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Name: Ludivine Sagnier
Birth Date: July 3, 1979
Birth Place: La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Yvelines, France
Siblings: Delphine, older sister
Height: 5.25″ ft / 1.60 m
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blonde
Nationality: French

Ludivine Sagnier was born in La-Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, on July 3 1979. She began acting at an early age before landing her first film role at age 10, and she has been on the big (and little) screen ever since.

Her big break came through director François Ozon’s film “Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes” in year 2000. Ludivine would go on to star under Ozon two more times, the first in his musical mystery “8 Femmes” (2002) along such greats as Isabelle Huppert and Catherine Daneuve, and the second time in “Swimming Pool” (2003), perhaps Ludivine’s most well-known role. It was “Swimming Pool” and its iconic poster of Ludivine laying poolside in a bikini that propelled her to international stardom, a status that was cemented by her participation in 2003′s live action adaptation of “Peter Pan” as Tinkerbell.

Her career in France flourished as well. 2003 also saw the release of Claude Miller’s “La Petite Lili,” in which she plays the title role and main character. The film competed at the year’s Cannes Film Festival alongside “Swimming Pool.”

Her 2006 films “La Californie” and “Paris, je t’aime” were both shown at the Cannes Film Festival as well, which makes twice she’s been to Cannes with two different films.

In 2007 she attended the festival for Christoph Honoré’s musical drama “Les Chansons d’amour,” which was well-received both at home and abroad. The same year she starred as the lead in director Claude Chabrol’s 2007 feature “La Fille coupée en deux,” as well as a supporting role in Claude Miller’s “Un Secret.”

2008 saw Ludivine star in “Mesrine” opposite Vincent Cassel as Sylvie Jeanjacquot, Jacques Mesrine’s last girlfriend.

Ludivine’s career has been critically well-received. She has been nominated 3 times for a César Award, the French Equivalent of the American Oscar, and she has also won the prestigious Prix Romy Schneider and Chopard Trophy.

In her personal life, Ludivine is currently engaged to director Kim Chapiron, with whom she has a daughter, Ly Lan (born January 2009.) She has another daughter with ex-partner Nicolas Duvauchelle called Bonnie (born March 2005.) She is 30 years old and lives in Paris.

Ludivine Sagnier was born in the Parisian suburb of La Celle-Saint-Cloud, France, on July 3, 1979. An early beginner in acting, young Ludivine took theatre courses at Sevres beginning in 1987 at age 8, and landed her first film role only a year later in “Les maris, les femmes, et les amants” (1988) by Pascal Thomas. She continued her theatre courses through 1995 and appeared in various telefilms throughout the decade.

Her big break didn’t come until the new millennium with the release of “Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes” / “Water Drops On Burning Rocks” (2000) by François Ozon, in which Ludivine starred as Anna, the young girlfriend. A sizzling adaptation of a play by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, the film competed at the Berlin International Film Festival and landed Ludivine another starring role the same year in the film “Bon Plan.”

François Ozon cast Ludivine again in 2002′s “8 Femmes” as the character Catherine, which put her alongside some of France’s biggest names past and present: Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve, Isabelle Huppert, Emmanuelle Béart, Fanny Ardant, and Virginie Ledoyen. The film was nominated for 12 César Awards (the equivalent of the American Oscar), including a nomination for Ludivine for Meilleur espoir féminin (Best Female Hope), proving she could hold her own even amongst the greats. Her role also earned her the Prix Romy Schneider (Romy Schneider Award) and the Chopard Trophy for Female Revelation at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

Ludivine had a handful of other small parts in films such as the mini-series “Napoléon” and “Petites coupures” before what would prove to be her largest year yet. At the 2003 Cannes Film Festival, Ludivine premiered two films with starring roles, Claude Miller’s “La Petite Lili” and — perhaps her best-known film of all — François Ozon’s “Swimming Pool”. Her third collaboration with Ozon marked Ludivine’s emergence on the international stage, as the bilingual film made waves in America as well as France. Her role as bikini-clad Julie earned her a second César nomination, this time for Meiller second rôle feminin (Best Female Supporting Actress.)

