Elle France - August 2007 by Sylvie Lancrenon

Name: Eva Green
Birth Name: Eva Gaelle Green
Date of Birth: July 5 , 1980
Place of Birth: Paris, France
Claim to fame: as Isabelle in Bernardo Bertolucci' The Dreamers (2003)
Height: 5'-6"
Biographie:
Eva Green was born Eva Gaëlle Green on July 5, 1980, in Paris, France. She has a non-identical twin sister. Her father, named Walter Green, is a Swedish dentist who once appeared in the 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, named Marlène Jobert, is an Algerian-born (during the time Algeria was part of France) French actress who retired from acting and became a writer of children's books. Young Eva Green left French school at 17. She switched to English in Ramsgate, Kent, and went to the American School in France for one year. She studied acting at Saint Paul Drama School in Paris for three years, then had a 10-week polishing course at the Weber Douglas Academy of dramatic Art in London. She also studied directing at the Tisch School of Arts at New York University.

She returned to Paris as an accomplished young actress, and played on stage in several theater productions: "La Jalousie en Trois Fax" and "Turcaret". There she caught the eye of director Bernardo Bertolucci. Green followed a recommendation to work on her English. She studied for two months with an English coach before doing The Dreamers (2003) with Bernardo Bertolucci. During their work Bertolucci described Green as being "so beautiful it's indecent." Green won critical acclaim for her role in The Dreamers (2003). She also attracted a great deal of attention from male audiences for her full frontal nudity in several scenes of the film. Besides her work as an actress Green also composed original music and recorded several sound tracks for the film score.

After The Dreamers Green's career ascended to the level where she revealed more of her multifaceted acting talent. She played the love interest of cult French gentleman stealer Arsène Lupin (2004) opposite Romain Duris. In 2005 she co-starred opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson in Kingdom of Heaven (2005) produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The film became a blockbuster in the US and worldwide and brought her a wider international exposure. She turned down the femme fatale role in The Black Dahlia that went to Hilary Swank because she didn't want to end up always typecast as a femme fatale after her role in The Dreamers. Instead, Eva Green accepted the prestigious role of Vesper Lynd, one of three Bond girls, opposite Daniel Craig in Casino Royale (2006) and became the 5th French actress to play a James Bond girl after Claudine Auger in Thunderball (1965), Corinne Clery in Moonraker (1979), Carole Bouquet in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Sophie Marceau in The World is not enough (1999).

Since her school years Green has been a cosmopolitan multilingual and multicultural person. Yet, since her father always lived in France with them and her mother, she and her twin sister can't speak Swedish. She developed a wide scope of interests beyond her acting profession and became an aspiring art connoisseur and an avid museum visitor. Her other activities outside of acting include playing and composing music, cooking at home, walking her terrier, and collecting art. She currently shares time between her two residencies, one is in Paris, France, and one in London, England.