Charlotte Gainsbourg

The progeny of a French recording artist and a British film star, singer-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg inherited not only her parents' respective talents, but their penchant for embracing the unconventional. In the spotlight roughly from birth, it came as little surprise when the youngster first appeared on film, starring alongside French cinema icon Catherine Deneuve in the film "Paroles et Musique" (1983) at the age of 12. A role in the drama "L'Effrontee" (1985) two years later earned Gainsbourg a Cesar Award for Most Promising Newcomer, an accomplishment followed by her first music album Charlotte for Ever in 1986. Before long, she was working with the likes of director Franco Zeffirelli as the titular star of "Jane Eyre" (1996), appearing opposite Sean Penn in "21 Grams" (2003), and winning the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival for her shocking turn in Lars von Trier's take on the horror genre "Antichrist" (2009). Music remained a passion for Gainsbourg, who continued to release such well-received albums as 2009's IRM. Other projects included her return to the world of von Trier in another Cannes favorite, the heralded apocalyptic drama "Melancholia" (2011). Possessing a non-traditional beauty and an unconventional artistic bent, Gainsbourg enjoyed her reputation as one of the more versatile, talented and daring performers on the international landscape.