Miou-Miou
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Miou-Miou (born Sylvette Héry, February 22, 1950 in Paris, France) is a popular French actress. In her career she has worked with some of the finest international directors of her generation, including Bertrand Blier, Yves Boisset, Claude Berri, Jacques Deray, Michel Deville, Diane Kurys, Patrice Leconte, Joseph Losey and Louis Malle.[1]
Her stage name, Miou-Miou (pussycat), was given to her by a lover when she was 18. She was raised in Paris by her mother, a greengrocer. After studying acting she worked in improvisational theater with Coluche and Patrick Dewaere before making her film debut in La vie sentimentale de Georges Le Tueur and La Cavale (both 1971) [2].
She quickly became popular among audiences fascinated by the combination of innocence and strength that she displayed in her roles. She was known for her bravery, too, in appearing nude on film. In 1973 she appeared in three films, Elle court, elle court la banlieue, Les granges brulées and Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob. Her breakthrough film was Blier's Les Valseuses (Going Places), released in 1974.
Leading roles would follow, and she was fortunate in finding good material with which to display her versatility, whether the roles were in comedy or drama. Through the 1970s, she had roles such films as F...Like Fairbanks (1976), Jonas who will be 25 in the year 2000 (1976), Losey's Roads to the South (1978) and La dérobade (Memoirs of a French Whore, 1979) directed by Daniel Duval, in which she portrayed a young prostitute. She received a César Award for that role. Popular in her native France, many of these 1970s films were seen in North America in art-house venues. In 1976 she appeared in one of the last spaghetti westerns ever made, Damiano Damiani's A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot.
She is known for her relationships with actor Patrick Dewaere, who is the father of her first child Angèle, and with the singer Julien Clerc, with whom she had a second daughter, Jeanne.
By 2006 she had 70 films to her credit, generally of high quality. Through the 1980s she was convincing in such films as La gueule du loup (1981), Guy de Maupassant (1982), Kurys' Entre nous (1983) with Isabelle Huppert, Blanche et Marie (1984), Evening Dress (1986), and Deville's La lectrice (The Reader, 1988). She played opposite Lee Marvin (in one of his last roles) in Boisset’s unfortunate Dog Day in 1984.
The nineties saw her in such films as Louis Malle's May Fools (1990), Deray's thriller Netchaïev is back, the popular comedy Un indien dans la ville (1994), and The Eighth Day (1996) and Dry Cleaning in 1997. Probably her most important role of the decade was opposite Gerard Depardieu in a new production of Emile Zola's Germinal (1993). By now in her fifties, her work has abated slightly as she also began to appear in theatre [3]. 2001 saw her in Agathe et le grand magasin and in 2004 she appeared in L'après-midi de monsieur Andesmas, among other films.
Despite her considerable success as an actress, Miou-Miou does not consider herself a "star". She was quoted as saying in 1989, "I turned down dinner with Mickey Rourke. Because he's a star. To me, a star is inaccessible, mysterious, an impossible dream — and should stay that way. Adjani's a star. Deneuve's a star. Not me." [4]
There is an experimental pop group named "Miou Miou".
[edit] Partial filmography
| Year | Title | English title | Role |
| 2006 | La Science des rêves | The Science of Sleep | Christine Miroux |
| 2005 | Riviera | Riviera | Antoinette |
| 2003 | Folle Embellie | - | Alida |
| 1998 | Elles | - | Eva |
| 1997 | Nettoyage à Sec | Dry Cleaning | Nicole |
| 1996 | Le Huitième Jour | The Eighth Day | Julie |
| 1994 | Un indien dans la ville | An Indian in Paris | Patricia |
| 1993 | Germinal | Germinal | Maheude |
| 1993 | Tango | Tango | Marie |
| 1991 | La Totale! | The Jackpot! | Hélène Voisin |
| 1990 | Milou en Mai | May Fools | Camille |
| 1988 | La Lectrice | The Reader | Constance/Marie |
| 1986 | Tenue de Soirée | Evening Dress | Monique |
| 1983 | Coup de Foudre or Entre Nous | At First Sight | Madeleine |
| 1983 | Guy de Maupassant | Guy de Maupassant | Gisèle d'Estoc |
| 1980 | La Femme flic | The Woman Cop | Inspector Corinne Levasseur |
| 1979 | La Dérobade | Memoirs of a French Whore | Marie |
| 1976 | Jonas qui aura 25 ans en l'an 2000 | Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 | Marie |
| 1976 | Un Genio, due compari, un pollo (It.) | A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot or Nobody is the Greatest | Lucy |
| 1974 | Les Valseuses | Going Places | Marie-Ange |
| 1973 | Elle court, elle court la banlieue | The Suburbs Are Everywhere | minor role |
| 1973 | Les granges brulées | The Burned Barns | Monique |
| 1973 | Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob | The Adventures of Rabbi Jacob | Antoinette Pivert |
| 1971 | La vie sentimentale de Georges Le Tueur | The Sentimental Life of George le Tour | - |
| 1971 | La Cavale | On the Lam | - |
