Binoche, Juliette (1965– )

French stage and screen actor. An accomplished dramatic actor, Binoche established herself as a leading player in both French- and English-language cinema, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The English Patient (1996). She garnered critical acclaim for her performances in Krzystof Kieslowski's Trois couleurs:Bleu/Three Colours: Blue (1993) and the popular costume drama Le Hussard sur le toit/The Horseman on the Roof (1995). Her performance in Chocolat (2000) earned her a 2001 Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

Binoche first gained international recognition for her role in the Milan Kundera adaptation The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). She worked with some of France's foremost film-makers in the mid-1980s, including Jean-Luc Godard (Je vous salue, Marie/Hail Mary, 1985). Other films include Rendez-vous (1985), Mauvais sang/Bad Blood (1986), and Les Amants du Pont-Neuf/The Lovers of Pont-Neuf (1991). She also featured in Louis Malle's English-language film Damage (1992).

After a short sabbatical from film-making 1996–98, during which she gave theatre performances in London, England, Binoche returned to the screen in Alice et Martin (1998) and Les Enfants du siècle/Children of the Century (1999).