Catherine Deneuve

Name at birth: Catherine Fabienne Dorléac

Gorgeous and aloof, Catherine Deneuve has been an icon of the French cinema since the 1960s. Born into a family of actors, she made her film debut as a teenager, and as she matured her cool blonde charms began to turn moviegoers' heads. Though first promoted by filmmaker Roger Vadim in the early '60s, she found her breakthrough role in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Her most famous movies from the era are Roman Polanski's Repulsion (1965), Belle du Jour (1967) and Tristana (1970). Since the 1970s she has made movies outside of France only infrequently, but was internationally famous as a pitchwoman for Chanel perfume in the 1980s and appeared in the critically acclaimed films The Last Metro (1980) and Indochine (1991). A popular figure in France and a legendary beauty of the big screen, Deneuve's best-known films include The Hunger (1983, with Susan Sarandon), The Last Metro (1980), Dancer in the Dark (2000, starring Björk) and A Christmas Tale (2008).