes
* 2021: Revolution #49 (album Hey Clockface / La Face de pendule à coucou by Elvis Costello)
* 2021: Sous le soleil exactement (album Les Pianos de Gainsbourg by André Manoukian)
* 2021: Quelques mots, by and with Malik Djoudi (album Troie)
* 2022: The Last Goodbye, with The Penelopes
* 2022: Jeder tötet was er liebt (original film soundtrack Peter von Kant by François Ozon)
* 2023: Adjani, Bande Originale (Warner Music International)