Maïwenn

Maïwenn Le Besco was born on 17 April 1976 in Les Lilas, Seine-Saint-Denis, the daughter of artist Catherine Belkhodja and linguist Patrick Le Besco. After her parents' divorce, she reported "she was abused by both her parents after their separation, having been beaten physically and verbally by her father around the age of seven or eight, and then by her mother during her adolescence"; this experience informed her films Pardonnez-moi (2006) and Polisse (2011). She stated that her mother "is a poison for me. She poisoned my life."

She is of mixed Breton, Vietnamese, French and Algerian descent. Her Algerian ancestry comes from her maternal grandfather, while her father is of mixed French and Vietnamese descent. She is also a citizen of Algeria. In an interview with La Nouvelle République, she explained that she acquired Algerian nationality to honor her grandparents, in connection with her parents' desire to make her forget her origins. Maïwenn's mother pressured her to act at a young age, an experience later chronicled by Maïwenn in her one-woman shows Le Pois Chiche (The Chickpea) and I'm an Actress.

As of 2024, she is estranged from her siblings, including Isild. Maïwenn starred in several films as a child, then teen, actress—notably as "Elle, as a child" (the child version of the lead role played by Isabelle Adjani) in the 1983 hit film L'été meurtrier (One Deadly Summer).

Following her marriage to director Luc Besson and the birth of their daughter in 1993, Maïwenn interrupted her career for several years. During this period, she only appeared in a supporting part in Besson's Léon (1994), in which she was credited as Ouin-Ouin. She also directed the film's making-of. Perhaps Maïwenn's most internationally-seen film role was her appearance as the alien Diva Plavalaguna in Besson's The Fifth Element (1997).

After she and Besson divorced, Maïwenn returned to France. She performed as a stand-up comedian in an autobiographical one-woman-show, and reentered the movie business after several filmmakers saw her comedy routine in Paris. She appeared in several notable movies, including the horror film Haute Tension (English title: High Tension), in which she starred opposite Cécile de France. By the time the film came out in 2003, she had decided she wanted to try directing. She said while acting in Les parisiens (2004) she was inspired by the director Claude Lelouch's approach to film making to make her first film. She explained, "I saw a totally free man, capable of adapting to accidents on the set. ...there are two types of directors: those who love life and use it for their films, and those who don’t love it and try to twist it to make it fit into their films. From that day on, I had chosen my side – the side of freedom, that of Lelouch."

In 2006, Maïwenn wrote and directed her first feature film, Pardonnez-moi, a drama about a dysfunctional family. She also starred in the film which earned her nominations for the César Award for Best First Feature Film and César Award for Most Promising Actress in the 2007. According to Maïwenn, Besson told her she was "crazy" and needed to stop immediately when he learned she wanted to produce the film with her own money but he apologized after seeing the film, saying she was right this time. Whereas Lelouch had told her, "I think you should go for it. Cinema should be a question of life or death." Her second film was Le bal des actrices (2009, All About Actresses), in which she appears as herself making a documentary. She achieved international recognition when her third film, the social drama Polisse (2011), won the Jury Prize at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. All three films feature Maïwenn with a camera, stemming from a childhood fascination and her interest in the mise en abyme, the story within a story.

Maïwenn's 2015 film Mon roi was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.

She co-wrote, directed, and starred in the 2020 film, DNA, an Official Selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival which was cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic. She co-wrote, directed, and starred in her first period film, the 2023 film Jeanne du Barry about the life of Madame du Barry with Louis XV portrayed by Johnny Depp, which opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival out of competition and earned the highest French gross for a Cannes opening film since 2013.