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Audrey Tautou Biography

Audrey Tautou, born August 9, 1978) is a French film actress, known to worldwide audiences for playing the title character in the award-winning French film Amélie (2001, Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain) and as Sophie Neveu in The Da Vinci Code (2006).

Early life: Tautou was born in Beaumont in the Puy-de-Dôme département of Auvergne, and was raised in Montluçon in the nearby Allier, still in Auvergne. Her father is a dental surgeon and her mother is a teacher. She has a younger brother and two younger sisters. 

At one time fascinated by monkeys, she wanted to be a primatologist. Tautou showed an interest for comedy at an early age and started her acting lessons at the Cours Florent.

Career: Tautou has said that Meryl Streep, Paul Newman, Juliette Lewis, Jodie Foster and Julianne Moore are her acting idols. In 1998, Tautou participated in a Star Search-like competition sponsored by Canal+ called "Jeunes Premiers" (The Young Debut) and won Best Young Actress at the 9th Béziers Festival of Young Actors. 

Then, she came to the attention of Tonie Marshall, who gave her a role in the César-winning Venus Beauty Institute (1999, aka Vénus beauté (institut)). In 2000 , she won the Prix Suzanne Bianchetti as her country's most promising young film actress.

Already well-known in France for her work in Venus Beauty Institute, in 2001 Tautou rose to international fame for her performance as the eccentric Amélie in the romantic French comedy Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain. In June 2004 she was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). She accepted the invitation and was still a member as of September 1, 2006.

In 2005, Tautou worked in her first full Hollywood production, opposite Tom Hanks, in the film version of Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard and released in May 2006. She acted alongside Gad Elmaleh in Pierre Salvadori's Hors de prix, released December 13th, 2006. 

Having starred in her first major Hollywood film, the cinema adaptation of The Da Vinci Code, Tautou nevertheless has stated in interview that she still considers France her base, and has expressed plans to pursue a career predominantly there rather than crossing over to the United States. As she told Stevie Wong of The Straits Times, "I am, at the end of the day, a French actress. I am not saying I will never shoot an English-language movie again, but my home, my community, my career is rooted in France. I would never move to Los Angeles".

Tautou will star with Guillaume Canet (best known outside of France for his role in the film adaptation of The Beach) in Claude Berri's French-language Ensemble, c'est tout in 2007.

Personal life: Her favourite authors are Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde and Paul Auster, and her favourite poets are Charles Baudelaire and Tristan Tzara. Tautou's favourite music composers are Ravel, Mozart and Frédéric Chopin.

Tautou takes pictures of each reporter who interviews her and keeps them in a scrapbook. Tautou has said that "Everyone thinks I have an ethnic origin", though she is actually "100-percent French". She was brought up attending church, though she has now stated that she is "not officially" a Catholic. The Brand New song 'Tautou', from the album Déjà Entendu is named after her.

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