Emmanuelle Seigner

Emmanuelle Seigner (French: [ɛmanɥɛl sɛɲe]; born 22 June 1966) is a French actress and singer. She is known for her roles in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), The Ninth Gate (1999) and Frantic (1988). She has been nominated for a César Award for Best Actress for Venus in Fur (2013), and for two César Awards for Best Supporting Actress in Place Vendôme (1998) and La Vie en Rose (2007). She has been married to Polish film director Roman Polanski since 1989.

Life and career

Early life

Seigner is the daughter of Jean-Louis Seigner (1941-2020), photographer, and Aline Ponelle, journalist. She is the older sister of Mathilde Seigner, actress, and Marie-Amélie Seigner, singer. Through their father, they are the granddaughters of the actor Louis Seigner (1903-1991) and the nieces of the actress Françoise Seigner (1928-2008), both deans and members of the Comédie-Française. She is the niece of doctor Véronique Vasseur.

She was educated at a Catholic convent school, and began modelling at the age of fourteen.

Films

Her husband directed her in Frantic (1988), Bitter Moon (1992), The Ninth Gate (1999), Venus in Fur (2013), Based On A True Story (2017) and An Officer and a Spy (2019). In 2010, Seigner was featured in Jerzy Skolimowski's Essential Killing, which went on to win the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. In 2012, she played the principal role of Vanda in Polanski's French film adaptation of David Ives's two-character play Venus in Fur, based on the Austrian novel of the near-same name, for which she received praise as Vanda, an actress, playing against writer and theatre director Thomas played by Mathieu Amalric.