Bérénice Bejo

Bérénice Bejo is a French-Argentine actress who is best known for her roles as Christiana in the 2001 film A Knight's Tale and Peppy Miller in the 2011 feature The Artist. Her work across film and television has brought her international recognition, including a César Award, a Cannes Film Festival award, and an Academy Award nomination.

Bejo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to Argentine filmmaker Miguel Bejo and his wife Silvia, a lawyer. When she was three years old, her family moved to France to escape Argentina's civil-military dictatorship, which lasted from 1976 to 1983.

In 2001, Bejo made her American film debut as Christiana, a lady-in-waiting to Jocelyn, played by Shannyn Sossamon, in A Knight's Tale opposite Heath Ledger. The following year, she toured in France alongside Marie-France Pisier and Guillaume Depardieu. She then starred as Olivia in Laurent Bouhnik's 2003 film 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman. Under director Steve Suissa, she appeared in the 2004 comedy The Grand Role, which centers on the world of actors, followed by the 2005 drama Cavalcade, which covers the theme of disability.

Bejo appeared alongside Jean Dujardin in the 2006 comedy OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, marking the first collaboration between the three. In 2007, she acted in the short film La Pomme d'Adam, and in 2008, she appeared in the romantic comedies Modern Love Bouquet and Stéphane Kazandjian. She also participated in Serge Bromberg's 2009 documentary Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, reading dialogue opposite Jacques Gamblin to reconstruct uncompleted scenes from 1964.

In 2011, Bejo played 1920s film actress Peppy Miller in The Artist, directed by Hazanavicius and co-starring Dujardin. Her performance earned her the César Award for Best Actress, as well as nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture, and the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

In 2012, Bejo hosted the opening and closing ceremonies at the Cannes Film Festival, voiced Mérida in the French dub of Disney/Pixar's Brave, received the Prix Romy Schneider, and was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. In 2013, she won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival and received a César nomination for her performance in The Past.

In her personal life, Bejo met director Michel Hazanavicius in 2006 while filming OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies, and the couple later married. They have two children together, including a first child born in 2008.

Bejo is set to star as Alice Guy-Blaché, the first female film director, in the six-part drama series Alice. Produced by Wild Bunch TV, HBO, and France Télévisions, the series was co-created by Tim Loane and Claire Lemaréchal and is scheduled for release in 2026.