Eva Green

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Birthday:

6 July 1980, Paris, France

Birth Name:

Eva Gaëlle Green

Height:

168 cm

French actress and model Eva Gaëlle Green was born on July 6, 1980, in Paris, France. Her father, Walter Green, is a dentist who appeared in the 1966 film Au hasard Balthazar (1966). Her mother, Marlène Jobert, is an actress turned children's book writer. Eva's mother was born in Algeria, of Sephardi Jewish heritage (during that time, Algeria was part of France), and Eva's father is of Swedish, French, and Breton descent. She has a fraternal twin sister, Joy. Eva left French school at 17. She switched to English in Ramsgate, Kent, and went to the American School in France for one year. She studied acting at Saint Paul Drama School in Paris for three years, then had a 10-week polishing course at the Weber Douglas Academy of dramatic Art in London. She also studied directing at the Tisch School of Arts at New York University. She returned to Paris as an accomplished young actress, and played on stage in several theater productions: "La Jalousie en Trois Fax" and "Turcaret". There, she caught the eye of director Bernardo Bertolucci. Green followed a recommendation to work on her English. She studied for two months with an English coach before doing The Dreamers (2003) with Bernardo Bertolucci. During their work, Bertolucci described Green as being "so beautiful it's indecent".Green won critical acclaim for her role in The Dreamers (2003). She also attracted a great deal of attention from male audiences for her full frontal nudity in several scenes of the film. Besides her work as an actress, Green also composed original music and recorded several sound tracks for the film score. After "The Dreamers", Green's career ascended to the level where she revealed more of her multifaceted acting talent. She played the love interest of cult French gentleman stealer, Arsène Lupin (2004), opposite Romain Duris. In 2005, she co-starred, opposite Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), produced and directed by Ridley Scott. The film brought her a wider international exposure. She turned down the femme fatale role in The Black Dahlia (2006), that went to Hilary Swank, because she didn't want to end up typecast as a femme fatale after her role in "The Dreamers". Instead, Eva accepted the prestigious role of "Vesper Lynd", one of three Bond girls, opposite Daniel Craig, in Casino Royale (2006) and became the 5th French actress to play a James Bond girl, after Claudine Auger in Thunderball (1965), Corinne Cléry in Moonraker (1979), Carole Bouquet in For Your Eyes Only (1981) and Sophie Marceau in The World Is Not Enough (1999). She achieved international recognition for the film, one of the highest-grossing Bond movies ever.Since then, Green has starred in the films Dark Shadows (2012), 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016). She also starred as Vanessa Ives in Showtime's horror drama "Penny Dreadful" (2014)_. Her performance in the series earned her a nomination for Best Actress in a Television Series - Drama at the 73rd Golden Globe Awards.Since her school years, Green has been a cosmopolitan multilingual and multicultural person. Yet, since her father always lived in France with them and her mother, she and her twin sister can't speak Swedish. She developed a wide scope of interests beyond her acting profession and became an aspiring art connoisseur and an avid museum visitor. Her other activities, outside of acting, include playing and composing music, cooking at home, walking her terrier, and collecting art. She shares time between her two residencies, one is in Paris, France, and one in London, England. Show less «

[about shooting nude scenes for The Dreamers (2003):] I am a very shy person in life, very reserved, but you know, it's Bernardo Bertolucci....Show more »

[about shooting nude scenes for The Dreamers (2003):] I am a very shy person in life, very reserved, but you know, it's Bernardo Bertolucci. I've seen Ultimo tango a Parigi (1972) and it's not pornographic, it's not vulgar, it's not sick, so I trusted him. He's a master of love and eroticism, but it's good because I stopped being self-conscious. I felt like I was on drugs or anesthetized, because you have to be. You have to let yourself slip away and forget everything, forget the sound guy and all that [February 5, 2004]. Show less «

[about the sex scenes in The Dreamers (2003):] It must be very shocking for the American people, but what I don't understand is why they are...Show more »

[about the sex scenes in The Dreamers (2003):] It must be very shocking for the American people, but what I don't understand is why they are so crazy about that. I don't understand why you can't see naked people on screen but we can see a baby being killed. It's quite strange. They're too puritan, too uptight. [February 5, 2004] Show less «

It's a way to exteriorize all my shit. To scream and cry and laugh on-screen, it's almost like black magic. You can do anything. I'm a dream...Show more »

It's a way to exteriorize all my shit. To scream and cry and laugh on-screen, it's almost like black magic. You can do anything. I'm a dreamer, so that's a good job for me. Onstage is the only place I can fully express myself. Show less «

For me, acting is like a therapy. I can express myself fully when I am acting and have blood in my veins. Even when I'm not working, I'm alw...Show more »

For me, acting is like a therapy. I can express myself fully when I am acting and have blood in my veins. Even when I'm not working, I'm always living in my own world, imagining characters. Show less «

At drama school I always picked the really evil roles. It's a great way to deal with your everyday emotions.

Onstage, every night you create something new. Plus, you have your audience right there - it's like performing for the gods.

[About Sybilla, her character in Kingdom of Heaven (2005):] "Sybilla suffers from numerous frustrations. She's an heroine, not a "potiche".

I am many things. I can be quite mad, and young, but I'm not the kind of person who goes out to nightclubs and goes crazy. I am more like ly...Show more »

I am many things. I can be quite mad, and young, but I'm not the kind of person who goes out to nightclubs and goes crazy. I am more like lying on my bed and listening to classical music to relax. Show less «

I have Algerian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish blood: I feel like a citizen of the world. Life and cinema don't have borders.

