Marion Cotillard - 18th Annual BAFTA Britannia Awards in LA 11-4-10

Marion Cotillard (born 30 September 1975) is a French actress. She garnered critical acclaim for her roles in films such as My Sex Life… or How I Got Into an Argument, Taxi, Furia, Pretty Things and Inception. She has also appeared in such films as Big Fish, A Very Long Engagement (for which she received a César Award for Best Supporting Actress), A Good Year, Public Enemies, Nine and La Vie En Rose.

She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, BAFTA Award for Best Actress, César for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for Best Actress in Musical or a Comedy for her portrayal of French singer Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose. She made film history by becoming the first person to win an Academy Award for a French language performance. In 2010 she received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the musical Nine

She was chosen by director Olivier Dahan to portray the French singer Édith Piaf in the biopic La Vie en Rose before he had even met her, saying that he noticed a similarity between Piaf's and Cotillard's eyes. Producer Ilan Goldman accepted and defended the choice even though distributors TFM reduced the money they gave to finance the film thinking Cotillard wasn't "bankable" enough an actress. Her portrayal was widely praised, including by the eminent theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn, who described it as "one of the greatest performances on film ever." It was dubbed "the most awaited film of 2007" in France, where some critics said that she had reincarnated Édith Piaf to sing one last time on stage.

On February 10, 2008, Cotillard became the first French actress to be awarded the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role since Stéphane Audran in 1973. She is the first actress to win a Golden Globe for a foreign language performance since 1972, when Liv Ullmann won for The Emigrants. She is also the first person to win a (Comedy or Musical) Golden Globe for a foreign language performance. As La Vie En Rose was also a Czech production (as she mentioned in her César acceptance speech),

On February 22, 2008, she was awarded the César Award for Best Actress, becoming the first woman and second person (after Adrien Brody, The Pianist) to win both a Cesar and an Oscar for the same performance. Cotillard is the second French cinema actress to win this award and the third overall to receive an Academy Award. She is the first Best Actress winner in a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren's win in 1961. She is also the first and so far only winner of an Academy Award for a performance in the French language. In her Oscar acceptance speech, Cotillard proclaimed "thank you life, thank you love" and, speaking of Los Angeles, said "it is true, there is some angels in this city!"

The day following the ceremony, Cotillard was congratulated and praised by the President of France Nicolas Sarkozy in a statement saying, "I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to Marion Cotillard, who has just received the Oscar for Best Actress for her masterful interpretation of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, directed by Olivier Dahan. Half a century after Simone Signoret, a French artist has received the Best Actress award at the Oscars. It was a good omen that Catherine Allegret, Simone Signoret’s daughter, herself had a role in La Vie en Rose. Marion Cotillard embodies an Edith Piaf who is unsettling in her realism, emotion and passion. Her interpretation brings to life the story of a woman who gave French song its acclaim and authenticity; a singer, too, who closely united France and America."

On March 1, 2008, Cotillard won a Czech Lion Award for Best Actress. She could not attend the ceremony in Prague due to the filming of Public Enemies. Her friend Pavlína Němcová - who played the journalist in La vie en Rose - was there to accept the award on her behalf.

On June 24, 2008, Cotillard was one of 105 individuals invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Cotillard in July 2009

Cotillard starred alongside Johnny Depp in Public Enemies, released in the United States on July 1, 2009. Later that year, Cotillard appeared in the film adaptation of the musical Nine, directed by Rob Marshall, and co-starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Kate Hudson. On December 15, 2009, Cotillard was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress - Musical or Comedy for her performance in the film. The film was released on December 18, 2009.

For her role in the musical Nine as Luisa Contini, Time magazine ranked her as the fifth best performance by a female in 2009. She was ranked just behind Mo'Nique, Carey Mulligan, Saoirse Ronan, and Meryl Streep. She was awarded the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award at the 2010 Palm Springs International Film Festival for the role.

She appeared as the main antagonist "Mal Cobb" in Christopher Nolan's film Inception, alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Ellen Page, and released on July 16, 2010. She will co-star alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Matt Damon in Steven Soderberg's thriller film Contagion.

She will also in appear in Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris alongside Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson.

On March 15th, Cotillard was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Order of the Arts and Letters) by the French government for her "contribution to the enrichment of French culture".

On May 11th, Variety confirmed Cotillard will star alongside Colin Farrell in David Cronenberg's film Cosmopolis