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Nathalie Baye

Nathalie Baye

A three-time winner of the César (the French Academy Award) Nathalie Baye is of France's most distinguished and admired actresses. Praised for her intelligence and range, she has acted in numerous films by such directors as Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Bertrand Tavernier, Bertrand Blier, and Diane Kurys. In the U.S., she is probably best known for her translucent performance in Daniel Vigne's medieval romance The Return of Martin Guerre. Most recently, Baye received her seventh César nomination for her starring role in Tonie Marshall's Vénus Beauté. Other recent films are Jeanne Labrune's Beware of My Love (Si je t'aime, prends garde à toi); Alain Berberian's Paparazzi; Stephen Poliakoff's Food of Love; Tonie Marshall's Bastard Brood (Enfants de Salaud); and Francois Dupeyron's The Machine (La Machine).

Baye began her career in the arts as a dancer, and came to New York at age 17 to study classical ballet and modern dance. She toured the U.S. with a dance company before returning to France, where she turned her attention to acting. Her first major film was Truffaut's 1973 classic, Day For Night. Baye worked with the director again on The Man Who Loved Women (1977) and The Green Room (1978); she also appeared in 1993's Francois Truffaut: Stolen Portraits (1983). In 1979, she starred in Godard's Sauve qui peut (La Vie)/Every Man for Himself, for which she won her first César Award for Best Actress; she also acted in Godard's 1984 film Détective.

Baye earned a second César, for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in the 1981 Une Étrange Affaire. She won the César for Best Actress the following year for Bob Swaim's La Balance. Among Baye's most well known films are Bertrand Blier's Beau-Père and Notre Histoire; Bertrand Tavernier's A Week's Vacation (Une Semaine de Vacances); Diane Kurys' C'est la Vie; I Married a Dead Man (J'ai épousé une ombre); and Nicole Garcia's Every Other Weekend (Un week-end sur deux). She was also featured in Roger Spottiswode's And the Band Played On.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2000.

Nathalie Baye Facts

Birth NameJudith Mesnil
OccupationActress
BirthdayJuly 6, 1948 (75)
SignCancer
BirthplaceMainneville, France
Height5' 6" (1m68)  How tall is Nathalie Baye compared to you?

Selected Filmography

Catch Me If You Can
And the Band Played On
Tell No One
Food Of Love
Day for Night
Serial Killer 1
Every Man for Himself
Laurence Anyways
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