Early life

Laurent was born in Paris, the daughter of Annick, a ballerina, and Pierre Laurent, a voiceover actor (who dubs the character Ned Flanders in the French version of The Simpsons). She is Jewish, of both Ashkenazi (from Poland) and Sephardic (from Tunisia) ancestry. Her grandfather survived deportation by the Nazis. Her maternal grandparents were film poster editors. She grew up in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, and was immersed in the arts from birth.

Laurent's acting career began when actor Gérard Depardieu, seeing her while she watched her best friend's father working on the set of Asterix and Obelix, asked her if she wanted to be in films. Laurent replied, "Why not?". He strongly advised her not to take drama classes because, according to him, she already had the necessary skills. When Laurent was 16, Depardieu gave her a part in The Bridge, a drama he starred in and co-directed with Fréderic Auburtin. She only played a small role, but it was enough to further Mélanie's interest in acting.

Career

Early years

Laurent played minor roles in a number of movies early in her career. She appeared in Michel Blanc's drama Summer Things, Jackie Chan's comedy-drama Rice Rhapsody, Jacques Audiard's drama The Beat That My Heart Skipped and war film Days of Glory about the Free French Forces.

In 2006, she played a depressed 19-year-old who longed for her lost twin brother, in Philippe Lioret's Don't Worry, I'm Fine, for which she won a César Award for Most Promising Actress, her first major breakthrough. The same year she and Belgian actor Jérémie Renier were awarded France's Romy Schneider and Jean Gabin Prizes for "most promising actor and actress." She also starred in Franco-Belgian cult film Dikkenek, a comedy film directed by Olivier Van Hoofstadt for which she received Étoiles d'Or for Best Female Newcomer.

In 2007, she appeared in films including Le tueur and Hidden Love. She received a nomination at Lumières Award for Best Actress for her performance in La Chambre des morts.

In 2008, Laurent appeared in Paris, a French film by Cédric Klapisch concerning a diverse group of people. The movie has an ensemble cast including Laurent, Juliette Binoche, Romain Duris, Fabrice Luchini and François Cluzet.

Laurent made her directorial debut with De moins en moins, a 7-minute film about a patient who, in front of her psychiatrist, "remembers less and less". which she also wrote. The film was nominated for Best Short Film at the 61st Annual Cannes Film Festival. She also directed À ses pieds, an erotic short film aired on the French television channel Canal+ on 25-26 October 2008, as part of a series of such shorts, called X Femmes, shot by female directors with the goal of producing erotica from a female point of view.

2009 Hollywood debut with Inglorious Basterds

Laurent was scheduled to direct her first play, Mi-cuit cœur pistache (the name of a dessert she particularly likes) in January 2009 at the Théâtre Marigny in Paris. She had to abandon the project during the preparations and rehearsals when she was cast as Shosanna Dreyfus, a Parisian theater owner who's family was killed by Nazi Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), who seizes the opportunity to lure the S.S. into her theater for murderous revenge, in the Quentin Tarantino film Inglourious Basterds alongside Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger and Christoph Waltz. It was a French-language role for which she learnt to speak English for a few scenes. The film was a huge commercial success, grossing over $321 million in theaters worldwide, and critical success as well. Laurent's performance was also praised by several critics. Movieline wrote, "Mélanie Laurent provides Inglourious Basterds its heart and soul. It falls to the 26-year-old French actress to anchor some of the World War II film's most challenging scenes as Shosanna"

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly wrote that Laurent should have received the nomination at the 16th Screen Actors Guild Awards saying, "In drawing attention to one performer, in particular, whom they left out of the Best Supporting Actress category, I flat-out adore this performance and I suspect that many others do too," and further lauding Laurent's performance added, " is radiant and, in a unique Tarantino way, heartbreaking. Sexy and luminous in the heat of her valor. Putting out fire - and setting it. It becomes an anthem of noirish dread and excitement, a sign that Laurent, as Shosanna, has found her destiny."

In an interview Laurent said that she went into Inglourious Basterds with an adoration for Quentin Tarantino. " don't see him like an independent director; we just see him as the best director, ever, ." About the process of auditioning, Laurent said that she knew right from the start that this was a movie she had to be in as she felt a connection to her role in the film, because her Jewish grandfather was deported from Poland due to the Nazi occupation.

In addition Laurent won a number of accolades for her portrayal of Shosana including Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress and nominations at the Detroit Film Critics Society Awards, Empire Award for Best Actress and Saturn Award for Best Actress among others. The highly anticipated movie, which had been in development since 1998, marked Laurent's first major role in an American film and Laurent found herself pushed into mainstream success in North America.

Laurnet's partner Julien Boisselier, as well as Marie Denarnaud, Mélanie Doutey and Louise Monot were to act in the production while short movie clips were to be projected on stage, some of them shot at the nightclub Le Baron, which Laurent used to frequent during the writing period.

In 2010 Laurent starred in The Round Up, a French film directed by Roselyne Bosch and produced by Alain Goldman alongside Jean Reno, Sylvie Testud and Gad Elmaleh. Based on the true story of a young Jewish boy, the film depicts the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, the mass arrest of Jews by French police who were Nazi accomplices in Paris in July 1942.

