Biography for
Isabelle Adjani More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

27 June 1955, Paris, France

Birth Name

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani

Height

5' 4¼" (1.63 m)

Mini Biography

Isabelle Yasmine Adjani born in Gennevilliers, Hauts-de-Seine, a suburb of Paris. She born to a Kabyle father from Constantine and Djelfa, Mohammed Cherif Adjani, and a German mother, Augusta, called "Gusti". She grew up speaking German fluently. After winning a school recitation contest, she began acting in amateur theater by the age of twelve. At the age of 14, she starred in her first motion picture Le Petit bougnat (1970). Adjani has appeared in 30 films since 1970. She holds the record for most César Award for Best Actress (5), which she won for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), Queen Margot (1994) and Skirt Day (2009). She was also given a double Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1981. She also received two Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. She performs in French, English, Italian and German. Adjani was made a Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 2010.

IMDb Mini Biography By: yasmine

Trade Mark

Often plays women who have mental problems

Often plays tragic heroines

Trivia

Raised and schooled in Paris.

Has two children: Barnabé Nuytten, born in 1979 and fathered by Bruno Nuytten, and Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, born in 1995, fathered by Daniel Day-Lewis.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world. [1990]

Engaged to musician Jean-Michel Jarre but later broke it off. [July 2002]

Measurements: 35-24-36 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine).

Her exotic beauty comes by way of an Algerian-Kabyle father and a German mother.

Recorded a million-selling album in 1983 with the hit single "Pull Marine" written by Serge Gainsbourg. The video was shot by Luc Besson.

Is the only actress in the history of French cinema to get five César awards (breaking her own record of four). She has won for Possession (1981), One Deadly Summer (1983), Camille Claudel (1988), Queen Margot (1994) and La journée de la jupe (2008).

Said in a 1970 interview with Paris-Match that she would never wear pants "because her hips were too big".

At the age of 20 she was the youngest person ever nominated for a Best Lead Actress Academy Award until Keisha Castle-Hughes broke the record for Whale Rider (2002) in 2004.

Announced that she has broken up with her boyfriend of two years, musician Jean-Michel Jarre, revealing to the magazine Paris-Match that he had cheated on her. (June 2004)

Fluent in English and German.

Her favorite perfume is called "En avion" by Caron.

Was selected as the second most beautiful woman (after Monica Bellucci) by the French public in the TV show "La plus belle femme du monde on Nov. 8, 2004.

President of jury at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997.

Born in the 17th district of Paris to an Algerian father and German mother.

Brother is photographer Eric Adjani.

Very close friends with Sharon Stone.

Ex-girlfriend of Warren Beatty.

Lived with Daniel Day-Lewis from 1989 to 1994, and gave birth to their son Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis on 9 April 1995.

She has an entry in Jean Tulard's Dictionnaire du Cinéma/Les Acteurs published in Paris in 2007 (pages 11, 12).

In the '70s, Isabelle Adjani shared an apartment with Isabelle Huppert and the late actress Christine Pascal.

Father's name is Cherrif Adjani. Mother's maiden name is Emma Schweinberger.

Personal Quotes

It's rare to find a director who really likes and knows how to look at a woman through the camera.

[in 1977] This is all very funny. Today I am a star - and tomorrow?

The Method is Judeo-Christian: if you go through pain, you can't miss. Rubbish. I'm more interested in the box itself than what's in it. How vs. why.

I like films that rest in the memory so I try and choose parts which have some kind of social or emotional force. For me, being an actress is not just a profession but a profession of faith.

Salary

Toxic Affair (1993)

$1,430,000