Ludivine Sagnier

Birthday: 3 July 1979, La Celle-Saint-Cloud, Yvelines, France

Height: 160 cm

The French actress Ludivine Sagnier was born on July 3, 1979 in La Celle-Saint-Cloud, in France's Yvelines département. Ludivine studied acting as a young girl and had made her movie debut at the age 10 in Les maris, les femmes, les amants (1989). She has established her reputation as one of the brightest young stars in French and international cinema in her collaborations with French filmmaker François Ozon, starting with Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (2000) (based on a screenplay by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 8 femmes (2002) and in Swimming Pool (2003). For her performance in 8 femmes (2002), she won a Cesar Award nomination (the French equivalent of the Oscar) and the Romy Schneider Award that is given each year to a promising young French actress. In that film, Sagnier proved her acting prowess by distinguishing herself in a stellar cast that included the legendary actresses Danielle Darrieux, Catherine Deneuve and Isabelle Huppert as well as Emmanuelle Béart and Fanny Ardant. Along with these grand ladies of the French cinema, Sagnier won the Best Actress Award from the European Film Academy Award and the Silver Bear Award at the 2002 Berlin International Film Festival.Swimming Pool (2003) represented her crossover into English-language cinema. (Sagnier played her first English language role in Toothache (2006).) Marketed in the U.S. with a comely shot of Sagnier sunbathing alongside a pool, Ozon's film became one of the biggest-grossing foreign movies in the U.S. during 2003. So far, she has turned down large monetary offers to appear in American films as the foreign girlfriend of young American superstars, as she remains committed to French cinema.Sagnier became a mother on March 25, 2005, when she gave birth to a daughter named Bonnie by her boyfriend, French actor Nicolas Duvauchelle. Show less «

I don't need much money to live the way I live in Paris. I'm only 23 and I don't have great material...Show more »

I don't need much money to live the way I live in Paris. I'm only 23 and I don't have great material needs, but I do have big artistic ambitions... Show less «

I don't do nudity for fame or to become popular, because that only lasts so long. Look at Brigitte B...Show more »

I don't do nudity for fame or to become popular, because that only lasts so long. Look at Brigitte Bardot...she's become a fascist and hates everyone. Show less «

When I was in my 20s, I thought that being known for 'Swimming Pool' was kind of a burden. Like, OK,...Show more »

When I was in my 20s, I thought that being known for 'Swimming Pool' was kind of a burden. Like, OK, everyone thinks I am this tanned bimbo and I was having problems coping with that image. And now that a lot of things have happened in my life personally, I feel so much more detached from these kinds of fears and I feel that it's a charm actually, not a burden. Having a movie that lasts and makes your image imprinted into the history of cinema, it's very positive. Show less «

" I'd say people recognize me but having children recognize me is the best. It is a very special thi...Show more »

" I'd say people recognize me but having children recognize me is the best. It is a very special thing. Suddenly you feel like you have the power to make the children's dreams come true and it's better than anything else." on being recognized as Tinkerbell. Show less «

(2011, on The Devil's Double) I didn't think I had enough roots to legitimately play an Iraqi girl. ...Show more »

(2011, on The Devil's Double) I didn't think I had enough roots to legitimately play an Iraqi girl. At the beginning, I didn't really want to do it, but the director, Lee Tamahori, convinced me. I thought the movie was so special and the story was so original, that I had to be part of it. Even though it was the sexy girl part again, I didn't care. It was a good experience to go through no matter what. Having the privilege to watch Dominic Cooper at work, who was doing both characters, was amazing. Show less «

Hollywood is a wonderful machine for making big movies. In France, we make smaller and more personal...Show more »

Hollywood is a wonderful machine for making big movies. In France, we make smaller and more personal films, but if things keep changing this will disappear. The industry in Italy is practically gone. Cinecitta now is used mostly by filmmakers from others places, like Martin Scorsese. Show less «

[on performing naked on-camera] "I'm much more confident in front of a camera, hidden by a character...Show more »

[on performing naked on-camera] "I'm much more confident in front of a camera, hidden by a character, enhanced by makeup, so I can go much further than I can in real life. Being naked is quite a natural thing, but it's more the sexual situations. Sexual acting is painful, because even though you're pretending, you have the skin of the person in front of you, and it's not the skin you wish you had. After that you run into the shower to get rid of everything. I felt really dirty after I filmed all of this. It is difficult, but even if you're self-conscious in real life, when you're hidden behind a character you can bare much more." Show less «

(2011, on A Secret) That one was quite a hit in France because it's based on a true story and the bo...Show more »

(2011, on A Secret) That one was quite a hit in France because it's based on a true story and the book was a bestseller. I really enjoyed doing this movie because usually I am the one-the beautiful girl who is the one that seduces men and all that-but in this story, I was the cheated wife, shady, complex. I'm not the one that shines. I was really thankful to the director, Claude Miller, to give me such a part. Show less «

(2011) Swimming Pool was a very important moment for me because the character was written for me. I ...Show more »

(2011) Swimming Pool was a very important moment for me because the character was written for me. I had done two other movies with the director [Francois Ozon]. He wanted to offer me a great part. I think why the movie did well is that it's a very good movie, and because Americans love crime fiction. Also, it's quite charming-the locations, the South of France-and, of course, because there was a lot of sensuality and nudity in the movie, it's true. It did quite well. I really like the memory of this movie because it also brought me international exposure. It helped me to travel around a lot. That's a movie that gave me a lot of opportunities. I'm very proud of this one. And, it's true; I got bothered with a lot of questions about nudity. But it's funny, because in America there are a lot of contradictions about sexuality. At the same time you're not allowed to show a nipple on screen, but when you watch video clips, it's about sexuality all the time, and all the girls are in swimsuits and doing all kinds of sleazy stuff. I was kind of surprised to have this image when I arrived, but then I understood all of those contradictions, so I just dealt with it. The only thing I had to go through was after that, the only offers that I had were to play bimbos. And I didn't really want that, because the character of Julie was a total composition. She was the real South of France bimbo. I had worked on that tan and I worked out in order to look that way, and I thought I didn't want to be the next sexual attraction, so I turned down a lot of offers related to that. Show less «

The French have their double standards. For example, I don't think anyone in France could make a mov...Show more »

The French have their double standards. For example, I don't think anyone in France could make a movie like Larry Clark's Bully, because he combines sex and violence and humor. And, recently, there was this photo of Christina Aguilera on the magazine covers, where she was naked from the back, wearing only a G-string. The French were shocked ... and called her bad names. It was a scandal for two weeks. Show less «

It's impossible to explain to people who you are in a five-minute interview on TV.

I don't act to be popular, or see my face on the cover of magazines every time I go out to get coffe...Show more »

I don't act to be popular, or see my face on the cover of magazines every time I go out to get coffee. I don't want to think about me all the time, and what I look like. Show less «