Leïla Bekhti

Yasmine Leïla Bekhti is a French screen actress who works across television and feature films. She gained widespread recognition through her performances in the 2006 motion pictures Sheitan and Paris, je t'aime, as well as her acclaimed role in the 2010 comedy-drama Tout ce qui brille.

Bekhti was born on March 6, 1984, in Issy-les-Moulineaux, France, and grew up as the youngest of three siblings in a family of Algerian heritage originating from Sidi Bel-Abbes. To fund her drama training in Paris—which included courses under Stéphane Gildas and Bérengère Basty—she worked various jobs in retail and telemarketing. Raised with a Muslim identity, she also acquired Algerian Arabic through her grandmother.

Her professional acting journey began in 2005 after friends encouraged her to audition for the thriller Sheitan, leading to her cinematic debut the following year. That same year, she appeared in the television drama Harkis, addressing the history of Algerian soldiers during the Algerian War, a topic connected to her own family background. She also took part in the anthology film Paris, je t'aime, played a supporting role in Mauvaise Foi, and made early television appearances in series such as Les Tricheurs.

Bekhti's career momentum expanded in 2008 when she earned a Best Actress award at the Silhouette Festival for her work in Choisir d'aimer. She followed this achievement with performances in projects like Des poupées et des anges—earning a spot on the preliminary list for a César Award—and high-profile feature films such as Mesrine: Killer Instinct and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet. Her role as Djamila in A Prophet provided notable visibility. During this period, she also participated in the web-based project Twenty Show and the television miniseries Le choix de Myriam.

In 2010, Bekhti achieved a major career breakthrough starring as Lila in Tout ce qui brille, a film co-created by Géraldine Nakache. Her performance earned her the César Award for Most Promising Actress along with a Golden Swan at the Cabourg Film Festival. Following this success, she maintained a diverse slate of projects, appearing in the drama The Source, which competed at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011, and securing an endorsement deal as a brand ambassador for L'Oréal.

Her later screen credits include playing police officer Kahina Zadi in the 2016 Swedish television production Midnattssol and starring in a Maria Montessori biographical film that secured distribution in 2024. In her personal life, Bekhti married actor Tahar Rahim, whom she met on the set of A Prophet; the couple has four children born between 2017 and 2024. In mid-2024, she joined her husband in supporting a political petition directed to French leadership.