Life and career

Jaoui was born in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, and is of Tunisian Jewish descent. She is the daughter of Hubert Jaoui and Gyza Jaoui, who are not related to the cinema industry but are both writers. They moved to Paris when she was 8 years old. She started theatre when she was in high school at the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. She entered the Cours Florent when she was 15. Patrice Chéreau, director of the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre where she followed drama classes since 1984, gave her a role in the film Hôtel de France in 1987. That same year, she also played in Harold Pinter's L'anniversaire beside Jean-Pierre Bacri, who will be later a faithful colleague and companion.

Together they wrote the play Cuisine et dépendances which was adapted onscreen in 1992 by Philippe Muyl. In 1993, director Alain Resnais asked them to write an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's 8-part play Intimate Exchanges, which became the 2-part film Smoking/No Smoking. Thanks to this ironic diptych about free will and destiny, they won the César Award for Best Writing in 1994. But it is in 1996 that they came to know greater success with Cédric Klapisch's adaptation of their play Family Resemblances (Un air de famille) which showed their ability to observe and depict everyday life, and to criticize the social norms through a bitter and corrosive humor. Once again, they won the César Award for Best Writing in 1997 and this very same year they collaborated again with Alain Resnais for Same Old Song (On connaît la chanson) which they wrote but also interpreted: together, they won their third César Award for Best Writing, and Jaoui won her first César Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Jaoui directed her first feature film, The Taste of Others (Le Goût des autres, 2000, written with Jean-Pierre Bacri), which questions social-cultural identities. The film was a huge success in France and attracted 4 million spectators. It also won 4 César Awards in 2001 including Best Film and Best Writing, and also got nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2004, her second film as a director, Look at Me (Comme une image), co-written with Bacri, was selected for the Cannes Festival, and won the prize for Best Screenplay. She starred in the last Richard Dembo's film, La maison de Nina (2005) and then focused on music and released her album of Latin songs Canta (2006). She returned to the cinema industry two years later in 2008 with Let's Talk About the Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie) and offered French humorist Jamel Debbouze a different role from what he was used to.

In 2012, she directed her latest film to-date, Under the Rainbow (Au bout du conte), also co-written with Bacri. She revisits several fairy tales such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood. It received acclaim —for originality and humor in the writing and dialogue— from critics and audiences.

Music

Jaoui studied music in the conservatoire when she was 17, but did not start her career as a singer until 2006 when her first album Canta was released. It mixed several Latin music genres (such as flamenco, bolero, and bossa) and she sang exclusively in Spanish and Portuguese. In 2007, it won the Victoire de la Musique award for "best traditional music album".

Jaoui's second album, Dans Mon Pays, was released in 2009. It also featured Latin sonorities and songs sang in Spanish and Portuguese— except for two songs in French.

Personal life

Jaoui is the daughter of Gyza Jaoui; a pioneering figure of transactional analysis, a form of psychotherapy initiated by Eric Berne. Jaoui has a brother, Laurent Jaoui (fr), who is also a screenwriter and a director.

Jaoui was in a relationship with Jean-Pierre Bacri from 1987 to 2012. Despite their breakup, the two decided to stay on good terms and to continue to work together.

She adopted two children from Brazil in 2012.

Filmography

As actress

Year	English title	Original title	Role	Notes
1983	Le Faucon		Sandra
1987	Hôtel de France		Madame Bouguereau
1987	L'Amoureuse		Agathe
1990	Ivanov		Babakina
1991	Canti
1993	Cuisine et Dépendances		Charlotte
1996	Family Resemblances	Un air de famille	Betty Ménard
1997	Le Déménagement		Claire
1997	Same Old Song	On connaît la chanson	Camille
1998	Le Cousin		Claudine Delvaux
1999	On The Run		Kristin
2000	Une femme d'extérieur		Françoise
2000	The Taste of Others	Le Goût des autres	Mani
2003	24 Hours in the Life of a Woman	24 heures dans la vie d'une femme	Marie Collins Brown
2004	The Role of Her Life	Le Rôle de sa vie	Elisabeth Baker
2004	Nina's House	La Maison de Nina	Nina
2004	Look at Me	Comme une image	Sylvia Millet
2008	Let's Talk About the Rain	Parlez-moi de la pluie	Agathe Villanova
2012	The Dandelions	Du vent dans mes mollets	Colette Gladstein
2013	Under the Rainbow	Au bout du conte	Marianne
2014	The Easy Way Out	L'Art de la fugue	Ariel
2015	The Sweet Escape	Comme un avion	Laëtitia
2015	I'm All Yours	Je suis à vous tout de suite	Simone Belkacem

As filmmaker

Year	Title	Credited as		Notes
		Director	Screenwriter
1993	Cuisine et Dépendances		Yes
1993	Smoking/No Smoking		Yes
1996	Family Resemblances		Yes
1997	Same Old Song		Yes
2000	The Taste of Others	Yes	Yes
2004	Look at Me	Yes	Yes
2008	Let's Talk About the Rain	Yes	Yes
2013	Under the Rainbow	Yes	Yes
2014	The Easy Way Out		Yes	Script consultant
2017	Place publique	Yes	Yes

Discography

Year	Title
2006	Canta
2009	Dans Mon Pays
2015	Nostalgias

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Nominated work	Original title	Result
1993	César Award for Best Writing	Smoking/No Smoking		Won
1997	César Award for Best Writing	Family Resemblances	Un air de famille	Won
1997	César Award for Best Supporting Actress			Nominated
1997	Lumières Award for Best Screenplay			Won
1997	César Award for Best Writing	Same Old Song	On connaît la chanson	Won
1998	César Award for Best Supporting Actress			Won
2000	Lumières Award for Best Film	The Taste of Others	Le Goût des autres	Won
2000	Lumières Award for Best Director			Won
2000	Lumières Award for Best Screenplay			Won
2000	European Film Award for Best Film			Nominated
2000	European Film Award for Best Screenwriter			Won
2000	Montreal World Film Festival - Grand Prix des Amériques			Won
2001	César Award for Best Film			Won
2001	César Award for Best Writing			Won
2001	César Award for Best Supporting Actress			Nominated
2001	César Award for Best Director			Nominated
2001	Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film			Nominated
2001	BIFA Award for Best Foreign Independent Film			Nominated
2001	Guldbagge Award for Best Foreign Film			Nominated
2001	René Clair Award			Won
2004	Cannes Film Festival - Best Screenplay	Look at Me	Comme une image	Won
2004	European Film Award for Best Screenwriter			Won
2004	European Film Award for Best Director			Nominated
2004	London Film Critics' Circle Award for Screenwriter of the Year			Nominated
2005	César Award for Best Writing			Nominated
2005	Bodil Award for Best Non-American Film			Won
2007	Victoires de la Musique — World music album of the year	Canta		Won
2016	César Award for Best Supporting Actress	The Sweet Escape	Comme un avion	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]