Catherine Deneuve is a famous French actress. She was born in 1943 in Paris and her real name is Catherine Fabienne Dorléac. She attended catholic schools. Her three sisters: Francoise, Sylvie and Danielle Dorléac are also actresses.

Catherine made her debut in the movie “Les Collégiennes” (translated as “The Twilight Girls”) in 1957. The movie was filmed in 1955 when Catherine was only 12 years old. After that movie, Catherine decided to start using her mother’s last name Deneuve as her own, no to be confused with her sister Francoise Dorléac. At the age of 17 she left home and moved into with Ukranian director Roger Vadim, who was twice her age. He directed her in the “Le Vice e la Vertu” movie in 1962.

The movie that launched Catherine Deneuve to stardom was “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg” or ”The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”, a musical by Jacques Demy from 1964. Her success followed with the role of a schizophrenic murderer in “Repulsion” by Roman Polanski from 1965. “Belle de Jour” from 1967 earned her a Best Actress nomination from the British Film Academy. After that came the following movies: “Les Demoiselles de Rochefor” in 1967 (she co-starred with her sister Francoise Dorléac, who died soon after in a car accident at the age of 25), “La Sirène du Mississipi” in 1969 and “Tristana” in 1970.

Catherine Deneuve appeared frequently in European movies in the 60s and the 70s, but limited her exposure in Hollywood. Her first American movie was the romantic comedy “The April Fools” from 1969, followed by the crime drama “Hustle” featuring Burt Reynolds in 1975.

Deneuve won a César Award for Best Actress for the movie “Le dernier métro“or “The Last Metro” in 1980. Then came her third Hollywood movie “The Hunger” in 1983. In 1988 she produced the movie “Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre”.

“Indochine”, the romantic drama from 1992, won the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film in 1993, and Deneuve got her second César Award for Best Actress and her first Academy Award nomination. Her recent movies are “Dancer in the Dark” (2000), “The Musketeer” (2001), “8 Women” (2002), etc.

Her classic beauty and grace earned her many modeling gigs. She became the face of the famous perfume Chanel No. 5 in the 1970s. In 1985 her profile was chosen as the model for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic seen on French coins and stamps. In 1983, American Home Products chose her to represent their cosmetics line and in 1992 she became the model of Yves Saint Laurent skincare. In 2001, she became the face of Loreal Paris. In 2007 she modeled for Louis Vuitton bags.

Catherine Deneuve launched her own fragrance, named “Deneuve” in 1986. She herself chose the design, the packaging, the advert and the notes of the composition. The chypre fragrance was made in cooperation with AVON Professional. It won the FiFi award in 1987.