Jeanne Moreau

Jeanne Moreau (Paris, 23 January 1928) is a French actress, best known for her roles in the films Les Amants and Jules et Jim.

Jeanne Moreau was born in Paris, France in 1928. Her father was the owner of a bar in the Montmartre, her mother a British dancer. At the Conservatoire of Paris she took acting classes, after which they made her stage debut in 1948 on the theatre festival of Avignon. After this, she was invited to join the very prestigious Comédie-Française. She was twenty years, the youngest person who became a member of this French theatre company.

Moreau then played in several B-movies. Filmmakers found her not photogenic enough to make a great movie star, presumably because of her refusal to use makeup. The French film director Louis Malle on the other hand, saw in her a great talent and directed her big break, the film Ascenseur pour l ' échafaud from 1957 (also known under the English titles Elevator to the Gallows and Frantic). Malle and Moreau had a short-lived relationship. The following year, Malle directed her for the successful but controversial Les Amants, a sensual film about a bored housewife who enters into an affair with a stranger. Among other things because of a notorious nude scene the film came with effort by the American censorship. Thanks to these two films, she was considered one of the most important actresses of the French Nouvelle Vague. In 1961, she appeared in her most internationally successful film, Jules et Jim byFrançois Truffaut. With him, she made a second film in 1968 , La mariée était and noir. During the 1960s she played in even more films by great directors includingMichelangelo Antonioni (La Notte, 1961), Luis Buñuel (Le Journal d'une femme de chambre, 1964) and several films of Orson Welles.

From the 1960s until the 1990s, she starred in several movies, which they rejected, in favor of big Hollywood projects often European works. So, she appeared in Les Valseuses by Bertrand Blier (1974) and La Femme Nikita by Luc Besson (1990). Yet she was also in some American movies to see. In 1976 she took her directorial debut on,Lumière, followed by L'Adolescente from 1979. From 1977 to 1979 she is married to William Friedkin, best known as the Director of The Exorcist .

Jeanne Moreau has performed twice as President of the jury of the Cannes Film festival, in 1975 and 1995. ==Filmography (selection)[ Edit] ==
 * Dortoir des grandes (Henri Decoin) (1953)
 * Julietta (Marc Allégret) (1953)
 * La reine Margot (Jean Dréville) (1954)
 * Les Intrigantes (Henri Decoin) (1954)
 * Touchez pas au grisbi (Jacques Becker) (1954)
 * Gas-oil (Gilles Grangier) (1955)
 * Ascenseur pour l ' échafaud (Louis Malle) (1957)
 * Trois jours à vivre (Gilles Grangier) (1957)
 * Methods of au porteur (Gilles Grangier) (1958)
 * Le dos au mur (Edouard Molinaro) (1958)
 * Les Amants (Louis Malle) (1958)
 * Les Liaisons dangereuses 1960 (Roger Vadim) (1959)
 * Moderato cantabile (Peter Brook) (1960)
 * La notte (Michelangelo Antonioni) (1961)
 * Jules and Jim (François Truffaut) (1962)
 * Eva (Joseph Losey) (1962)
 * The Trial (Orson Welles) (1962)
 * La Baie des Anges (Jacques Demy) (1963)
 * Le Feu follet (Louis Malle) (1963)
 * Le Journal d'une femme de chambre (1964)
 * The Yellow Rolls-royce (Anthony Asquith) (1964)
 * The Train (John Frankenheimer) (1965)
 * Viva Maria! (Louis Malle) (1965)
 * Mademoiselle (Tony Richardson) (1966)
 * Chimes at Midnight (Orson Welles) (1967)
 * La mariée était and noir (François Truffaut) (1968)
 * Monte Walsh (William A. Fraker) (1970)
 * Chère Louise (Philippe de Broca) (1972)
 * Nathalie Granger (Marguerite Duras) (1973)
 * Les Valseuses (Bertrand Blier) (1974)
 * Souvenirs d'en France (André Téchiné) (1975)
 * Lumière (Jeanne Moreau) (1976)
 * The Last Tycoon (Elia Kazan) (1976)
 * Monsieur Klein (Joseph Losey) (1976)
 * L'Adolescente (Jeanne Moreau) (1978)
 * Querelle (Rainer Werner Fassbinder) (1982)
 * La Truite (Joseph Losey) (1982)
 * La Femme Nikita (Luc Besson) (1990)
 * La Vieille Qui Marchait Dans la Mer (Laurent Heynemann) (1991)
 * Cet amour-là (Josée Dayan) (2001)
 * Le temps qui reste (François Ozon) (2005)