Juliette Binoche: Hollywood's French dressing

Chocolat: a mark of Binoche's international appeal

Think of notable French actresses from the last 20 years and Juliette Binoche should come near the top of the list.

Like Catherine Deneuve before her, Binoche embodies a particular onscreen sophistication and timeless appeal.

Yet, like Deneuve too, Binoche's success is due to qualities that are more than skin deep.

Indeed, with British and US productions such as Damage, the English Patient and now Chocolat under her belt, the 35-year-old French star has shown she understands the value of marketing her perceived exoticism abroad.

Juliette Binoche's films

Liberty Belle - 1982

Les Nanas - 1984

Je Vous Salue, Marie - 1985

Rendez-Vous - 1985

Mauvais Sang - 1986

Unbearable Lightness of being - 1988

Les Amants du Pont Neuf - 1991

Wuthering Heights - 1992

Damage - 1992

Three Colours: Blue - 1993

Three Colours: White - 1994

Three Colours: Red - 1994

The English Patient - 1996

Alice and Martin - 1998

Chocolat- 2000

Still, career canny or not, Binoche was - it seems - born to act. She grew up in Paris with her theatre director father and actress mother.

After studying at the city's National School of Dramatic art, Binoche graduated to the stage.

Her first major step on the ladder to stardom in her native land came with a part in the controversial 1985 film Je Vous Salue, Marie, in which she played the Virgin Mary.

The following year, Binoche confirmed her status in France when she starred in Rendez-Vous and became the toast of the Cannes Film Festival.

But she still needed to crack the international market.

It took another three years until Hollywood director Philip Kaufman cast her as Thereza in the Unbearable Lightness of Being.

The film got Binoche noticed in the US and the rest of Europe but the actress did not capitalise straight away.

Trilogy

An association with upcoming young film-maker Leos Carax kept her busy with films such as thriller Mauvais Sang and the now classic Les Amants du Pont Neuf.

Les Amants du Pont Neuf is now a classic

But in 1993, Binoche got her chance to make it really big on the international movie scene, starring opposite British heart-throb Jeremy Irons in Louis Malle's tense drama Damage.

The film was not a critical success but it mattered little to Binoche's standing.

Off the back of this movie, she was cast with Ralph Fiennes in Wuthering Heights and then in Polish film-maker Krzsystof Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours: Blue, White, Red series.

On a career high, Binoche took time out to have a baby. Her reappearance brought what was then her biggest success.

Mélange

The role in 1996 was again opposite Ralph Fiennes in Anthony Minghella's romantic epic The English Patient.

Wuthering Heights: Binoche's first role with Ralph Fiennes

The role as the nurse who cares for the severely injured Fiennes won Binoche an Oscar for best supporting actress.

Movies in her homeland followed, including Les Enfants du Siècle and Alice and Martin.

Her latest movie Chocolat - for which she has been Oscar nominated - is a UK and US production, made in France and spoken in English.

The film is a romantic story about a woman who comes to a strange community and turns the people's suspicion into acceptance.

Its many and subtle layers fittingly echo Binoche's career and influence on the movie world.