Emmanuelle Béart

Born: 14 August 1965
Where: St. Tropez, France

One of France's leading stars, Beart made her initial US impact with a portrayal of Manon Cadoret, the surviving daughter of Gerard Depardieu, in Claude Berri's Manon des sources.

Beart's career began in 1976 with a small turn in the French sci-fi film Tomorrow's Children. At age 15, she moved to Canada where she worked as an au pair and learned English.

Beart moved back to France and began working regularly in both films and TV, returning to features with L'Enfant Trouve.

She met her husband, actor Daniel Auteuil, while making L'Amour en douce, and has subsequently worked with him on Manon des sources and Un Coeur en hiver. They married in 1993 but separated five years later

She made her American film debut with the romantic-comedy Date With an Angel and became the centre of attention when she was cast as Marianne, the nude artist model, in Jacques Rivette's controversial La Belle Noiseuse.

She followed up with Un Coeur en hiver. Beart scored an international hit when she was cast opposite Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.

She was cast in Raul Ruiz's realization of Proust's Time Regained, and played the middle of three sisters in the comedy-drama La Buche before taking the lead role in Les Destinees sentimentales, and appearing in Francois Ozon's 8 Femmes.