Agnès Jaoui
French actress, screenwriter and singer
title: "Agnès Jaoui" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "living-people", "20th-century-french-actresses", "21st-century-french-actresses", "cours-florent-alumni", "best-supporting-actress-césar-award-winners", "best-director-lumières-award-winners", "best-screenwriter-european-film-award-winners", "french-women-singers", "french-film-actresses", "french-people-of-tunisian-jewish-descent", "20th-century-french-screenwriters", "french-stage-actresses", "french-women-film-directors", "french-women-screenwriters", "jewish-french-actresses", "20th-century-french-women-writers", "21st-century-french-screenwriters", "21st-century-french-women-writers", "cannes-film-festival-award-for-best-screenplay-winners", "césar-honorary-award-recipients", "best-original-screenplay-or-adaptation-césar-award-winners", "best-screenplay-lumière-award-winners", "directors-of-best-film-césar-award-winners"] description: "French actress, screenwriter and singer" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnès_Jaoui" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary French actress, screenwriter and singer ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Agnès Jaoui |
| image | Agnes Jaoui Cannes 2017.jpg |
| caption | Agnès Jaoui at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival |
| birth_date | |
| birth_place | Antony, France |
| occupation | Actress, screenwriter, film director, singer |
| years_active | 1983–present |
| alma_mater | Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers |
| partner | Jean-Pierre Bacri (19872012) |
| children | 2 |
| :: |
| name = Agnès Jaoui | image = Agnes Jaoui Cannes 2017.jpg | caption = Agnès Jaoui at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival | birth_date = | birth_place = Antony, France | occupation = Actress, screenwriter, film director, singer | years_active = 1983–present | alma_mater = Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers | partner = Jean-Pierre Bacri (19872012) | children = 2 | mother = | awards =
Agnès Jaoui (; born 19 October 1964) is a French actress, screenwriter, film director and singer.
Jaoui has won six César Awards, three Lumière Awards, and a Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She has received numerous other awards and nominations, including a nomination for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Life and career
Jaoui was born in Antony, Hauts-de-Seine, and is of Tunisian Jewish descent. She is the daughter of Hubert Jaoui and Gyza Jaoui, who are both writers. They moved to Paris when she was 8 years old. She started theatre when she was in high school at the Lycée Henri-IV in Paris. She entered the Cours Florent when she was 15. Patrice Chéreau, director of the Théâtre des Amandiers in Nanterre where she began attending drama classes in 1984, gave her a role in the film Hôtel de France in 1987. That same year, she appeared in Harold Pinter's L'anniversaire with Jean-Pierre Bacri, who later became a faithful colleague and companion.
Jaoui and Bacri wrote the play Cuisine et dépendances, which Philippe Muyl adapted for the screen in 1992. In 1993, director Alain Resnais asked them to make an adaptation of Alan Ayckbourn's eight-part play Intimate Exchanges, which became the two-part film Smoking/No Smoking. This ironic diptych about free will and destiny won the César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation in 1994. In 1996, they gained greater success with Cédric Klapisch's adaptation of their play Family Resemblances (Un air de famille), which showed their ability to observe and depict everyday life, and to criticize the social norms through bitter and corrosive humor. Once again, they won the César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation in 1997, and the same year, they collaborated with Resnais again on Same Old Song (On connaît la chanson), which they wrote and performed. They won their third César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, and Jaoui won her first César Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Jaoui directed her first feature film, The Taste of Others (Le Goût des autres, 2000, written with Bacri), which questions social-cultural identities. The film was a huge success in France and attracted 4 million spectators. It also won 4 César Awards in 2001 including Best Film and César Award for Best Original Screenplay or Adaptation, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2004, Jaoui's second film as a director, Look at Me (Comme une image), co-written with Bacri, was selected for the Cannes Festival and won the prize for Best Screenplay. She starred in the last Richard Dembo's film, La maison de Nina (2005) and then focused on music and released her album of Latin songs, Canta (2006). She returned to cinema in 2008 with Let's Talk About the Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie), with French humorist Jamel Debbouze in a different role from what he was used to.
In 2012, Jaoui directed Under the Rainbow (Au bout du conte), also co-written with Bacri. It revisits several fairy tales, such as Cinderella, Snow White, and Little Red Riding Hood. It received acclaim from critics and audiences for originality and humor in the writing and dialogue.
Music
Jaoui studied music in the conservatoire when she was 17, but did not start her career as a singer until 2006 when her first album Canta was released. It mixed several Latin music genres (such as flamenco, bolero, and bossa) and she sang exclusively in Spanish and Portuguese. In 2007, it won the Victoire de la Musique award for "best traditional music album".
Jaoui's second album, Dans Mon Pays, was released in 2009. It also featured Latin sonorities and songs sang in Spanish and Portuguese, except for two songs in French.
In November 2024, Jaoui directed a rare revival of Baldassare Galuppi's 1762 opera L'uomo femina at the Opéra de Dijon, which later transferred to the Opéra Royal du Château de Versailles.
Personal life
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Bacri_Jaoui_avp_2013.jpg" caption="Jaoui and [[Jean-Pierre Bacri]] in 2013 at the première of ''[[Au bout du conte]]''."] ::
Jaoui is the daughter of Gyza Jaoui; a pioneering figure of transactional analysis, a form of psychotherapy initiated by Eric Berne. Jaoui has a brother, , who is also a screenwriter and a director.