After shooting to stardom with “Swimming Pool,” Ludivine received further attention abroad for her role as Tinkerbell in the live-action adaptation of “Peter Pan,” released at the end of 2003. Although a small and silent role, American audiences who might not have gone to see “Swimming Pool” were also introduced to Ludivine.

Ludivine didn’t appear on the big screen again until 2005 with Xavier Giannoli’s drama “Une Aventure.” While Ludivine had met the actor Nicolas Duvauchelle back in 2002 while shooting short film “Les Frères Hélias,” it was while acting alongside him in “Une Aventure” that the pair fell in love. They starred in fashion label Miu Miu’s Spring/Summer 2005 Ad Campaign together, and it is with Nicolas that Ludivine also had her first child, a baby girl named Bonnie, born March 25th, 2005. The pair split in the year 2006.

2006 saw Ludivine in the film “La Californie,” alongside Nathalie Bayé, as well as well-known ensemble piece and love song to Paris “Paris, je t’aime.” Both films went to Cannes that year, making it the second time Ludivine was at the acclaimed film festival promoting two different films at the same time.

The next year proved to be another big one for Ludivine. She had four films in total, all box office successes in France: “Molière” by Laurent Tirard, “Les Chansons d’amour” / “Love Songs” by Christoph Honoré, “La Fille coupée en deux” / “A Girl Cut In Two” by Claude Chabrol, and finally “Un Secret” / “A Secret” by Claude Miller. Chabrol’s “La Fille coupée en deux” saw Ludivine again in a starring role, this time as Gabrielle, a charming young weather girl who is the titular character torn between two very different men. The film went to the Venice Film Festival and was hailed as one of the legendary Chabrol’s best in recent years. “Les Chansons d’amour” was Ludivine’s second musical role, after “8 Femmes”, and the film competed at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival for the Palme d’Or.

It was “Un Secret” that received the most critical acclaim for Ludivine, however, as she was granted her third César nomination at the 2008 ceremony for Best Supporting Actress. The film was also nominated for an additional nine Césars. The award for Best Supporting Actress did not go to Ludivine in the end, but went to co-star in the film and dear personal friend Julie Depardieu instead, who pulled Ludivine up on stage with her for her acceptance speech.

The year 2008 saw Ludivine cast in yet another big profile film, the two-part biopic on infamous gangster Jacques Mesrine. Ludivine acted alongside Vincent Cassel’s interpretation of Mesrine as Sylvie Jeanjacquot, Mesrine’s last girlfriend. She was shown in the first part, “L’instinct de mort,” only briefly, but her role in the second part, “L’ennemi public n° 1,” was signifcant. The film was nominated for 10 César awards, although Ludivine’s role was not recognized.

In 2009, Ludivine was cast alongside Oscar-winner Kristin Scott Thomas in “Une femme parfaite” as well as alongside Diane Kruger in “Les Pieds nus sur les limaces.” Both films are not yet in post-production. In September, 2009, it was also announced that Ludivine would finally be collaborating with François Ozon again — her fourth time — in the film “Potiche.” While Catherine Deneuve holds the lead, it was nevertheless excellent news that Ozon and Ludivine his muse would work together again.

In her personal life, Ludivine had a second daughter on January 3rd, 2009, named Ly Lan. The father is French-Vietnamese director Kim Chapiron, who proposed to Ludivine for her 30th birthday that summer.

At thirty years old, Ludivine has amassed over 20 years of acting experience and grown up in the eyes of the public from the young ingénue in “Gouttes d’eau sur pierres brûlantes” to the femme fatale in “Mesrine.” With many critically-acclaimed and commercially-successful films under her belt and more to come, Ludivine is a staple of French cinema with a bright future still ahead of her.

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Coming soon.