Juliette Binoche

She is the highest paid film actress in the history of France. Claudia Cardinale's fascinating life can be read in her autobiography "Moi Claudia, Toi Claudia" which unfortunately is not available in English. In addition to her numerous motion picture roles, Binoche has starred on Broadway. She currently calls Paris her home. In 2000 she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her starring role in the film Chocolat, based on the novel by Joanne Harris. Claudia Cardinale is a liberal with strong political convictions (She is a leftist involved in pro-women and pro-gay issues). She has also frequently stated that she is proud of her Arab heritage (She was born in Tunis) and is involved in many humanitarian causes. In 1996 her role as Hana, a Canadian nurse tending to a wounded stranger during WWII, in the blockbuster film The English Patient, brought her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has been married only once to the producer Franco Cristaldi but has been living with film director Pasquale Squitieri since 1975, and has two children ( Claudia Jr from Squitieri and her eldest son Patrick born out of wedlock from a mysterious Frenchman when the actress was only 18 and who was adopted by Cristaldi later on).

Her performance brought much praise and the offer of leading roles including in Three Colors: Blue, part 1 of Krzysztof Kieslowski's highly acclaimed Three Colors trilogy, for which she won the 1993 Cesar Award for best actress. During her career, in addition to winning, she has been nominated five times for the Cesar Award for Best Actress.
Cardinale remains active in European cinema, her later films include Qui comincia l'avventura (1975), Fitzcarraldo (1982), La Storia (1985) and Un homme amoureux (1987). She was 24 when she received her first big break with a role in Philip Kaufman's film The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Other great performances by Cardinale include Valerio Zurlini's "Girl With A Suitcase" and Mauro Bolognini's "Libera". While trying to build her career over the next five years, she worked as a clerk at a Paris department store and earned extra cash as a painter's model. It is a heartbreaking film with a stellar performance by Cardinale. At age 18 she was given a bit part in the small independent film Liberty Belle. In Comencini's "La Storia" ,Cardinale plays a widow raising a son during WW2.

Born to a movie-director father and an actress mother, at age 15 she was sent to Paris to study at a specialized arts high school, after which she attended the National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts. Her performance in Visconti's underrated " Sandra/Of A Thousand Delights" is mesmerizing playing a Holocaust survivor with an incestuous relationship with her brother. Juliette Binoche (born March 9, 1964) is a French actress, born in Paris, France. She has appeared in more good European movies than most of her contemporaries. 1993 - Cesar Award - Best Actress - Damage. Claudia Cardinale has proved herself to be one of Europe's most successful and endurable movie stars. 1994 - Golden Globe Award - Best Actress - Three Colors: Blue. Her Hollywood films include Circus World (1964), The Pink Panther (1964) and The Hell With Heroes (1968).

1996 - Cesar Award - Best Actress - Le Hussard sur le toit - (The Horseman on the Roof). She attempted halfheartedly to break into the US market but was let down by her lack of interest in leaving Europe for extended periods of time . 1997 - Golden Globe Award - Best Supporting Actress - The English Patient. Claudia Cardinale became an international superstar with a mix of breathtaking beauty,a throaty distinct voice and impressive dramatic skills.One has to watch her Italian and French movies to really appreciate her dramatic prowess. 1997 - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Supporting Actress - The English Patient. Throughout the 1960s she appeared in many Italian or Italian co-financed films including Luchino Visconti's Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, 1963), Rocco e i suoi fratelli (1963), Federico Fellini's 8½ and Sergio Leone's epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). 2001 - Screen Actors Guild Award - Outstanding Cast - Chocolat. Her early career was largely managed by producer Franco Cristaldi.

2001 - Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actress - Chocolat. She made her film debut in Goha (1958) and later that year had a role in the minor international success I Soliti ignoti. 2001 - Golden Globe Award - Best Actress - Chocolat. She had her break into films after winning a Tunisian beauty contest in 1957. 2001 - Cesar Award - Best Actress - Widow Of Saint-Pierre. Claudia Cardinale was born Claude Josephine Rose Cardin. 2001 - British Academy Award - Best Actress - Chocolat. Claudia Cardinale (born Good Friday April 15, 1938) is an actress born in Tunis, Tunisia to Italian parents.

2001 - Academy Award for Best Actress - Chocolat. 1992 - European Film Award - Best Actress - Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. 1993 - Berlin International Film Festival - Berlinale Camera. 1993 - Venice Film Festival - Best Actress - Three Colors: Blue.

1994 - Cesar Award - Best Actress - Three Colors: Blue. 1996 - National Board of Review - Best Supporting Actress - The English Patient. 1997 - European Film Award - Best Actress - The English Patient. 1997 - British Academy Award - Best Supporting Actress - The English Patient.

1997 - Berlin International Film Festival - Best Actress - The English Patient. 1997 - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - The English Patient.