Julie Delpy

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Julie Delpy

Born Julie Delpy
December 21, 1969 (1969-12-21) (age 38)
Paris, France
Years active 1978 – present

Julie Delpy (born December 21, 1969) is a French/American actress, singer, and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter. She studied filmmaking at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films.

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[edit] Early life

Delpy was born in Paris, France, the only child of Albert Delpy and Marie Pillet. Both her parents were actors in feature films and the avant-garde theater, and her father was a theater director. Her father grew up in Vietnam, Cambodia, and West Africa where his father held administrative positions with the French colonial government.[1]

On the stages of Paris, Delpy's parents were involved in underground theater. At an early age, Julie was exposed to the arts.

I couldn't hope for better parents. They really raised me with a love of art, bringing me to museums and seeing things that a child wouldn't see at that age. I would see Ingmar Bergman movies when I was 9 and totally go for it. And they would bring me to see Francis Bacon's paintings, which I loved: so dark and at the same time it's so wonderful.[2]

Encouraged to perform by her bohemian-minded parents, Delpy made her stage debut at the age of five.[3]

[edit] Film career

At age fourteen Delpy obtained a role in the film Detective, directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Two years later, Delpy was cast in the title role in the film Beatrice, and used the money she earned to pay for her first trip to New York City. Delpy continued making regular trips to New York over the next few years, before finally moving there in 1990. Delpy became an international celebrity after starring in the 1990 film Europa Europa. In the film, she plays a pro-Nazi girl, Leni, who falls in love with the hero, Solomon Perel, not knowing that he is Jewish. She had to speak fluent German for the part.

Delpy was subsequently given offers to appear in several Hollywood and European films. In 1993, she was cast by director Krzysztof Kieślowski to play the female lead in Three Colors: White, the second film of Kieślowski's Three Colors Trilogy; Delpy also appeared in the other films in the series, albeit in smaller roles. She has starred in many American and European productions since then, including Disney's The Three Musketeers (1993) and Killing Zoe (1994). Delpy may be best known internationally for her co-starring role with Ethan Hawke in director Richard Linklater's 1995 film, Before Sunrise. The film received glowing reviews[4] and was considered one of the most significant films of the independent film movement of the 1990s. Its success led to the casting of Delpy in the 1997 American film, An American Werewolf in Paris, generally considered a disappointment by critics.[5]

In late 2001, she filmed alongside comedian Martin Short for the 30-minute film of CinéMagique, a theatre-show attraction presented several times daily at Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Resort Paris. Delpy attended the March 2002 opening of the park and the inauguration of the film-based attraction, which sees her star as Marguerite - a female actress with whom Short's character, George, falls in love as he stumbles through countless classic movies. CinéMagique won the coveted 2002 Themed Entertainment Association award for "outstanding" themed attraction. Delpy reprised her Before Sunrise character, Céline, with a brief animated appearance in 2001's Waking Life, and again in a 2004 sequel, Before Sunset. The latter film was well-received and earned Delpy, who co-wrote the script, her first Academy Award nomination for Writing Adapted Screenplay. In addition, she has been nominated for César Awards three times.

[edit] Writing and directing

Delpy has also had an interest in a career as a film director since her childhood, and enrolled in a summer directing course at New York University. She wrote and directed the short film Blah Blah Blah (1995), which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. She made her feature length directorial debut in 2002, with a film entitled Looking for Jimmy, which she also wrote and produced. 2007 saw the release of 2 Days in Paris in which Delpy not only starred in the film (with Adam Goldberg), but also directed, wrote, edited, co-produced it and wrote the original music. The film also features Delpy's real-life parents, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy.

[edit] Music

Delpy is also a musical artist. She released a self-titled CD in 2003. Three tracks from the album, "A Waltz For A Night", "An Ocean Apart" and "Je t'aime tant" were featured in Before Sunset.

Delpy lives in Los Angeles, California, USA and has been a naturalized United States citizen since 2001, although she also retains her French citizenship.[6] She loves sewing and making her own clothes.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Awards

  • 1987 César Award Nomination, Most Promising Actress for Mauvais sang (1986)
  • 1988 César Award Nomination, Most Promising Actress for La Passion Béatrice (1987)
  • 1991 European Film Award Nomination, Best Actress for The Voyager (1991)
  • 1995 MTV Movie Award Nomination, Best Kiss for Before Sunrise (1995)
  • 2004 San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Academy Award Nomination, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Writers Guild of America Nomination, Best Adapted Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Empire Award, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Independent Spirit Award Nomination, Best Screenplay for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Online Film Critics Society Award Nomination, Best Actress for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2005 Online Film Critics Society Award Nomination, Best Screenplay, Adapted for Before Sunset (2004)
  • 2007 Mons International Festival of Love Films Award, Coup de Coeur for 2 Days in Paris (2007)
  • 2008 César Award Nomination, Best Writing - Original for 2 Days in Paris (2007)

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
  1. ^ www.julie-delpy.net
  2. ^ www.julie-delpy.net
  3. ^ Julie Delpy is bursting with feeling, full of words - and all that is propelling her beyond the screen
  4. ^ Before Sunrise Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
  5. ^ An American Werewolf in Paris Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
  6. ^ Julie Delpy is bursting with feeling, full of words - and all that is propelling her beyond the screen

[edit] External links