Yolande Moreau (born 27 February 1953) is a Belgian comedian, actress,

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. She has won three

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

from four nominations.

Career

She made her cinematic debut with director

Agnès Varda Agnès Varda (; born Arlette Varda; 30 May 1928 – 29 March 2019) was a Belgian-born French film director, screenwriter, photographer, and artist. Her pioneering work was central to the development of the widely influential French New Wave film ...

in two movies: Sept pièces (1984) and

Vagabond Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporar ...

(1985). In 1989, she joined

Jérôme Deschamps Jérôme Deschamps, born Neuilly-sur-Seine on 5 October 1947, is an actor, director and stage author, as well as a cinema actor and director associated with the Famille Deschiens troupe founded by Macha Makeïeff in 1978. In 2003 he was appointed a ...

and Macha Makeieff's troupe, of which she became one of the stars, especially on the TV programme, ''

Les Deschiens ''Les Deschiens'' is a French-language comedy television series. It was broadcast from 1993 to 2002 on Canal + (France). Plot This semi-improvised series of short sketches depicts a gallery of quirky characters having arguments or selling bizarr ...

''. She played La Levaque in Germinal (1993) directed by

Claude Berri Claude Berri (; 1 July 1934 – 12 January 2009) was a French film director, writer, producer, actor and distributor. Early life Born Claude Beri Langmann in Paris, Berri was the son of Jewish immigrant parents. His mother, Beila (née Bercu), w ...

, a

concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...

in the film ''

Amélie ''Amélie'' (also known as ''Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain''; ; en, The Fabulous Destiny of Amélie Poulain, italic=yes) is a 2001 French-language romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Written by Jeunet with Guillaume L ...

'' (2001) and Mama Chow in '' Micmacs'' (2009) (both directed by

Jean-Pierre Jeunet Jean-Pierre Jeunet (; born 3 September 1953) is a French film director, producer and screenwriter. His films combine fantasy, realism and science fiction to create idealized realities or to give relevance to mundane situations. Debuting as a di ...

), a mime in ''

Paris, Je T'aime ''Paris, je t'aime'' (; ''Paris, I love you'') is a 2006 anthology film starring an ensemble cast of actors of various nationalities. The two-hour film consists of eighteen short films set in different arrondissements (districts). The 22 director ...

'' (2006) and a lovesick woman in ''

'' (1985) directed by

. She made her directorial debut with the movie

When the Sea Rises ''When the Sea Rises'' (french: Quand la mer monte...) is a 2004 French-Belgian romantic comedy film directed by Yolande Moreau and Gilles Porte. It was Moreau's directorial debut. Plot Irène is an actress who performs her one-person show all ov ...

, which she co-wrote and starred in. The movie was acclaimed by critics, and Yolande Moreau won two

for Best Debut and Best Actress. Moreau stars in the French horror thriller film '' The Pack'', which premiered at the

2010 Cannes Film Festival The 63rd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films scr ...

. Her 2013 film ''

Henri Henri is an Estonian, Finnish, French, German and Luxembourgish form of the masculine given name Henry (given name), Henry. People with this given name ; French noblemen :'' See the 'List_of_rulers_named_Henry#France, List of rulers named Henry ...

'' was screened in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...

section at the

2013 Cannes Film Festival The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and S ...

. Moreau was scheduled to be the guest of honour at the 2017 Brussels Film Festival, but this edition had to be cancelled after subsidies were withdrawn.

Personal life

At 18, she met an older man. Together they have two children, Héloïse and Nils, but they separated when Yolande was 21. Alone with her two children, she worked in various trades, including as a housekeeper. She is the grandmother of four grandchildren.

Awards and honours

Moreau has won three

: one for Best First Film (in 2005) and two for Best Actress (in 2005 and 2009) and is the most awarded Belgian actress.

Theater

Filmography

Actress

Filmmaker

Box-office

Movies starring Yolande Moreau with more than a million of entries in France.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moreau, Yolande 1953 births Living people Actresses from Brussels Belgian film actresses Belgian film directors Belgian screenwriters Belgian women screenwriters Belgian women film directors Best Actress César Award winners Best Actress Lumières Award winners Magritte Award winners