Clotilde Courau

Clotilde Marie Pascale Courau was born on 3 April 1969 in Levallois-Perret, Hauts-de-Seine, France, the eldest daughter of Jean-Claude Courau (b. 1942), a hydraulic engineer, and his wife, Catherine Marie Antoinette du Pontavice des Renardières (b. 1948), a school teacher, daughter of Haitian-born Marie Lélia Gabriel^[a] and husband Count Pierre François Marie Antoine du Pontavice des Renardières (1926-2021), Officer of the Legion of Honor and former Mayor of Merry-la-Vallée,^{[citation needed]} whose family belonged to the ancient French nobility of Brittany and can be traced back to the 13th century.

She has three sisters named Christine, Camille and Capucine Courau. She lived as a child, with her sisters, between Paris, Egypt and Benin. The Courau sisters were brought up in the Roman Catholic religion.

In 1991, Courau was nominated for a César, for Most Promising Actress (Meilleur espoir féminin), and won a European Film Award for Best Actress, both for the film Le petit criminel (1990). She then appeared in Dusty Hughes' A Slip of the Tongue opposite John Malkovich on the stage, and in Vincent Ward's Map of the Human Heart. In 1995, she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti at the SACD Awards. She was nominated again for a César twice in 1996 for Best Supporting Actress (Meilleur second rôle féminin) and Most Promising Actress (Meilleur espoir féminin) both for the film Élisa. In 1998 she was named one of European cinema's "Shooting Stars" by European Film Promotion and in 2000 she won the Prix Romy Schneider. She was created a Dame of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France on 7 February 2007.

• Civilisations (1988) (TV mini-series) – Elyssa
• The Little Gangster – (1990) – The sister, Nathalie (Stéphanie)
• Polski Crash [pl] – (1993) – Alina Suchecka
• Map of the Human Heart – (1993) – Rainee
• The Pickle – (1993) – Françoise
• Ugly Meets the People – (1995) – Girl
• Tom est tout seul – (1995) – Marion
• Élisa – (1995) – Solange
• La fidèle infidèle (1995) (TV) – Cécile
• The Bait – (1995) – Patricia
• Les Grands Ducs – (1996) – Juliette
• Une leçon particulière (1997) (TV) – Julie
• Fred – (1997) – Lisa
• Marthe – (1997) – Marthe
• Bob le magnifique (1998) (TV) – Christine / Christina
• Hors jeu – (1998) – Clotilde Courau
• Le poulpe – (1998) – Cheryl
• Milk (1999) – Ilaria
• Deterrence (1999) – Katie
• En face – (2000) – Michelle
• La parenthèse enchantée – (2000) – Alice
• Deep in the Woods – (2000) – Sophie
• Exit – (2000) – Pearl / The journalist
• Le nouveau Jean-Claude – (2002) – Marianna
• Summer Things – (2002) – Julie
• Almost Peaceful – (2002) – Simone
• The Code – (2002) – Nina
• Mon Idole – (2002) – Fabienne
• Les beaux jours (2003) (TV) – Gaby
• Nuit noire, 17 octobre 1961 (2005) (TV) – Sabine
• La signora delle camelie (2005) (TV) – ....
• Mafalda di Savoia (2006) (TV mini-series) – Giovanna of Italy
• La Vie en Rose (2007) – Annetta Gassion
• Modern Love (2008) – Marie
• Chez Maupassant (1 episode, 2008, TV episode La chambre 11) – Clarisse / Marguerite
• Des mots d'amour aka Words of Love (Canada, English title) (2009) (TV) – Alice Andrézy
• Tous les soleils (2011) – Florence
• Babysitting (2014) – Mme. Schaudel
• In the Shadow of Women (2015) – Manon
• Eva & Leon (2015) – Lucie
• Heaven Will Wait (2016) – Sylvie
• An Easy Girl (2019)
• The Bad Poet (2020)
• Benedetta (2021)
• Marguerite's Theorem (2023) – Suzanne
• Last Summer (2023) – Mina
• The Lake (2025)^[9]