Many celebrities with less than prolific careers have amassed huge star power, so how come one of the busiest actresses of our age is just beyond that household name status? It could well be that Marion Cotillard is French, or it could be that she leads such a private life, as far as the American press standards go, but Ms. Cotillard is by far one of the hardest working A-listers today. Not only is she slated to star in The Dark Knight Rises, she’s also featured in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (slated to premiere May 11th at the Cannes Film Festival, no less) alongside Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson, as well as starring in Contagion (an action thriller dealing with disease control) alongside Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law, due out in October. Her personal life is no less busy, she’s expecting her first baby in May with Cesar Award winning actor/director Guillame Canet.
She’s had a quite a prolific career already, she came to the attention of American movie goers with her Academy/BAFTA/Cesar/Golden Globe Awards winning role as songbird Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose (the first non English speaking role to be awarded an Academy Award since Sophia Loren won for Two Women in 1961). From there she starred alongside Johnny Depp in Public Enemies in 2008, in 2009 she appeared in Nine alongside a bevy of stars including Kate Hudson, Daniel Day Lewis, and Penelope Cruz, and then in 2010 she starred in Inception alongside Leonardo DiCaprio, Ellen Page, Cillian Murphy, and Dark Knight costar Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The actress hasn’t forgotten her French roots either, in 2009 she starred alongside Canet in The Last Flight (Le Dernier Vol) and in 2010 she starred in the critically acclaimed Little White Lies (Le Petits Mouchoirs).
Not only has Cotillard conquered the film world, she’s taken the fashion world by storm as well, appearing as Lady Dior, a character created by John Galliano (who no longer works for the fashion house), in the ads for the perfume of the same name, and a mini-movie for the brand. She’s also returned as the face for Dior bags, with a campaign that premiered to much publicity.
She’s not showing any signs of slowing down, with 2011 looking like her busiest year so far, Marion is proving to be more than an adequate tour-de-force, taking her international acclaim, another step forward.
