Luàna Bajrami-Rahmani (; born 14 March 2001) is a French actress. She is known for her roles in the films ''

Portrait of a Lady on Fire ''Portrait of a Lady on Fire'' () is a 2019 French historical romantic drama film written and directed by Céline Sciamma, starring Noémie Merlant and Adèle Haenel. Set in France in the late 18th century, the film tells the story of a brief ...

'' (2019) and '' School's Out'' (2018). She made her directorial debut with '' The Hill Where Lionesses Roar'' (2021).

Early life

Bajrami's family is from Pleshina, a village in the Ferizaj District of

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. When she was seven, the family moved to

Créteil Créteil () is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Créteil is the ''préfecture'' (capital) of the Val-de-Marne Departments of France, dep ...

, just south of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. She first became interested in acting after watching Nicolas Bary's 2008 adaption of ''Trouble at Timpetill'', based on the novel by Henry Winterfeld.

Career

Bajrami's first role was in the 2011 television film ''Adèle's Choice'' by Olivier Guignard, where she played an 8-year-old Albanian student whose family was threatened with expulsion. This student finds support from her teacher, played by

Miou-Miou Sylvette Herry (born 22 February 1950), known professionally as Miou-Miou (), is a French actress. A ten-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Actress for the 1979 film ''Memoirs of a French Whore''. Her other films inclu ...

. Bajrami had a small role in the 2014 short film ''14 Million Screams'' by Lisa Azuelos. She played the title role in the TV film ''Marion'' by Bourlem Guerdjou. ''Marion'' was adapted from the eponymous book by Nora Fraisse retracing the Marion Fraisse affair in which a schoolgirl committed suicide following harassment by her fellow students, and first aired

France 3 France 3 () is a French free-to-air Public broadcasting, public television network. The second flagship network of France Télévisions, it broadcasts a wide range of general and specialized programming. France 3 is structured as a Region ...

on 27 September 2016. In an interview with ''

Le Monde (; ) is a mass media in France, French daily afternoon list of newspapers in France, newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average print circulation, circulation of 480,000 copies per issue in 2022, including ...

'', Bajrami reflected that this was the first role in which she felt creative control. She read the book and met with the mother of Marion Fraisse. Bajrami starred in two more short films: ''Two Youths Died'' by Tomasso Usberti, which won third prize from the Cinéfondation at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

in 2017, and the 2018 film ''After the Night'' by Valentin Plisson and Maxime Roux. She played the role of Apolline, the ringleader of a group of six intellectually gifted students facing off against their substitute teacher (played by

Laurent Lafitte Laurent Lafitte (born 22 August 1973) is a French actor. He is known for playing the role of Patrick in ''Elle''. In March 2016 he was named as the host of the opening and closing ceremonies at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival The 69th Cannes F ...

) in Sébastien Marnier's 2019 film '' School's Out'', adapted from the eponymous novel by Christophe Dufossé. She was praised for her portrayal of Apolline, with EJ Oakley of The Panoptic stating that "Luana Bajrami is particularly menacing as the verbose and morose Apolline". Bajrami was praised for her portrayal of Sophie in the 2019 independent French film ''

''. That same year, she played the role of Emma in Cedric Khan's ''Happy Birthday'', which focused on a dysfunctional family reunion. In 2020, it was announced that Bajrami was making her directorial debut with the film '' The Hill Where Lionesses Roar''. Bajrami was nominated for " Most Promising Actress" at the 2020

César Award Cesar or César may refer to: Arts and entertainment * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt Places * Cesar, Portugal * Cesar Department, Colombia * Cesar R ...

Filmography

Films

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bajrami, Luana Living people 2001 births Kosovo Albanians French film actresses French film directors Kosovan film directors People from Créteil Actresses from Île-de-France French women film directors Kosovan women film directors