French film actress Catherine Deneuve became an international star in 1967 with her role as a call girl in Belle de Jour.
Deneuve stars in the 2008 dramedy A Christmas Tale, as the matriarch of a dysfunctional family.
Life and Career
French director Roger Vadim took Deneuve under his wing, shortly after she began acting. She became pregnant, at the age of 19, with Vadim's child. Shortly after their son Christian was born, the relationship fell apart.
Deneuve's first English speaking role was in Roman Polanski's 1965 film Repulsion. In 1967, she starred with her sister Francois Dorleac in The Young Girls of Rochefort, and shortly thereafter, her sister was tragically killed in an auto accident.
In 1969, Deneuve starred opposite Jack Lemmon in the film The April Fools and then followed that six years later with the movie Hustle. Deneuve portrayed a mistress on the television show Nip Tuck in 2006, and the following year joined her daughter Chiara Mastroianni with a voice role in the animated French feature, Persepolis.
