Early life

Ardant was born in Saumur Maine-et-Loire, France, to a military attaché father. She grew up in Monaco until age 17 when she moved to Aix-en-Provence to study at the Institut d'études politiques d'Aix-en-Provence. In her early twenties her interest turned to acting and in 1974 she made her first appearance on stage.

Career

By the early 1980s she was a major motion picture star, gaining international recognition for her role opposite Gérard Depardieu in La Femme d'à côté (The Woman Next Door). The film, directed by François Truffaut, brought Ardant her first César Award nomination for best actress in 1982 and in 1984 she was nominated again for Vivement dimanche!. Eventually she became Truffaut's companion, giving birth to their daughter, Joséphine Truffaut, on 28 September 1983. Initially, her youthful beauty brought popularity but over time her sophistication and acting skills have made her one of France's most admired actresses. She proved her versatility, playing a comedic role in Pédale douce for which she won the 1997 César Award for Best Actress.

Fluent in English and Italian, Ardant has starred in several Hollywood and British films. Her most recent English-language film was the Franco Zeffirelli production Callas Forever, in which she portrayed opera diva Maria Callas. It opened the 14th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on 9 January 2003. In 2003, Ardant received the Stanislavsky Award at the 25th Moscow International Film Festival (for the outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school).

In 2009, she became a director and screenwriter, with Cendres et sang (Ashes and Blood). She also took part in a rare performance of Sardou's La Haine on 19 July 2009 at the Festival de Radio France et Montpellier Languedoc Roussillon, with Gérard Depardieu, the concert broadcast on France Musique.

In 2010, she directed her first-ever short feature called Absent Chimeras (Chimères absentes in French) in which she also stars. She made this short film in order to raise public awareness to the plight of Romani people in Europe, a cause she personally defends.

In 2011, she starred in the music video for Elle me dit, the first French single by Lebanese singer Mika, and appeared in the play based on Joan Didion's 2005 novel The Year of Magical Thinking in the Théâtre de l'Atelier, Paris.

In 2013, she made a cameo appearance as herself in The Great Beauty.

Controversy

She once expressed admiration for Renato Curcio, ex leader of the militant Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse), saying that it was good of him to adhere to his principles. She later discovered that it would be difficult to attend a film festival in Venice, as her declaration had created much scandal in Italy. The Governor of Veneto said that he would prefer that Ardant not visit his region. She then pleaded for forgiveness from victims of terrorism.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role
1979	The Dogs
1980	Les Uns et les Autres	Véronique
1981	The Woman Next Door	Mathilde Bauchard
1982	Life Is a Bed of Roses	Livia Ceraskier
	Confidentially Yours	Barbara Becker
1983	Un amour de Swann	Duchesse de Guermantes
	Benvenuta	Benvenuta
1984	L'Amour à mort	Judith Martignac
1986	Mélo	Christiane Levesque
1987	The Family	Adriana
1988	Love and Fear	Velia
1989	Australia	Jeanne Gauthier
1992	Afraid of the Dark	Miriam
1994	Colonel Chabert	Countess Ferraud
	A Hundred and One Nights	the star who works at night
1995	Beyond the Clouds	Patricia
	Sabrina	Irene
1996	Désiré	Odette
	Pédale douce	Evelyne, called Eva
	Ridicule	Madame de Blayac
1998	Elizabeth	Mary of Guise
	Le Dîner	Flora
1999	Augustin, King of Kung-Fu	as herself
	Le fils du Français	Anne
2000	Le Libertin	Madame Therbouche
2001	8 Women	Pierrette
	Callas Forever	Maria Callas
	Don't Tempt Me	Marina D'Angelo
2003	Nathalie...	Catherine
2006	Paris, je t'aime	Fanny
2007	Roman de Gare	Judith Ralitzer
	Il Divo	the wife of the French ambassador
2008	Hello Goodbye	Gisèle
	The Secrets	Anouk
2009	Ashes and Blood	(Director)
	Face	the producer/ Queen Hérodias
2011
	Interno Giorno	Maria Toricello
2013	Bright Days Ahead	Caroline
	The Great Beauty	cameo appearance as herself
	Cadences obstinées	(Director)
2015	Chic!	Alicia Ricosi

Awards

César Awards

Year	Group	Award	Film	Result
1997	César Award	Best Actress	Pédale douce	Won

Year	Group	Award	Film	Result
1982	César Award	Best Actress	The Woman Next Door (La Femme d'à côté)	Nominated
1984	César Award	Best Actress	Confidentially Yours (Vivement dimanche !)	Nominated
2002	César Award	Best Actress	8 Women (Huit Femmes)	Nominated

Molière Awards

Year	Group	Award	Film	Result
1993	Molière Award	Best Actress	L'Aide-mémoire (fr)	Nominated
1997	Molière Award	Best Actress	Master Class	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]