Catherine Deneuve

From 1965 to 1972, she was married to photographer David Bailey.

She was romantically involved with actor Marcello Mastroianni with whom she worked in five films, ‘It Only Happens to Others’ (1971), ‘Love to Eternity’ (1972), ‘A Slightly Pregnant Man’ (1973), ‘Don't Touch the White Woman!’ (1974) and ‘One Hundred and One Nights’ (1995). On May 28, 1972, her daughter Chiara Mastroianni was born out of her relation with Marcello Mastroianni. Chiara is also an actress.

She was born on October 22, 1943, in Paris, France, as Catherine Fabienne Dorléac to Maurice Dorléac and Renée Simonot. Both her parents were into acting.

She has two sisters, Françoise Dorléac and Sylvie Dorléac, and one half-sister Danielle, born out of her mother’s past relation.

She studied in Catholic schools. She chose to adopt Deneuve, her mother’s maiden name in her stage name.

She fluently speaks English, Italian and to some extent German.

She made her debut in films in 1957 as a teenager of thirteen in the André Hunebelle film ‘Les Collégiennes’. She was accredited as Catherine Dorléac in the film where her younger sister Sylvie Dorléac also played a part. Later she adopted Catherine Deneuve as her stage name.

Thereafter she did several films including ‘Les Portes claquent’(1960), L'Homme à femmes (1960), ‘Ça c'est la vie’(1962) and ‘Vice and Virtue’ (1963) but could garner little attention.

She landed up with her real breakthrough film in 1964 with the Jacques Demy directed romantic classic ‘Les Parapluies de Cherbourg’ (‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’), after the latter saw her performance in ‘L'Homme à femmes’. The film made her a star.

A series of excellent and breathtaking performances by Deneuve followed and displayed her wide range of acting prowess. These include ‘Repulsion’ (1965), a horror flick by Roman Polanski where she played a schizophrenic killer; a homemaker turned prostitute in ‘Belle de Jour’ (1967), a masterpiece by Luis Bunuel; and ‘Tristana’ (1970), yet another excellent piece by Luis Buñuel.

Her place in the entertainment world was further cemented by her remarkable performances in films like ‘The April Fools’ (1969), ‘Mississippi Mermaid’ (1969), ‘Hustle’ (1975), ‘The Last metro’ (1980) and ‘Agent trouble’ (1987) among many others. She won her first ‘César Award for Best Actress’ for ‘The Last Metro’.

She was associated with organisations like ‘Orphelins Roumains ‘, ‘Reporters Without Borders', Children of Africa, and ‘Children Action,’.

She participated for the cause of ‘Handicap International’, ‘Douleur sans frontiers’, ‘Voix de femmes pour la démocratie’ and is linked with many charities fighting cancer and AIDS.

She is associated with a program of ‘Amnesty International’ that strives to abolish death penalty.