Vanessa Paradis — Acting | Biography, Movies & Career

Biography

Vanessa Chantal Paradis (born 22 December 1972) is a French singer, model and actress. Paradis became a star at the age of 14 with the international success of her single "Joe le taxi" (1987). At age 18, she was awarded France's highest honours as both a singer and an actress with the Prix Romy Schneider and the César Award for Most Promising Actress for Jean-Claude Brisseau's Noce Blanche, as well as the Victoires de la Musique for Best Female Singer for her album Variations sur le même t'aime. Her most notable films also include Élisa (1995) alongside Gérard Depardieu, Witch Way Love (1997) opposite Jean Reno, Une chance sur deux (1998) co-starring with Jean-Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon, Girl on the Bridge (1999), Heartbreaker (2010) and Café de Flore (2011). Her tribute to Jeanne Moreau at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival during which they sang in duet "Le Tourbillon" became notable in French popular culture. In 2022, she was nominated for the Molière Award for Best Actress for her performance in the play Maman.

She has been a muse to numerous musicians and lyricists who each took one of her albums under their aegis, including Étienne Roda-Gil (1988), Serge Gainsbourg (1990), Lenny Kravitz (1992), Matthieu Chedid (2007), Benjamin Biolay (2013), Samuel Benchetrit and The Bees (2018). As a model, Paradis has appeared on more than 300 magazine covers worldwide including Vogue, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Madame Figaro, Paris Match, Vanity Fair, Glamour, Premiere, and Marie Claire. Since 1991, she has been a spokesmodel for Chanel chosen by Karl Lagerfeld starting with the birdcage commercial "L'Esprit de Chanel" directed by Jean-Paul Goude. Paradis was made Officier (Officer) in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2011 and was named Chevalier (Knight) in the Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur in 2015.

Paradis was born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, in Paris’ suburbs, to interior designers André and Corinne Paradis. As a child she enrolled in dance lessons, learned the basics of piano, and attended child model casting sessions. At the age of seven, Paradis appeared on the local television program L'École des fans, a talent show for child singers.

Paradis recorded her first single, "La Magie des surprises-parties", in 1983 and performed it at an Italian festival in 1985. Although not a hit, it paved the way for the song with which she became internationally famous, "Joe le taxi," composed by Franck Langolff in 1987, when she was 14. It was number one in France for 11 weeks and, unusually for a song sung in French, was released in the United Kingdom, where it reached number three. It was taken from her first album M&J (for Marilyn & John) which placed 13th in France, but did not enter the British chart.

In March 1989, at age 16, she left high school to pursue her singing career. Paradis released the album Variations sur le même t'aime in 1990, containing a remake of the Lou Reed song "Walk on the Wild Side". The album was written by French composer Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met when she received the best singer award at Victoires de la Musique, on 4 February 1990.

In 1990, she won the César Award for Most Promising Actress for her role in Noce Blanche. ...

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