Audrey Tautou

Audrey Tautou was born in Beaumont in France's Puy-de-Domme on the 9th of August, 1976. She was the eldest child of four. Her parents, a dentist and a teacher recognised and backed her love for theater and acting at an early age, which overcame her initial ambition to be a primatologist due to her fascination with monkeys. Her rise to fame as an actor in the young age was swift and marked by early success. In 1998 after her studies, she took part in an French talent-scouting TV programme Jeunes Premiers sponsored by Canal+ and won Best Young Actress at the Beziers Festival of Young Actors prior to beginning her acting career in earnest. Tautou was raised in the context of a Catholic home and went to church, even though she went to school in the Institut Catholique de Paris. In addition to her acting career she also pursued a modeling career. Also, she is the spokesperson for L'Oreal Mont Blanc & Chanel and is sometimes referred to as the Chanel Muse. Photography is another obsession and she was recently shown her work in the Arles festival under the name Superficial. Her work focuses on celebrity and popularity. The exhibition also includes portraits of herself and focus on journalists that have scrutinised Tautou since her meteoric success after Amelie. Audrey Tautou's very first major part, playing Amelie Poulain's main actor in the film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amelie, landed her fame to the world. Amelie was a box office success and was recognized at award ceremonies across the globe. The film is still the top grossing French language movie across the US. Following this success Tautou starred in a wide range of film productions ranging from British dramas such as Stephen Knight's Dirty Pretty Things to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Long Sunday of fiancailles. She then moved to Hollywood through Ron Howard's direction of the Dan Brown bestseller The Da Vinci Code together with Tom Hanks.