Anne Parillaud Bio

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Anne Parillaud (French pronunciation: [an paʁiˈjo]) (born 6 May 1960 in Paris) is a French actress, who has appeared in 30 films since 1977. She is married to Jean Michel Jarre. She has a daughter with ex-husband Luc Besson, Juliette, born in 1987 and two sons, Lou and Theo with film producer Mark Allan.

She is best known internationally for her role as Nikita in the movie of the same name.

Anne Parillaud: Biography

A native Parisian and still a resident there, Parillaud was born 6 May 1960. While in school she studied ballet and her ambition was to become a lawyer, but a role during summer vacation - when she was only 16 - in Michel Lang's L'h��tel de la plage launched her into the world of film.

She is rather guarded regarding her private life and biographical details, preferring in her interviews to expound on metaphysical, as opposed to personal, questions. She believes her life outside of films - where she likes "dancing, talking with friends, things like that" - is prosaic: "Me, I don't like myself much. I'm not interesting. The pleasure for me is in the abandonment of myself. As an actress I want to give everything I can. That is my pleasure." Additionally, she claims, "Fun' is not in my vocabulary. I have a problem being light, saying 'That's okay, that's fine.' I mean, no. It has to be always strong, always extreme, always passionate. And fun, it's nowhere. It's like 'cool'. I have no idea what that means because I am not someone 'cool'. I'm someone who tries to live by impulse first, and not by brain. If the extension of fun is being crazy, I like it. To break the rules, to let in crazy thoughts. But there has to be that extension."

Her willingness and even impulse to "break the rules, to let in crazy thoughts" has often kept the French tabloid press in a lather, as during her past romantic liaisons with Alain Delon and Luc Besson. She and Besson have a daughter, but the couple separated shortly after he directed her in Nikita.

Nikita was an especially intense experience for Parillaud: "For a while she was in me like a demon. I would do things I normally would not do. She was awkward, depressed, full of despair. But to me there was also a spiritual underline to Nikita. In a very excessive way she is a loudspeaker of the youth of society today. She destroys herself because she doesn't believe in anything on Earth." In preparation for the role, she underwent three months of judo lessons and target practice to hone her skills as a government assassin: "I hate guns, I hate violence, I hate the judo." Her early ballet training also came in handy for one amusing scene though she modestly downplays her physical gifts, saying only, "I have a chewing gum kind of body. I just forget about the bones." Despite the glamour and danger of her character, Parillaud cautions, "It never happens to me, this kind of story."

In selecting films and directors to work with, she is rather particular, though her one criterion for choosing roles seems rather simple on the surface: it must touch her heart. Though hesitant to name names, when asked which directors she prefers to work with she responds: "Their common points would be authenticity. They aren't afraid to be unconventional ... to do just what they want and what they feel. (Parillaud brings her hand to her heart) It means there's some art in there, not just commerce."

After the international success of Nikita Parillaud left France to star in three films abroad: Map of the Human Heart, Innocent Blood and Frankie Starlight. Of the experience of playing a vampire in John Landis's Innocent Blood she has said: "I fell in love with Marie in Innocent Blood because she wasn't born a vampire; she never decided she wanted to be. For me, it was a parable to talk about how you deal with this problem, which is when you are different. You think or you live or you want something different from everyone else. People don't follow you, because it's scary. You are quite alone in your choices."