Claire Denis

Born: April 21 1948
Where: Paris, France

Denis has carved a name for herself as a female director with a talent for directing movies that rely more on mood than action.

Highlights include Trouble Every Day and Beau Travail.

The daughter of a civil servant, she was raised in Africa until she was 14, when her family returned to France.

She learned her trade as an assistant to a number of notable directors, including Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Wings of Desire), Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law), and Costa-Gavras (Hanna K.).

Denis made her directorial and screenwriting debut in 1988 with Chocolat, an exploration of colonial life in 1950s West Africa.

The movie screened at Cannes, earning both a Golden Palm nomination and a César nomination for Best New Director.

Denis followed it with Man No Run, a documentary about Les Têtes Brulées ("the Flaming Heads"), a Cameroon band on their first French tour.

She then made No Fear, No Die, a story about two black men, one from Africa and one from the Caribbean, living on the fringes of French society.

I Can't Sleep looked at immigrant life in Paris and Nenette and Boni, a coming-of-age drama and Denis' major success so far.

She followed it three years later with Beau Travail, a military drama based loosely on Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor.

Recent work includes the horror thriller Trouble Every Day and the erotic drama Friday Evening with Valerie Lemercier.