Marion Cotillard

French actress Marion Cotillard won a 2008 Oscar as best actress for her portrayal of singer Edith Piaf in the movie La Vie En Rose (2007, original title La Môme). Cotillard grew up in and around Paris in a family of stage actors and began her professional career in her teens. Her breakthrough in France came with the comedy Taxi and its sequels (1998-2003), and she was introduced to American audiences in Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003, starring Ewan McGregor). She received rave reviews for her roles in Les Jolies Choses (2001, also called Pretty Things) and A Very Long Engagement (2004, starring Audrey Tautou), but her appearance in the Ridley Scott flop A Good Year (2006, starring Russell Crowe) went largely unnoticed. Despite a roster of European films and years of steady employment, Cotillard was treated like a new star in 2007 and 2008, thanks to her stirring performance of the tortured artist Piaf.