Background:

“There are a lot of movie stars, but among the movie stars, the ones that have had really unique destinies, like Brando - there have not been that many.” Chiara Mastroianni

French actress Chiara Mastroianni, daughter of Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and French actress Catherine Deneuve, came to prominence for portraying Anne in the André Téchiné directed “My Favorite Season” (1993), where she was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress for her performance. She jointly picked up a National Board of Review Award in Robert Altman’s ensemble comedy “Ready to Wear” (1994) and was nominated for a Golden Globe (Italy) Award for her starring role as  Ada in the Italian movie “The Words of My Father” (2001). Other films she has acted in include “Diary of a Seducer” (1996, with Melvil Paupaud), “Nowhere” (1997), “The Letter” (1999), “Hotel” (2001), “Carnages” (2002), “It’s Easier for a Camel” (2003), “Akoibon” (2005), “Love Songs” (2007), “Persepolis” (2007), “Crime Is Our Business” (2008), “Making Plans for Lena” (2009), “Homme au bain” (2010), “Beloved” (2011), “Americano” (2011) and “Augustine”  (2012).

Mastroianni was a member of jury at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. She has used her celebrity name to support Lionel Jospin in his presidential campaign in 2002. As for her romantic life, Mastroianni was married to author, composer and singer Benjamin Biolay from 2002 until they divorced in 2005. The marriage produced one child, daughter Anna (born 2003). Mastroianni had been linked to sculptor Pierre Torreton, with whom she had a son in 1996, and Puerto Rican actor and film producer Benicio Del Toro, whom she met at Cannes in 1998. She is now in a relationship with actor Vincent Lindon, who is 13 years her senior. Lindon played her mother's love interest  in the 1999 film “Belle maman.”    


Of Italian French Descent

Childhood and Family:

Chiara Charlotte Mastroianni was born in Paris, France, on May 28, 1972, to Italian actor Marcello Mastroianni and French actress Catherine Deneuve. She is the half sister of actor Christian Vadim (from her mother’s relationship with French director Roger Vadim) and costume designer Barbara Mastroianni. Her uncle is Ruggero Mastroianni, an Italian film editor who died in 1996 of heart attack.   Her maternal grandparents were French actor Maurice Dorléac and French actress Renée Deneuve.

On May 11, 2002, Chiara was married to French musician and author Benjamin Biolay (born January 20, 1973), whom she had met only several months before. The couple welcomed a daughter named Anna on April 22, 2003. Chiara and her husband divorced in 2005. Chiara also has an older son named Milo (born December 31, 1996), from a relationship with French sculptor Pierre Torreton.  


The Words of My Father

Career:

Daughter of actors, Chiara Mastroianni made her first film appearance at age 7, with an uncredited part in the French drama “À nous deux” (“US Two,” 1979), starring her mother Catherine Deneuve. She, however, did not appear in another movie until over a decade later when she landed the supporting role of Anne in director/writer André Téchiné’s drama “My Favorite Season” (“Ma saison préférée”, 1993), starring her mother and Daniel Auteuil. Delivering an impressive performance, a 22-year-old Mastroianni was handed a César nomination for Most Promising Actress.

Her rising profile was confirmed when she was cast in the Robert Altman ensemble comedy “Ready to Wear” (“Prêt-à-Porter,” 1994), where she appeared alongside her father as well as with  Sophia Loren and Kim Basinger. The film brought Mastroianni a National Board of Review for Best Acting by an Ensemble in 1994. The year also saw her appear in French television on the film “Rêveuse jeunesse,” opposite Marie Trintignant and Emmanuel Salinger, and in an episode of “3000 scénarios contre un virus.”

After appearing in the films “Don't Forget You're Going to Die” and “All Men Are Mortal” (both 1995), the talented performer got her first starring role, as Claire, in “Diary of a Seducer” (“Le Journal d’un Seducteur”, 1996), a romance/comedy adapted from a novel by Søren Kierkegaard. The film  marked Mastroianni’s initial collaboration with actor Melvil Paupaud. She and Paupaud reunited  later that same year for the comedy “Three Lives and Only One Death” (“Trois vies et une seule mort”), which was directed and co-written by Raúl Ruiz. The film was the penultimate film to star the actress' father Marcello Mastroianni before his death in 1996. 1996 also found roles on “My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument,” “Thieves” and “Chameleon.”  

Mastroianni appeared as Kriss in the American/French film “Nowhere” (1997), which was directed, written and co-produced by Gregg Araki and starred James Duval and Rachel True, as Viviane in Sylvain Monod's “On a très peu d'amis” (1998) and as Mireille in Laetitia Masson's “À vendre” (“Fo Sale,” 1998), starring Sandrine Kiberlain. She closed out the decades with roles on “Marcel Proust's Time Regained,” fstarring her mother, “Scénarios sur la drogue: La faute au vent” (short),  director Manoel de Oliveira’s “La lettre,” which is based on a novel by Madame de La Fayette, and “Libero Burro” (all 1999).

A supporting role opposite Jonathan Firth, Richard Anconina and Frédéric Diefenthal in the thriller “Six-Pack” marked the actress's opening movie in the new millennium, before she teamed up with director Mike Figgis for the experimental comedy film “Hotel” in 2001, where she played hotel nurse. She was cast as Ada in the Italian drama “The Words of My Father” (2001), helmed by Francesca Comencini, and was nominated for a Golden Globe (Italy) in the category of Best Actress (Migliore Attrice) for her performance.

Back to French cinema, Mastroianni took on the lead in Delphine Gleize’s consistent drama “Carnages” (2002), a winner at several international festivals. After starring as Bianca in the comedy/drama “It’s Easier for a Camel” (“Il Est Plus Facile Pour un Chameau”, 2003), she embarked on a short hiatus to focus on her family. In 2004, she released the album “Home” together with her then-husband Benjamin Biolay. Mastroianni returned to the big screen in 2005 when she supported Jean Rochefort and Nader Boussandel in “Akoibon,” a comedy/adventure film by Edouard Baer. It was followed by roles on Pascal Thomas' “Towards Zero” (as Aude Neuville), Christophe Honoré's “Love Songs” (as Jeanne) and “Persepolis” (as the voice of Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi), a French/American animated film based on Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, starring her mother (all 2008).   

Mastroianni was cast as Melvil Poupaud's wife in the Arnaud Desplechin award winning comedy/drama film “A Christmas Tale” (2008), starring her mother Catherine Deneuve. She went on to appear in Christophe Honoré's drama “La belle personne” (2008), “Crime Is Our Business” (2008, with Catherine Frot, André Dussollier and Claude Rich), Sophie Fillières' “Un chat un chat” (2009, starred as Nathalie/Célimène), Bruno Podalydès' “Park Benches” (2009, starred Florence Muller, Ridan and Jérôme Paret), Christophe Honoré's “Making Plans for Lena” (2009, with Marina Foïs and Marie-Christine Barrault), Christophe Honoré's “Homme au bain” (2010, with François Sagat and Omar Ben Sellem), Christophe Honoré's“Beloved” (2011, opposite her mother), “Chicken with Plums” (2011, starred Mathieu Amalric, Edouard Baer and Maria de Medeiros) and Mathieu Demy's “Americano” (2011, starred Demy, Salma Hayek and Geraldine Chaplin).

Recently co-starring with Vincent Lindon and Olivier Rabourdin in “Augustine” (2012), a French movie written and helmed by Alice Winocour, Mastroianni is set to play Hussardo in the upcoming war film “Linhas de Wellington” (2012).


Awards:

National Board of Review (NBR): Best Acting by an Ensemble, “Prêt-à-Porter,” 1994
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