Sandrine Kiberlain

Celebrated French actress Sandrine Kiberlain essayed complex female characters in an array of features in her native country, including "En avoir (ou pas)" (1995), "Mademoiselle Chambon" (2009) and "Nine-Month Stretch" (2013), among many others. Born in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, France, Kiberlain was raised in the neighborhood of Neuilly-sur-Seine by her parents, who met in a theater workshop. They passed on their interest in performance to their daughter, who studied acting at the private Cours Florent drama school while making minor, often uncredited appearances in features like "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1990) with Gérard Depardieu. Following her graduation from the French National Academy of Dramatic Arts, Kiberlain earned her breakout role in "The Patriots" (1994), an espionage thriller that earned her a César nomination for Most Promising Actress. The following year marked the beginning of her long and fruitful collaboration with director Laetitia Masson with "En avoir (ou pas)," which also brought Kiberlain the César for her turn as a recently unemployed woman who seeks purpose in an affair with a married man. She earned her third César nomination in 1996, playing a young country girl married by and abandoned by Mathieu Kassovitz in "A Self-Made Hero." After receiving a fourth César nod as a woman suffering from an array of psychological issues, including kleptomania, in "Seventh Heaven" (1997), Kiberlain reunited with Masson for the 1998 thriller "For Sale," playing the object of a detective's search. It, too, brought her a César nomination for Best Actress, and Kiberlain would reteam with Masson for the surreal "Love Me" (2000) before enjoying a slew of high-profile turns for directors like Claude Miller, playing a grieving mother who takes in a kidnapped child in "Alias Betty" (2001) and a schoolteacher who falls for the married father (her real-life spouse, actor Vincent Lindon) of one of her charges in Stéphane Brizé's "Mademoiselle Chambon," which brought her yet another César nomination. More than a decade after her last César win, Kiberlain took home a second award for her turn as a stern judge who discovers that she is pregnant by a wanted criminal (director Albert Dupontel) in "Neuf mois ferme" ("Nine-Month Stretch"). She then appeared in director Alain Resnais' final feature, "Life of Riley" (2014), before earning her eighth César as a dedicated fan of a pop star (Laurent Lafitte) who asks her to aid him in disposing of a corpse in "Number One Fan" (2014).