2011-present

Laurent also had planned another feature film, Putain de pluie!, whose script she co-wrote with Morgan Perez and which she intended to direct, produced by Alain Attal's Productions du Trésor. Originally set for filming in the spring of 2009, it was postponed because of her work on Inglourious Basterds. Knowing that she could speak French and had already acted in French in one of the short films in Paris, je t'aime, she offered the first role to Natalie Portman, who declined because of the language of the script. Laurent played the part of the violinist in Radu Mihăileanu's Le Concert—she called it "a smart movie and a popular movie" and added that she was, "glad because French people wanted to watch a movie with classical music."

Laurent hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the 64th Cannes Film Festival. In 2011, Laurent teamed with Mike Mills, appearing opposite Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer in Beginners, a comedy drama that marks the director’s sophomore narrative feature and the actress’ second English-speaking role in an American film. Laurent plays Anna, an irreverent French actress in the film. Loosely based on Mills’ own life, the film depicts the story of a father coming out of the closet at the age of 75 after the death of his wife of 45 years.

Laurent made her singing debut in May 2011 with a studio album En t'attendant, on Atmosphériques. Produced by Joel Shearer the album contains twelve songs, five of which are co-written and co-produced by Irish folk musician Damien Rice. The album peaked at no. 22 and no. 35 at the Belgian Albums Charts and French Albums Charts respectively.

In 2013, she appeared in the caper film Now You See Me as a French Interpol agent who investigates the bank theft alongside Mark Ruffalo and an ensemble cast. The movie was a major commercial success, receiving mixed reviews but praise for the performances of the entire cast. Laurent then starred in Night Train to Lisbon, a 2013 drama film based on the novel of the same name directed by Bille August opposite Jeremy Irons.

Laurent then co-starred in the 2013 Canadian-Spanish psychological thriller film Enemy, directed by Denis Villeneuve, loosely adapted by Javier Gullón from José Saramago's 2002 novel The Double. The film starred Jake Gyllenhaal as two men who are physically identical, but different in terms of personality. Laurent and Sarah Gadon co-star as the romantic partners of the men. It was screened in the Special Presentation section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.

In 2014, Laurent appeared in Aloft, a 2014 drama film written and directed by Claudia Llosa, alongside Jennifer Connelly and Cillian Murphy. The film premiered in competition at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival. Laurent next co-starred in Angelina Jolie's By the Sea, an American drama film, directed and written by Jolie. The movie also stars Jolie and Brad Pitt, and was released on 13 November 2015, by Universal Pictures.

Laurent voiced Mary Katherine in Blue Sky Studios' Epic and Disgust in Pixar's Inside Out in the French dubs of respective animated films. She then starred in François Favrat's French drama film Booemerang, adapted from a bestseller entitled A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay, alongside Laurent Lafitte. The film released on 23 September 2013 to positive reviews from critics. The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "Boomerang is a solid if somewhat conventionally made whodunit that benefits from a strong cast and a plot that hooks you for most of the running time."

Personal life and off-screen work

Laurent was in a long-term relationship with fellow French actor Julien Boisselier which ended in 2009. In March 2013, she revealed that she had gotten married but refused to name who to. She told The Independent, "he was a crew member and I was an actress." Her first child by her companion, a son named Léo, was born in September 2013.

Laurent describes recording artist Damien Rice and filmographer Quentin Tarantino as two "masters" in terms of their art. With Rice, she recorded her first album, living between Woodstock, New York and his home in Ireland. Spending time in his home in Ireland inspired her to maintain a compost heap and eat organic food.

Laurent explained in 2009 that she does not have ambitions to be a crossover actress. She stated that she loved France, her street, her café, and not having to use a car. Rather than go on to work on a big budget American movie after Inglourious Basterds, her next role was in a small theater piece in France.

Laurent has visited a Climate Defenders Camp in the peatlands of the Indonesian Rainforest with Greenpeace activists. She is one of the Climate Ambassadors for Kofi Annan's Global Humanitarian Forum "Tck Tck Tck" Campaign. Laurent has also joined the campaign against overfishing on the invitation of the Blue Marine Foundation, and was cast for the voice-over of documentary The End of the Line. She was one of the leading celebrities of the campaign Fish Fight France, which aimed (and succeeded) at citizens asking for a new European law lowering the level of fish discards in European seas.

Laurent has written and directed movies and in an interview with Indiewire admitted she loves writing: " especially super exciting because you have everything to do and most of your ideas come from that first part… you just imagine things, and you imagine actors." She described the shooting process as "the fun part" because of "working with people I love—it’s always a great human moment because we’re sharing things and it’s good to see people who are here for you and your story, to tell your story. It’s really beautiful, it’s why I love making movies."

Filmography and awards

Main article: List of roles and awards of Melanie Laurent

Selected filmography

• Summer Things (2002)
• Dikkenek (2006)
• Don't Worry, I'm Fine (2006)
• Inglourious Basterds (2009)
• Beginners (2011)
• The Day I Saw Your Heart (2011)
• Now You See Me (2013)
• Inside Out (2015)

Accolades

For her role in Don't Worry, I'm Fine Laurent won the César Award and Lumières Award in the Most Promising Actress category. She received numerous accolades for her role in Inglorious Bastards including Best Actress Award at the Austin Film Critics Association Awards and Online Film Critics Society Awards among others. Laurent's filmsRespire and Demain won the Stockholm International Film Festival - Bronze Horse for Best Film and the César Award for Best Documentary Film respectively.

Discography

Year	Album details	Chart positions
		BEL	FRA
2011	En t'attendant.	23	35

[ Source: Wikipedia ]