Karin Viard

Karin Viard, 2014

Karin Viard (born January 24, 1966 in Rouen , Département Seine-Maritime ) is a French actress . Since the 1980s she has appeared in over 80 film and television productions. For skin les cœurs! (2000) and Kiss me if you want (2002) she was awarded the French César film prize.

Life

Youth and education

Karin Viard was born in the port city of Rouen in 1966. The daughter of the director of an oil rig spent most of her childhood with her grandparents, who also taught her. At the Conservatory in Rouen she came into contact with acting when she took part in several plays. At the age of 17, she left her hometown and went to Paris with the goal of becoming an actress. With a stenotypist diploma and several theater courses behind her, she took part in the acting courses of Vera Gregh and Blanche Salant in the French capital. Appearances in short films and in French television series followed, before she first attracted attention in 1990 with the supporting role of Agathe in Étienne Chatiliez 'comedy Tante Daniele . She gained greater fame a year later with Marc Caros and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's film Delicatessen (1991). In the pitch-black comedy about a bizarre house community, she can be seen as the well-fed mistress of a cannibal butcher (played by Jean-Claude Dreyfus ). Caros and Jeunet's feature film debut was showered with praise by the critics and the following year it was awarded the most important French film prize, César , in four categories .

After the success of Aunt Daniele and Delicatessen , Viard received more offers for leading roles on French television. After supporting roles in Claire Devers ' crime film Max & Jérémie and Cédric Klapisch's comedy Small Fish, Big Fish (both 1992), she was given her first leading role in the cinema by the debut director Xavier Durringer . In his tragic comedy La Nage indienne (1993), Viard played the nonchalant striptease dancer Clara alongside Gérald Laroche and Antoine Chappey, and in this role convinced the French critics of her changeability. At the age of 28, she was nominated for the César as best young actress in 1994, but the award went to Valeria Bruni Tedeschi in Crazy - For Love . The following year, Viard was recognized as the best actress at the Festival International du Film Francophone in Namur, Belgium for her part in Affair for Beginners . In Christine Pascal's tragic comedy , which illuminates the 24 hours of everyday life in a big city relationship, she played the love-hungry wife of Vincent Cassel .

In her private life she was struggling to process her professional success at this time; she put on a lot of weight. With supporting roles in the dramas Separation , Der Lieblingssohn or Hass , in which she worked alongside well-known actors such as Isabelle Huppert , Daniel Auteuil , Gérard Lanvin or Jean-Marc Barr , she could not achieve the success of her star role in La nage indienne tie in. She only managed to do this three years later with Philippe Harel's Singles on the road . In this comedy about a Parisian clique going on a mountain hike in Corsica , Viard plays the frustrated, single Cora who finally wants to meet her dream man on this trip. She received her second César nomination, this time for best supporting actress , for the unspectacularly staged everyday story, developed with a light hand and ironic swabs .

Success in leading roles

Karin Viard with the César for Haut les Cœurs! (2000)

After she had been in front of the camera continuously from the beginning of the 1990s, Viard drew international attention in 1999 with two leading roles. In Sólveig Anspach's drama Haut les cœurs! she played the young Emma, who is just expecting her first child. When the mother-to-be was diagnosed with breast cancer, she refused to terminate the pregnancy and instead placed herself in the hands of a doctor, who gradually gave her confidence back. In Catherine Corsini's comedy The New Eve , Viard played the anti-heroine Camille, who takes refuge in relationships with men and women. The New York Times praised her for her extraordinarily sensitive portrait of Eve and her amazing naturalness. Viard was named Best Actress at the New York B-Movie Film Festival in 2000. For skin les cœurs! At the César Awards 2000 she won the Best Actress category against such renowned colleagues as Sandrine Bonnaire (Est-Ouest - Eine Liebe in Russland) or Nathalie Baye (Beautiful Venus) - she was also awarded the Lumières and Suzanne awards -Bianchetti Prize for best young French actress and the Actor Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival .

After this success she received leading roles in comedies and dramas under the direction of such famous French directors as Josiane Balasko , Michel Blanc , Constantin Costa-Gavras and Tonie Marshall . In 2003, she received her second César (Best Supporting Actress) for Blanc's tragic comedy Kiss me if you want . Another nomination for best leading actress followed in 2005 for her role as the inconspicuous assistant to a well-known film actress (played by Agnès Jaoui ) in François Favrat's drama Le rôle de sa vie . In 2006 she worked a second time with Catherine Corsini for the romantic drama Les ambitieux , as a successful publisher who takes on a young author (played by Éric Caravaca ). Eight further feature film productions followed by 2009, including the role of a chatty bakery saleswoman in Cédric Klapisch's ensemble film So ist Paris (2008, César nomination for best supporting actress) as well as the sequel to singles under the title Les randonneurs à Saint-Tropez by Philippe Harel was made into a film. She received another César nomination for best leading actress for her portrayal of the just divorced policewoman Nadine in Maïwenn's film Poliezei , which reports on the everyday life of a unit of the youth protection police in Paris.

In 2015 she won the Prix Lumières for Best Actress twice: for her role in Quicksand (2013) and for Do you understand the Béliers? (2014).

In 2003 she was a member of the competition jury of the Cannes Film Festival together with Patrice Chéreau , Jean Rochefort , Meg Ryan and Steven Soderbergh . In addition to her work in film and television, she also made a name for herself as a stage actress. On stage she appeared in productions of Molières Tartuffe and Paul Emonds Inaccessibles amours, among others .