Filmography

 • Passage à l'acte
    (Neutralitι mal-
    veillante)

 • Frankie Starlight

 • À la folie (Six Days,
    Six Nights)

 • Innocent Blood
    (A French Vampire
    in America)

 • Map of the Human
    Heart

 • Nikita (La Femme
    Nikita)

 • Che ora é? (Quelle
    heure est-il? / What
    Time is It?)

 • Juillet en Septembre

 • Le battant (The
    Cache)

 • Pour la peau d'un
    flic (Whirlpool)

 • Girls

 • Patrizia (Patricia)

 • Ecoute voir

 • L'hôtel de la plage
    (The Beach Hotel)

Biography

A native Parisian and still a resident there, Anne 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 Long's L'hôtel de la plage launched her into the world of film.

Ms Parillaud 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."

Nikita was an especially intense experience for Anne: "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 ze 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, Anne cautions, "It never happens to me, zis kind of story."

In selecting films and directors to work with, Parillaud 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."

Anne may be contacted through her agent at the following address: Anne Parillaud, c/o Artmedia, 10 avenue George-V, 75008 Paris, France.