Marina Sylvie Foïs (born 21 January 1970) is a French

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

Life and career

Born in

Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the Parisian area, located from its Kilometre zero, centre. It is a Subprefectures in ...

in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in a family from

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, Jewish Egyptian,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

ancestry, Marina Foïs was discovered in 1986 for her comedy work in ''

The School for Wives ''The School for Wives'' (french: L'école des femmes; ) is a theatrical comedy written by the seventeenth century French playwright Molière and considered by some critics to be one of his finest achievements. It was first staged at the Palai ...

'', at the age of 16. She decided to take classes by correspondence and obtained her high school final exam two years later. She then joined ''The Royal Imperial Green Rabbit Company'', which later became ''Les Robins des Bois'', composed of students from the

Cours Florent The Cours Florent is a private French drama school in Paris established in 1967 by François Florent. The school is located on three nearby sites in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France: rue Archereau, rue Mathis, and Avenue Jean-Jaurès; f ...

taught by

Isabelle Nanty Isabelle Nanty (born 21 January 1962) is a French actress, film and theatre director and screenwriter. Career She was a teacher for several years at the Cours Florent, and then received a nomination for the César Award for Most Promising Actres ...

. The troupe caught the attention of

Dominique Farrugia Dominique Farrugia (born 2 September 1962) is a French actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, humorist and comedian. He is a member and founder of the group of comedians ''Les Nuls'' alongside Alain Chabat, Chantal Lauby and Bruno C ...

in 1996 and went on to act and direct in the

Comédie+ Comédie+ (formerly Comédie!) is a French cable network showing humorous programs since 1997. It bears some resemblance to Comedy Central; even the ''comédie'' word in the name is used in the very broad American meaning. It is directed by Domi ...

show ''La Grosse Émission'' for two years. During that period, Foïs co-wrote sketches with

Pierre-François Martin-Laval Pierre-François Martin-Laval (nicknamed "PEF") is a French actor, film director, screenwriter and theatre director. PEF is well known in France for his acting performances in musical comedy but also in serious plays. He studied at the famous Fren ...

, playing a number of various characters, like the dim-witted Sophie Pétoncule and the pedantic director Marie-Mûre. The show continued the next year on

Canal+ Canal+ (Canal Plus, , meaning 'Channel Plus'; sometimes abbreviated C+ or Canal) is a French premium television channel launched in 1984. It is 100% owned by the Groupe Canal+, which in turn is owned by Vivendi. The channel broadcasts several ki ...

and had a bigger audience. In June 2001, Foïs and the troupe parted ways to focus on their individual film careers. Marina Foïs became a prolific actress, with two to five films released every year. On 25 November 2020, it was announced that she will be the host for the 46th César Awards.

Personal life

Marina Foïs has two sisters. Giulia Foïs is a journalist at ''

Libération ''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...

'' and a former

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

in the program ''Arrêt sur images'' presented by Daniel Schneidermann on

France 5 France 5 () is a French free-to-air public television channel, part of the France Télévisions group. Principally featuring educational programming, the channel's motto is ''la chaîne de la connaissance et du savoir'' (the knowledge network). ...

, and a current

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

on I-Télé. Her second sister Elena is a doctor. Their brother, Fabio, died of an

airplane crash An aviation accident is defined by the Convention on International Civil Aviation Annex 13 as an occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft, which takes place from the time any person boards the aircraft with the ''intention of fl ...

while participating in an aerobatic demonstration. Marina was in a partnership with fellow "Robins des Bois" actor Maurice Barthélémy. She also dated ''Maxime Lefrançois'', Mister Univers 2010. She started dating the director

Éric Lartigau Eric Lartigau (born 20 June 1964) is a French director and screenwriter. Personal life His wife Marina Foïs gave birth to their son, named Lazare, born 3 December 2004 and their Second son, Georges, born, September 25, 2008. Filmography ...

in 1999. On December 3, 2004, she gave birth to a boy, Lazare at the Hôpital Saint-Antoine in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. They had a second son, Georges, born on 25 September 2008.

Filmography

Dubbing

Theater

Awards and nominations

César Award

Etoile d'Or

Globes de Cristal Awards The Awards (English: Crystal Globe Awards) is a set of awards bestowed by members of the French Press Association recognizing excellence in home art and culture. The annual formal ceremony and dinner at which the awards are presented happens eac ...

Lumières Award The Lumières Award (french: Lumières de la presse internationale) is a French film award presented by the ''Académie des Lumières'' to honor the best in the French language, French-speaking cinema of the previous year. The awards ceremony is ...

Feroz Awards The Feroz Awards ( es, Premios Feroz) are Spain-based film and television awards presented by the Asociación de Informadores Cinematográficos de España (''Association of Cinematographic Informers of Spain''). They are considered the Spanish e ...

Goya Awards The Goya Awards ( es, Premios Goya) are Spain's main national annual film awards, commonly referred to as the Academy Awards of Spain. The awards were established in 1987, a year after the founding of the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fois, Marina 1970 births Living people French stage actresses French television actresses French film actresses Cours Florent alumni People from Boulogne-Billancourt 20th-century French actresses 21st-century French actresses French people of Egyptian-Jewish descent French people of Russian descent French people of German descent French people of Italian descent French people of Sardinian descent