Jaoui was in a relationship with Jean-Pierre Bacri from 1987 to 2012. After their breakup, the two stayed on good terms and continued to work together.
Jaoui adopted two children from Brazil in 2012.
Jaoui is a member of the 50/50 collective, which aims to promote gender equality and diversity in cinema.
Several members of Jaoui's family, on her father's side, were murdered and kidnapped in the Hamas October 7 attacks.
Filmography
As actress
::data[format=table]
| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Le Faucon | Sandra | ||
| 1987 | Hôtel de France | Madame Bouguereau | ||
| 1987 | L'Amoureuse | Agathe | ||
| 1990 | Ivanov | Babakina | ||
| 1991 | Canti | |||
| 1993 | Cuisine et Dépendances | Charlotte | ||
| 1996 | Family Resemblances | Un air de famille | Betty Ménard | |
| 1997 | Le Déménagement | Claire | ||
| 1997 | Same Old Song | On connaît la chanson | Camille | |
| 1998 | Le Cousin | Claudine Delvaux | ||
| 1999 | On The Run | Kristin | ||
| 2000 | Une femme d'extérieur | Françoise | ||
| 2000 | The Taste of Others | Le Goût des autres | Mani | |
| 2003 | 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman | 24 heures dans la vie d'une femme | Marie Collins Brown | |
| 2004 | The Role of Her Life | Le Rôle de sa vie | Elisabeth Baker | |
| 2004 | Nina's House | La Maison de Nina | Nina | |
| 2004 | Look at Me | Comme une image | Sylvia Millet | |
| 2008 | Let It Rain | Parlez-moi de la pluie | Agathe Villanova | |
| 2012 | The Dandelions | Du vent dans mes mollets | Colette Gladstein | |
| 2013 | Under the Rainbow | Au bout du conte | Marianne | |
| 2014 | The Easy Way Out | L'Art de la fugue | Ariel | |
| 2015 | The Sweet Escape | Comme un avion | Laëtitia | |
| 2015 | I'm All Yours | Je suis à vous tout de suite | Simone Belkacem | |
| 2017 | Aurore | Aurore | ||
| 2018 | Best Intentions | Les Bonnes Intentions | Isabelle | |
| 2021 | À l'ombre des filles | Catherine | ||
| 2021 | Compagnons | Hélène | ||
| 2024 | Kaiser Karl | Gaby Aghion | ||
| :: |
As filmmaker
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Director | Screenwriter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Cuisine et Dépendances | ||||
| 1993 | Smoking/No Smoking | ||||
| 1996 | Family Resemblances | ||||
| 1997 | Same Old Song | ||||
| 2000 | The Taste of Others | ||||
| 2004 | Look at Me | ||||
| 2008 | Let's Talk About the Rain | ||||
| 2013 | Under the Rainbow | ||||
| 2014 | The Easy Way Out | Script consultant | |||
| 2017 | Place publique | starred as Helene | |||
| :: |
Discography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2006 | Canta |
| 2009 | Dans Mon Pays |
| 2015 | Nostalgias |
| :: |
Awards and nominations
::data[format=table]
References
References
- "Agnès Jaoui".
- AlloCine. "Agnès Jaoui".
- "Agnès Jaoui".
- AlloCine. "Awards And Nominations For Agnès Jaoui".
- "Agnès JAOUI - Festival de Cannes 2023".
- "Academy Awards Database Search {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences".
- Klifa, Thierry. (February 2000). "Agnès Jaoui: L'art de vivre". [[Studio magazine]].
- Lorrain, François-Guillaume. (11 September 2008). "Jaoui ne se laisse pas faire". [[Le Point]].
- (3 June 2013). ""Au bout du conte", d'Agnès Jaoui, une comédie piquante très Jaoui-Bacri". [[Télérama.fr]].
- (February 2006). ""Canta" ou la délicatesse d'Agnès Jaoui". [[Linternaute.com]].
- ""Dans mon pays", Agnès Jaoui y El Quintet Oficial". [[Cosmopolitan (magazine).
- Blanmont, Nicolas. Report from Dijon. ''[[Opera (British magazine). Opera]]'', March 2025, Vol.76 No.3 p.370-371.
- Amalric, Laurent. (31 January 2013). "Le conte est bon à Six-Fours pour le duo Bacri-Jaoui". [[Nice-Matin]].
- Williams, Michael. (1998-08-31). "Agnes Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri".
- Karelle, Fitoussi. (26 August 2012). "Agnès Jaoui, la douceur de vivre". [[Paris Match]].
- ""Mains baladeuses", sexisme et âgisme : Agnès Jaoui tacle le monde du cinéma".
- (2023-11-19). "Guerre Israël-Hamas : le bouleversant témoignage d’Agnès Jaoui, frappée par les attaques du 7 octobre".
- Holden, Stephen. (2010-06-17). "You Have Issues? So Does Everybody". The New York Times.
- Dupont, Joan. (2008-10-10). "Modern French society, through Agnès Jaoui's lens". The New York Times.
- Byrnes, Paul. (2018-05-18). "Aurore review: Agnes Jaoui in role of her life in achingly real film".
- Keslassy, Elsa. (2017-05-19). "Director Agnes Jaoui and SBS Films Team With Le Pacte for 'Place Publique' (EXCLUSIVE)".
- Hoeij, Boyd van. (2018-04-23). "'Place Publique': Film Review".
- AlloCine. "Meilleur mise en scène - Lumières de la presse étrangère".
- "Festival de Cannes: Look at Me". festival-cannes.com.
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