Biography

Birthdate/-place

December 21, 1969 in Paris, France

Family

Father Albert Delpy (actor), mother Marie Pillet (actress)

Languages

Speaks fluent French, English and Italian (+ some Spanish and German)

Education

Actors Studio (New York) & New York University (attended the summer directing program)

Occupation

Actress, director, writer

Residence

Paris, France and Los Angeles, USA

Hobbies

Cooking, writing, painting, singing, dancing, chess and mathematics

Trivia

Was named one of People Magazine's "25 most beautiful" in 1995

All Movie Guide: Known for both her blonde, ethereal beauty and her considerable talent, Julie Delpy is one of the most popular French actresses of her generation. Born to show-business parents in Paris on December 21, 1969, Delpy was discovered at age 14 by director Jean-Luc Godard, who cast her in his 1985 Détective. The young actress had her first starring role two years later as the title character in Bertrand Tavernier's La Passion Béatrice, and then gained worldwide prominence with her portrayal of a young pro-Nazi eager to produce babies for the Fuhrer in Agneiszka Holland's Europa Europa (1991). Subsequent efforts to make Delpy a mainstream Hollywood actress in such films as The Three Musketeers (1993) were largely resisted by Delpy herself, who demonstrated a preference for appearing in the small, thought-provoking films best appreciated at cinema festivals. She made some of her more memorable appearances in Killing Zoe (1994), which cast her as a kind-hearted prostitute; Krzysztof Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs: Blanc (1994), in which she played a young woman who divorces her hairdresser husband because of his impotency; and Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995), in which she gave an excessively charming portrayal of a woman who has a 24-hour romance with a young American (Ethan Hawke) she meets on a train. Delpy continues to be most visible in small, quirky films, as evidenced by her roles in L.A. Without a Map (1998), and But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), the latter of which - a comedy about a rehab house for gay and lesbian teens - cast her as a lipstick lesbian. While much in demand as an actress, Delpy has evinced an interest in becoming a director, enrolling in the summer directing course at New York University and making her directorial debut with the short Blah Blah Blah, which was shown at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. (Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide)

The Online Movie Club: Since age 14, when Delpy played a role in Jean-Luc Godard's Détective, she has worked with some of the world's most esteemed and intellectual directors. Some cinema buffs remember Delpy's hypnotic smile from films as early as Europa Europa, a movie about a young jew in Hitler's army, directed by Agneiszka Holland. In 1994, Delpy charmed international audiences as Dominique in White, the second of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's trilogy Three Colors. Delpy began her career in America in 1993 with The Three Musketeers, acting opposite Chris O'Donnell, then went on to star in the title role of the Quentin Tarantino film, Killing Zoe. In 1995, Delpy starred opposite Ethan Hawke in Richard Linklater's romance, Before Sunrise, a performance that took her to the 1995 Sundance Film Festival. Offscreen, Delpy made her appearance in the U.S. long before she moved to L.A. to pursue Hollywood roles. Delpy used money she had saved from her acting jobs to pay for her first trip to New York City when she was only 16 years old. She was so enamored with Manhattan that she returned over and over before finally moving to New York in 1990. Inspired by her experiences with Godard, Delpy has begun her own small-time directing projects. She wrote and directed a short film, Blah Blah Blah in 1997, then took it to her second Sundance Film Festival. (Lindsey Turrentine, The Online Movie Club)

Author unknown: Actress Julie Delpy has long had an affinity for America. Since she shot her first film at age 14 (Jean-Luc Godard's Détective), Delpy saved the money she earned to travel to New York City as much as possible. "The first time I went to New York", the actress recalls, "it was supposed to be for 2 days, but I ended up staying for 3 weeks before reluctantly returning to Europe". Delpy continued her pilgrimages to New York for 5 years before finally moving to the city in 1990. With a string of films by some of Europe's finest directors already to her credit, Delpy is poised to make as large a name for herself in Hollywood as she has overseas. American audiences saw Delpy in The Three Musketeers, portraying D'Artaignan's girlfriend. White is the second in Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blue/White/Red-trilogy, and in this dark comedy, Delpy stars as a soon-to-be-divorced woman who is the focus of her husband's madonna/whore complex. Delpy takes center stage in Killing Zoe, portraying the title character. Produced by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Roger Avary, Killing Zoe is "a twisted love story in which I play an art student/hooker/bank employee who inadvertently becomes involved with a bank robber" (Eric Stoltz). In Percy Adlon's Younger and Younger, she co-stars with Donald Sutherland as Brendan Fraser's love interest. Both of her parents are actors (her father also a theater director), thus Delpy started learning her craft at an early age, eschewing formal classes in favor of the lessons and directions provided by them. In New York, Delpy did attend the Actors Studio for a time - "more to witness what that method was all about than to submerge myself in it". Delpy also pursued formal training in directing while in New York, graduating first in her class from prestigious New York University. Directing has long been a dream of Delpy's. "I was six years old when I saw my first Godard movie, eight when I first experienced Bergman", she remembers. "When I first met Godard I told him that, while I wanted the part in Détective, I really wanted to come and see him work, even if I didn't get the part". Now that she's worked with some of Europe's finest, including Godard (Détective and King Lear), Carlos Saura (The Dark Night), Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa), Bertrand Tavernier (The passion of Béatrice) and Volker Schlöndorff (Voyager), Delpy looks forward to directing one of her own scripts. (Author unknown)