People | November 19, 2015 11:54 AM EST
50 Facts About Léa Seydoux – Bond Girl From ‘Spectre’
Léa Seydoux is a French actress famous for her role as Emma in “Blue Is the Warmest Colour.” She is also the one of the leading Bond girls in the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre.” Here are 50 interesting facts about the actress.
- Seydoux was awarded the 2009 Chopard Award for Best Upcoming Actress at the Cannes Film Festival for her role of Junie de Chartres in the Christophe Honoré’s “The Beautiful Person.”
- She was also nominated for Most Promising Actress at Cesar Award for the same role.
- In the year 2014, she won the Lumières Award for Best Actress for her role as Emma and Karole in the movies “Blue Is the Warmest Colour” and “Grand Central,” respectively.
- Her performance in the movie “Blue Is the Warmest Colour,” earned her the Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.
- She was featured on W Magazine's portfolio on “Best Performances of the Year,” for her performance as "Emma" in the 2013 movie “Blue Is the Warmest Colour.”
- Her portfolio includes the cover of Vanity Fair’s 20th Hollywood Issue – March 2014 edition.
- She was born as Léa Hélène Seydoux-Fornier de Clausonne on July 1, 1985 in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.
- She was born to businessman Henri Seydoux, who is the CEO of French wireless company Parrot, and philanthropist Valérie Schlumberger, a former actress, and also the founder of the boutique CSAO (Compagnie d'Afrique du Sénégal et de l'Afrique de l'ouest). Her stepmother is Farida Khelfa, an actress and director.
- She is the second kid among the 7 children in the family. Her elder sister Camille works as her stylist.
- She is the granddaughter of Jérôme Seydoux, Chairman of Pathé. Her granduncle Nicolas Seydoux, Chairman and CEO of Gaumont Film Company. She is also the grandniece of Michel Seydoux, the chairman of the Lille-based football club Lille OSC, who is also a cinema producer.
- She grew up in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, under a strict Protestant upbringing.
- Her parents divorced when she was just 3 years old. Following the separation, her mother was often in Africa, while her father was always on business.
- She describes that as a kid she had "felt lost in the crowd... I was very lonely as a kid. Really I always had the feeling I was an orphan."
- Despite her family being film royalty in France, she had no help from them, when she decided to become an actress.
- Even Seydoux, as a kid had no desire to act, as her aim was to be an opera singer. She dropped her idea of opera singer due to her shyness.
- She decided to take acting as her career only at the age of 18, and even after seeing one of her friends’ life as an actor.
- In fact, she fell in love with an actor and decided to become an actress in an effort to impress him.
- She studied music at the Conservatoire de Paris. She went to Summer camp in America for 6 years, as her father wanted her to be fluent in English.
- She started taking acting classes at French drama school Les Enfants Terribles and went for further training in New York’s Actors Studio.
- Her first acting role was in the year 2005, for a French singer Raphael's single "Ne Partons Pas Fachés."
- She was chosen by American Apparel to front one of its campaigns in 2007. She has also modeled for numerous magazines and brands.
- Her first major role was as one of the main characters - as Aurore in Sylvie Ayme's Girlfriends (Mes copines), a French-Belgian comedy film.
- Her major breakthrough was when she appeared in “The Beautiful Person,” a French Drama television film as Junie de Chartres.
- Following the success of “The Beautiful Person,” she entered the Hollywood world with a small role in Quentin Tarantino's “Inglourious Basterds,” as Charlotte LaPadite.
- She auditioned for the role of Lisbeth Salander in the movie “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” but lost to actress Rooney Mara.
- Recalling the audition, she once said that "I got upset, but I don't think I'd be able to do anything to get that part. It was totally against my nature. I worked hard, but Lisbeth was almost anorexic. I wasn't like that."
- She played the role of Gabrielle in “Midnight in Paris,” alongside Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, and Marion Cotillard, by the director Woody Allen. She considers Allen as one of her favorite directors of all time.
- She did not even audition for her part as Gabrielle, as Allen chose her from the pictures of three French actresses and decided to create a role specifically for her.
- She was cast as the assassin Sabine Moreau alongside stars Tom Cruise and Jeremy Renner, in the 2011 blockbuster movie “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol.”
- During the fight scene at the Burj Khalifa where Paula Patton as Jane Carter exacts her revenge upon Seydoux as Moreau for the death of Josh Holloway as Trevor Hanaway, Seydoux as well as Patton chose to forgo stunt doubles.
- Following “MI: Ghost Protocol,” she returned to French cinema and starred in “My Wife's Romance” (Le Roman de ma femme), “Roses à credit,” “Farewell, My Queen,” and “Sister.”
- She was nominated for Best Actress at the 38th César Awards for her role in Benoît Jacquot's “Farewell, My Queen,” as Sidonie Laborde.
- Though seydoux is younger for the character from the novel, Jacquot casted her as Laborde as the director felt that "she brought this carnal dimension. She has incontrovertible sex appeal."
- Her next role as Emma in “Blue Is the Warmest Colour,” a 2013 French romantic coming-of-age drama film, not only got her great attention, but also several awards including the Best Actress award at the 19th Lumières Awards, along with nominations for the BAFTA Rising Star Award and the César Award for Best Actress.
- She spent over a year working with Abdellatif Kechiche on her character before the filming of the movie began.
- She went to painting and sculpture lessons and also undertook extensive reading on arts and philosophy. She even visited museums before the shooting began.
- In preparation for the masculine characteristics of the arts student role, she was requested by the director to take up training sessions to tone up her physique and learn the traits of Marlon Brando and James Dean.
- She had her hair cropped and dyed by a barber in Paris' 18th arrondissement, months before the filming. During the shooting, she had to re-dye her hair every day for the sake of continuity. It was the director himself, who dyed her hair many times.
- She refused to have her own name as the character’s name and chose to have Emma as the name. This is one of the conditions she had before playing the part.
- The other conditions include - she will not smoke real cigarettes as she has quit smoking nearly two years before, - she will not have real sex on camera, - she will not wear her own clothes for the film.
- Kechiche felt that Seydoux "shared her character's beauty, voice, intelligence and freedom" and that she has "something of an Arabic soul."
- Robbie Collin from The Daily Telegraph gave the movie a maximum of five stars and said Seydoux and Adele Exarchopolous’s performances to be “the two best performances of the festival.”
- In the year 2015, she starred in “Diary of a Chambermaid,” based on Octave Mirbeau's novel Le Journal d'une femme de chamber, which is her second collaboration with director Jacquot.
- Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian said about her performance that it was "a fine central performance from Seydoux," while critic Jordan Mintzer wrote that her performance is "robust and engaging throughout."
- She was cast as Dr. Madeleine Swann, the Bond girl in the 24th James Bond movie “Spectre.”
- It was reported that she drank some alcohol before the audition and forgot some of her lines. She said that she requested the filmmakers if she could come back another day for audition.
- She is the seventh French actress to play a leading Bond Girl role in the movie franchise.
- She is the only Bond girl in the history to have played a character in the two blockbuster film franchises - "James Bond" and "Mission: Impossible."
- She said that she never believed that she would be successful in bagging the role of Bond girl, Dr. Madeleine Swann.
- She has a few movies in the pipeline, including the 2016's superhero film “Gambit,” in which she will play the role of Bella Donna Boudreaux.
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