Personal life

She was born Paulette Germaine Riva in Cheniménil, France. She grew up in Remiremont. Riva was the only child of Jeanne (née Nourdin) who descended from a family of Lorrainian and Alsatian farmers and Alfredo Riva, an Italian sign painter from Lombardy.

Riva moved to Paris at the age of 26 in 1953 from her home in rural France to become an actress, despite opposition from her family. She started her acting career on the Paris stage after having trained as a seamstress. She never married and has no children. She lives in Paris. She speaks French and some Italian but not English and has never performed in English.

Career

Film

Her best known role was as Elle in Hiroshima mon amour (1959) directed by Alain Resnais and written by Marguerite Duras, for which Duras was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. She appeared in Kapò (1959), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film from Italy, Adua and her Friends, (1960) starring Simone Signoret, Leon Morin, Priest (1961) opposite Jean-Paul Belmondo and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, Thérèse Desqueyroux (1962), Thomas the Imposter (1965), Three Colours: Blue (1993) as the mother of Juliette Binoche, and Venus Beauty Institute (1999) alongside Micheline Presle.

In 2011, Riva appeared in Le Skylab starring and directed by Julie Delpy. In 2012 she received rave reviews and an Academy Award nomination for her role opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant in Amour. The 85th Academy Awards just happened to be held on her 86th birthday. Riva traveled to Los Angeles where she lost the award to Jennifer Lawrence. Riva tied with Lawrence for the LA Film Critics Best Actress Award, and also won the NSFC Best Actress Award among numerous other mentions for her performance.

Other works

Riva has enjoyed an extensive theatre career in her native Paris, France. In 2001, she performed in a production of Medea at Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe. She has also appeared occasionally on French television programs. In February 2014, Riva returned to the Paris stage performing in Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras at Théâtre de l'Atelier.

While filming Hiroshima mon amour, Riva photographed Hiroshima; a half-century later these photographs were exhibited at the Nikon Salon and were issued in book form in France and Japan. Riva is a published poet.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1959	Hiroshima mon amour	Alain Resnais	Nominated—BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress
1959	Kapò	Gillo Pontecorvo
1960	The Eighth Day	Marcel Hanoun
	Adua and Friends	Antonio Pietrangeli
	Recourse in Grace	Laslo Benedek
1961	Léon Morin, Priest	Jean-Pierre Melville
1962	Thérèse Desqueyroux	Georges Franju	Volpi Cup for Best Actress
	Climats	Stellio Lorenzi
1963	The Hours of Love	Luciano Salce
	Le gros coup	Jean Valère
1965	Thomas the Impostor	Georges Franju
1967	Risky Business	André Cayatte
1973	I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse	Fernando Arrabal
1982	The Eyes, the Mouth	Marco Bellocchio
1993	Three Colors: Blue	Krzysztof Kieślowski
1999	Venus Beauty Institute	Tonie Marshall
2001	Médée	Don Kent
2009	A Man and His Dog	Francis Huster
2011	Le Skylab	Julie Delpy
2012	Amour	Michael Haneke	BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress César Award for Best Actress Dublin Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress European Film Award for Best Actress International Cinephile Society Award for Best Actress London Film Critics Circle Award for Actress of the Year Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Lumières Award for Best Actress National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Actress Premio Cinema Ludus for Best European Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Academy Award for Best Actress Nominated—AACTA International Award for Best Actress Nominated—Alliance of Women Film Journalists Award for Best Actress Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Dorian Award for Best Actress Nominated—Houston Film Critics Society for Best Actress Nominated—Irish Film & Television Awards - Best International Actress Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Días de Cine Awards for Best Actress

Books

• Riva, Emmanuelle (1975). Le Feu des miroirs (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
• Riva, Emmanuelle (1976). Juste derrière le sifflet des trains (in French). Paris: Éditions Saint-Germain-des-Prés. ISBN 2-243-00380-5.
• Riva, Emmanuelle (1982). L'otage du désir (in French). Paris: Nouvelles Éditions latines. ISBN 2-7233-0184-2.
• Riva, Emmanuelle (2008). Hiroshima 1958 (in Japanese). Tokyo: Inscript. ISBN 978-4-900997-22-6.
• Riva, Emmanuelle (2009). Tu n'as rien vu à Hiroshima (in French). Paris: Gallimard. ISBN 978-2-07-012298-1.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]