Emmanuelle Béart is the daughter of french singer and poet Guy Béart and Italian-Greek mother, Genevieve Galea. Born on the 14 August 1965 (could possibly be 1963, sources disagree) in St. Tropez, France. After her parents divorce she was raised by her mother in a remote mountain village in provence with her three brothers and her sister . As a teenager, she left home for Montreal. In Montreal she apparently met Robert Altman, who encouraged her to become an actress. Although she took a screen test for him, nothing came of it. She attended a drama school in Paris before being cast in Premiers Désirs three months later.
She first became well known in Manon des Sources the sequel to Jean de Florette when she won the Best Supporting Actress César. Emmanuelle has risen to great national and international fame as an actress not merely because of her beauty, but her capacity for deep emotional empathy with the character she is playing. Like many actresses she spends a long time preparing her characters, in Un Coeur en Hiver she practiced the violin every day for eighteen months.
Emmanuelle had a long 10 year relationship with Daniel Auteuil, her co-star in several films, they apparently married during the filming of Une Femme Francaise and separated soon after, I have been unable to confirm this marriage however. She has a daughter, Nelly (born April 18th 1992), by Auteuil, and a young son Johan (born March 1996) by her current boyfriend David Moreau (the half-brother of French actor Patrick Bruel). But she says her children will not interfere with her acting career: "For the moment, I just put them in a backpack and bring them along with me. I love the fact that they can travel with me. I just decided that I would not put my professional life on hold to raise children. I know that sounds selfish to a lot of people and I don't know if what I'm doing is the right thing. But that's the way I'm doing it."
One of her greatest irritations is the curiosity of the press: "It's madness. They follow me. I sue them. That's the deal. I have to admit that it's getting painful to stay polite... I give everything I have to give on the screen. I feel I don't owe the public anything else."
She is also now an ambassador for UNICEF, and has been to Vietnam in that position. She has also done other campaigning on behalf of immigrants to France.
Her last English film was Elephant Juice, which was filmed in London (November 98) and will be her first ever British film and third English speaking film. Previously she acted in two English speaking films in America, Mission Impossible and Date with an Angel, neither of which were particularly well liked by the critics. Her lack of critical success in English speaking films is quite a surprise as many of her contemporaries have had a good deal of success in American cinema. Her brilliance as a French actress remains unquestioned, she has stared in many of the most highly acclaimed films to come out of France in the last twenty years, has worked with almost all the great French directors, actors and actresses in modern Cinema.
Contact Information:
Her agent is:
In France: VMA, 10 avenue George-V, 75008 Paris.
In America: William Morris Agency, 151 El Camino Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90212.
