Victoire Thivisol

Child star Victoire Thivisol was discovered by acclaimed Parisian filmmaker Jacques Doillon when she was only three and a half years old. The César-nominated director cast Thivisol to play the title role in his drama "Ponette," which explored a child's emotional journey in the wake of its mother's death. The film drew worldwide praise and earned the four-year-old Thivisol the Volpi Cup, awarded to the Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival. Her win was hotly contested, but jury member Roman Polanski rebuffed detractors, declaring the young actress had been unanimously chosen by the nine-person jury. Thivisol was too young to take in the controversy or appreciate that she was the youngest recipient to ever receive the award. Instead, she focused on what came in the cup--a puppy that Doillon gifted her for her astonishing accomplishment. After "Ponette," she twice played the daughter of Oscar-winning French film star Juliette Binoche; first in the romance-fueled French biopic "The Children of the Century" and then in the English-language adaptation of Joanne Harris' romantic novel "Chocolat." Since then, Thivisol has only appeared in a handful of productions, including the 2005 TV movie "Le Bal des Célibataires" and the teen drama "Les Grands s'Allongent par Terre," in which she played the lead, a girl who runs away from home in search of her biological father.