Mélanie Laurent is a French actress, singer, screenwriter and director. She initially rose to prominence for her performance in the 2006 French drama film Don't Worry, I'm Fine for which she later won the César Award for Most Promising Actress and the Prix Romy Schneider. Laurent further became known to international audiences for her starring role as Shosanna Dreyfus in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009), for which she won the Online Film Critics Society and the Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress. She went on star in commercially successful Hollywood films including, the comedy drama Beginners (2011), and the caper film Now You See Me (2013), with the former earning her a nomination at the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Laurent's notable works include Dikkenek (2006), a Franco-Belgian comedy film for which she won Étoiles d'Or for Best Female Newcomer, French war film Days of Glory (2006), Cédric Klapisch's Paris (2008) with an ensemble cast, The Round Up (2010), a French movie depicting the true story of a Jewish boy amidst the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, comedy drama Et soudain, tout le monde me manque (2011) which won her the Best Actress Award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, French-American nature documentary Wings of Life (2011) serving as narrator, Night Train to Lisbon (2013), Canadian-Spanish psycho thriller Enemy (2013; an adaptation of José Saramago's novel The Double), and drama film Aloft (2014). In addition she has acted in numerous other French movies receiving accolades including the Étoiles d'or du cinéma français (Gold Star of French Cinema).
In her first theater appearance Laurent teamed up with French theatre director Nicolas Bedos and shared the stage with actor Jérôme Kircher in 2010 for Promenade de santé. Apart from her acting career, she has also directed several French movies including short-films for X Femmes, a television series, and Respire, an adaptation of Anne-Sophie Brasme's novel of the same name that screened in the Critics' Week section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. The latter won the Stockholm International Film Festival - Bronze Horse for Best Film. Laurent also directed the documentary film Demain, which won the César Award for Best Documentary Film and was also nominated for the Lumières Award for Best Documentary.
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Les Malheurs de Sophie | Young Madeleine de Fleurville | TV series (1 Episode: "Retour en France") |
| 1999 | Un pont entre deux rives | Lisbeth | |
| 2000 | Route de nuit | Francesca | Television film |
| 2001 | Ceci est mon corps | Clara | |
| 2002 | Summer Things | Carole | |
| 2003 | La Faucheuse | Isabelle | Short |
| Jean Moulin, une affaire française | Young Alice Arguel | Television film | |
| Snowboarder | Célia | ||
| 2004 | Une vie à t'attendre | The girl at the factory | |
| Rice Rhapsody | Sabine | ||
| The Last Day | Louise | ||
| 2005 | The Beat That My Heart Skipped | Minskov's Girlfriend | |
| Les Visages d'Alice | Alice | Short | |
| 2006 | Days of Glory | Marguerite | |
| Dikkenek | Natacha | Étoiles d'Or for Best Female Newcomer | |
| Don't Worry, I'm Fine | Élise "Lili" Tellier | César Award for Most Promising Actress Lumières Award for Most Promising Actress Étoiles d'Or for Best Female Newcomer Nominated – Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress Nominated – NRJ Ciné Award for Best Young Talent in a Debut Film | |
| 2007 | Hidden Love | Sophie | |
| Le Tueur | Stella | ||
| Beluga | |||
| Room of Death | Lucie Hennebelle | Nominated – Lumières Award for Best Actress | |
| 2008 | Paris | Laetitia | |
| Voyage d'affaires | Hotel receptionist | Short | |
| 2009 | Jusqu'à toi | Chloé | |
| Inglourious Basterds | Shosanna Dreyfus | Austin Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble Nominated – Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Ensemble Nominated – Empire Award for Best Actress Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Actress Nominated – St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress | |
| Le Concert | Anne-Marie Jacquet | ||
| 2010 | The Round Up | Annette Monod | |
| 2011 | Beginners | Anna | Gotham Awards for Best Ensemble Cast Nominated – San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| Pollen | Narrator | ||
| Requiem for a Killer | Lucrèce | ||
| The Day I Saw Your Heart | Justine Dhrey | Newport Beach Film Festival for Best Actress | |
| The Adopted | Lisa | Also director and writer | |
| 2013 | Night Train to Lisbon | Young Estefania | |
| Now You See Me | Alma Dray | ||
| Epic | Mary Katherine | Voice; French dub | |
| Enemy | Mary | ||
| 2014 | Aloft | Jannia Ressmore | |
| 2015 | Inside Out | Disgust | Voice; French dub |
| Boomerang | Agathe Rey | ||
| By the Sea | Lea | ||
| 2016 | Éternité | Mathilde | |
| Mon nom à Pigalle | |||
| Mike | Dr. Bauer | ||
| 2017 | Mon garçon | Marie Blanchard | |
| 2018 | Operation Finale | Hanna | |
| Return of the Hero | Elisabeth Beaugrand | Nominated – Globes de Cristal Award for Best Actress - Comedy | |
| Mia and the White Lion | Alice Owen | ||
| 2019 | 6 Underground | Two | |
| 2021 | Oxygen | Elizabeth Hansen | |
| The Mad Women's Ball | Genevieve | Also director and writer | |
| 2023 | Murder Mystery 2 | Claudette | |
| Wingwomen | Carole | Also director and writer | |
| 2024 | The Flood | Marie Antoinette |
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| width=65 | Director | width=65 | Screenwriter | ||
| 2008 | De moins en moins | Short film Nominated – 2008 Cannes Film Festival - Short Film Palme d'Or | |||
| 2008 | X Femmes | Short film (season 1, episode 6) | |||
| 2012 | Surpêche | Short documentary film (also as cinematographer, editor and producer) | |||
| 2014 | Breathe | Nominated – Stockholm International Film Festival - Bronze Horse for Best Film | |||
| 2015 | Tomorrow | Documentary film César Award for Best Documentary Film Nominated – Lumières Award for Best Documentary | |||
| 2017 | Plonger | ||||
| 2018 | Galveston | ||||
| 2021 | The Mad Women's Ball | ||||
| 2023 | Wingwomen | ||||