France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

Virginie Fernandez
Born: Virginie Fernandez on November 15, 1976 in France
Job Titles: Actor, Model

Family
    Brother: Michel Fernandez. younger
    Daughter: Lilas Rogers. born September 29, 2001; name means Lilac in French
    Father: Bernard Fernandez. sold second hand goods; divorced from Ledoyen s mother
    Mother: Olga Fernandez. divorced from Ledoyen s father; remarried

Significant Others
    Husband: Iain Rogers. married as of September 2007

Education
    Ecole des Enfants du Spectre

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

Possessing a unique blend of innocence and sexuality, the alarmingly pretty, almond-eyed Virginie Ledoyen has delivered performances every bit as striking as her good looks and has arguably become the preeminent French actress of her generation. Along the way she has drawn comparisons to the likes of Jeanne Moreau, Brigitte Bardot, Isabelle Adjani and Sophie Marceau and seems poised to make her mark in English-language films as well. A model at the age of two, she began acting in commercials soon after and landed her first movie bit at age nine in "Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan/The Exploits of a Young Don Juan" (1987). She later starred as "Mima", the sweet child who sees the men who take her grandfather away to kill him in Philomene Esposito's attractive first feature, and played a teenager adopted by a bizarre Argentine expatriate (Marcello Mastroianni) in "Le Voleur d'enfants/The Children Thief" (both 1991).

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

No less a personage than the esteemed director Marcel Carne recognized her talent early, casting her in the title role of his comeback feature "Mouche". Ledoyen appeared on his arm at Cannes in 1992 as the octogenarian raised money for the project, put on hold after a few days of fall shooting due to bad weather and insurance problems surrounding Carne's age and failing health. Her first real notice came as a rebellious teen committed to an institute after a shoplifting spree in Olivier Assayas' "L'Eau froide/Cold Water" (1993), and she has credited Assayas as an inspiration, but it would remain for director Benoit Jacquot to make her star. They first teamed for the costume epic "La Vie de Marianne" (1994), a TV miniseries which drew one of the highest-ever ratings for the French channel Arte, followed by "La Fille seule/A Single Girl" (1995), a surprise hit in the USA, establishing her in the words of NEW YORK TIMES critic Stephen Holden as "a luminous natural screen presence."

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

Jacquot told the almost stream-of-conscience tale of Valerie (the titular "Single Girl") in real-time, following the hotel worker in and out of rooms on her first day of work as she ponders her new pregnancy and her relationship with a boyfriend whom she has instructed to wait in a cafe. Returning to the cafe, she breaks off the affair, choosing independence and life as a single mother over what she perceives as a less satisfying alternative. Subsequently, Jacquot's "Marianne" (1997), a 90-minute feature distillation from his 1994 miniseries, served almost as a companion piece to "A Single Girl", showcasing Ledoyen's appealing presence as a 15-year-old orphan with beauty and smarts to spare who receives proposals of marriage from all quarters while sympathetic viewers root for her not to accept any. Ledoyen also added to her following with popular portrayals as the love object in Edward Yang's clever Taipei-made spy comedy "Mahjong" (1996) and as another pregnant girl, this time in a middle-class family, in Claude Chabrol's thriller "La Ceremonie/The Ceremony" (1996), co-starring Isabelle Huppert.

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

Much as Jacques Demy had done for Catherine Deneuve in "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (1964), the Demy-like musical "Jeanne and the Perfect Guy" (1998) provided an almost uninterrupted homage to Ledoyen's photogenic personality and physique. Part of the fine ensemble for Assayas' "Late August, Early September", considered the director's most mature effort to date, she starred opposite Guillame Canet (as her bartender boyfriend) in "En Plein coeur/In All Innocence" (both also 1998), a remake of the 1958 Bardot film "En Cas de malheur" in which she played an alluring thief (Bardot's role) who has an affair with her lawyer. After making her English language debut that year in the small role of a young mother who gives up her child in "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries", she increased her American exposure immeasurably in "The Beach" (2000). The triangular love story reteamed her with Canet as a French couple who encounter Leonardo DiCaprio while backpacking through Thailand, accompanying him in search of a utopian paradise. She subsequently returned to French television in a miniseries version of "Les Miserables" (2000), starring Gerard Depardieu and John Malkovich and acted in the acclaimed comedic murder mystery "8 Women" for which she won an ensemble award at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002.

France Actress and Model Virginie Ledoyen

Milestones:

    1979 Began modeling as a toddler at age two (date approximate)
    1987 At age nine, made stage acting debut in L affaire du courrier de Lyon (date approximate)
    1987 Film debut, The Exploits of a Young Don Juan
    1991 Had supporting role in Le Voleur d enfants/The Children Thief
    1991 Played the title role of Mima , a sweet 12-year-old who sees the men who take her grandfather away to kill him
    1992 Directed by Marcel Carne in uncompleted Mouche , put on hold in fall of the year due to bad weather and production insurance problems owing to the director s age and failing health
    1993 Acted with Jacqueline Bisset and Jean-Hugues Anglade in Les Marmottes/The Groundhogs
    1993 Appeared in the French telefilm La Regle de l homme
    1994 Breakthrough role in L Eau froid/Cold Water , directed by Olivier Assayas
    1994 Initial collaboration with Benoit Jacquot, the French TV miniseries La Vie de Marianne , adapted from the unfinished novel by 18th Century French writer Marivaux
    1995 Co-starred in Claude Chabrol s La Ceremonie , alongside Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Bonnaire
    1995 Had title role in Jacquot s La Fille seule/A Single Girl ; received 1996 Cesar Award nomination as most promising young actress
    1996 Acted in Edward Yang s Mahjong
    1997 Appeared again in title role of Jacquot s Marianne , a 90-minute distillation from the helmer s 1994 miniseries
    1998 Made American film debut as a young mother who gives her son up for adoption in the Merchant Ivory production A Soldier s Daughter Never Cries ; first English-language role
    1998 Reteamed with Assayas for fine ensemble pic, Late August, Early September
    1998 Starred opposite Guillaume Canet (as her bartender boyfriend) in En Plain coeur/In All Innocence , a remake of the 1958 Brigitte Bardot film En cas de malheur ; played the Bardot role of a young thief who has an affair with her lawyer
    1998 Starred opposite Mathieu Demy in Jeanne and the Perfect Guy , a musical recalling those directed by Demy s father Jacques (particularly The Umbrellas of Cherbourg 1964 and The Young Girls of Rochefort 1967); earned Paris Film Festival Best Actress Award
    1999 Attended Cannes as a representative of L Oreal, one of the official partners of the festival; also a member of the jury to select the best short film
    1999 Signed by L Oreal as a commercial spokesperson
    2000 Acted in French miniseries version of Les Miserables , starring Gerard Depardieu and John Malkovich; aired in USA on Fox Family Channel in January 2001
    2000 Reteamed with Canet to play a couple who encounter a traveler (Leonardo DiCaprio) in the triangular love story The Beach , adapted from the cult novel by Alex Garland
    2002 Appeared in Francois Ozon s 8 Femmes
    2003 Appeared in Bon voyage with Gérard Depardieu
    2007 Appeared in the child trafficking drama, Holly
    2007 Co-starred with Daniel Auteuil in Francis Veber s The Valet
    Appeared in several television commercials as a child
    Raised in Paris