I don't want to be a Hollywood star. I just want to do my job and enjoy it. My aim is to find my true identity and to remain true to myself.

I'd rather be thought as an international actress rather than a French one. Because I don't know what's coming up for me, my ambition is not...Show more »

I'd rather be thought as an international actress rather than a French one. Because I don't know what's coming up for me, my ambition is not to be typecast. So I'm working on my English accent, as well as my American one. I don't want to be like 'Okay, I'm French, and I want to succeed in Hollywood!' Juliette Binoche has set a good example of what I want to do, because she works all over the world, and that's what I want to do as well. Show less «

I don't have a problem with someone having plastic surgery, but I think it's crazy for everyone to have the same body.

I don't believe in awards. It's very good for the ego, I suppose.

I love photo shoots where I can be like a pinup, not myself. Where I can be feminine, glamorous, dark ... not like in real life. I hate it w...Show more »

I love photo shoots where I can be like a pinup, not myself. Where I can be feminine, glamorous, dark ... not like in real life. I hate it when you go in and they want you to be 'natural,' to be yourself. I just hate it. I love having fun. When they ask you to smile, I hate it. Of course I smile in my real life, but to do it on cue, that's not spontaneous. I'd rather do something that's like a little movie, like a little story, rather than just me, I feel naked. Show less «

[on acting] -- It doesn't satisfy me completely, this job. I want to travel. Maybe I'll end up living in Norway, making cakes.

I feel sick if I have to do something for the money. I can't breathe. I'm not proud of myself.

I was in LA last week for a meeting and I don't like it. I get knots in my stomach and have to walk around a museum to make myself feel bett...Show more »

I was in LA last week for a meeting and I don't like it. I get knots in my stomach and have to walk around a museum to make myself feel better. It's a cruel place, very hierarchical. If you're in the middle, you're shit, and if you're at the bottom, you're nothing. The people have no idea about anything that doesn't come from Hollywood. Most of them have never heard of The White Ribbon or A Prophet, and the only film of mine they know is Bond, because it made lots of money. I'm the Bond girl. It's as though it's written on my forehead. Show less «

[on auditioning for The Dreamers (2003)] -- I was bored with the theatre. I wanted to stop acting. I didn't believe in anything. But I did a...Show more »

[on auditioning for The Dreamers (2003)] -- I was bored with the theatre. I wanted to stop acting. I didn't believe in anything. But I did a lot of auditions to get the role. You can't turn down a role like that. You don't say no to Bertolucci. Show less «

[on her growing dislike for theatre before landing The Dreamers (2003)] -- I was in this play and I didn't get on with the director and didn...Show more »

[on her growing dislike for theatre before landing The Dreamers (2003)] -- I was in this play and I didn't get on with the director and didn't like the play. It was very grotesque, you know? Too much make-up and wigs and I was playing, like, this coquette. I was on stage for most of the time apart from three minutes when I was allowed to go off and pee in a bucket. And for those three minutes I was sitting on a bucket, peeing and crying at the same time. Oh, it was terrible. It was a nightmare. I hated it so much. Show less «

[on Isabelle Adjani] -- She's my role model, I adore her. I watched L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) so many times, and Camille Claudel (...Show more »

[on Isabelle Adjani] -- She's my role model, I adore her. I watched L'histoire d'Adèle H. (1975) so many times, and Camille Claudel (1988) also - in that she plays a sculptor, very passionate, who was Rodin's lover. He rejected her and she ended up completely cuckoo in an asylum. Adjani is a bit like Miss G - she has that crazy side in some of her movies. She's very beautiful, but she can do everything - she's very funny, she's very sharp and not afraid of big emotional moments. I met her when she was doing a play in France, and I was very intimidated - you feel very wobbly and like a big geek. I just said to her "I'm a big fan of yours!" She's like a myth to me. Show less «

[on Ewan McGregor] -- ... Ewan's brilliant - a really giving actor.

[on Daniel Craig] -- He was a very cool Bond, very raw. He's very paternal actually. He really looked after me, and he was wanting to do som...Show more »

[on Daniel Craig] -- He was a very cool Bond, very raw. He's very paternal actually. He really looked after me, and he was wanting to do something different with Bond, which I think he did. I was a bit scared at the beginning - but it was a good Bond and it made me bankable - money, money! [laughs] Show less «

[on Jordan Scott, director of Cracks (2009)] Working with her was a real exchange - a real collaboration. She was extremely sensitive. The f...Show more »

[on Jordan Scott, director of Cracks (2009)] Working with her was a real exchange - a real collaboration. She was extremely sensitive. The film looks almost unreal - like a fairytale. Show less «

[on Michael Haneke] -- "The White Ribbon" is absolutely brilliant. You want to open his brain and go "What is this shit, what happened to yo...Show more »

[on Michael Haneke] -- "The White Ribbon" is absolutely brilliant. You want to open his brain and go "What is this shit, what happened to you?" I met him in LA last week. He's funny, normal - well he seems like that - you never know. I asked if he'd been inspired by something, and he said he just made it up! He kind of has an evil side, which I like. Show less «

[on Shane Meadows] -- I might need to get my hair dirty if I was going to be in one of his films. I hate it when people say "You're very bea...Show more »

[on Shane Meadows] -- I might need to get my hair dirty if I was going to be in one of his films. I hate it when people say "You're very beautiful." I feel very shallow. I want to be taken seriously, you know? Show less «

[on desire] -- You've got to have desire, otherwise you just die. A lot of people, they're 80 or 90 years old, and they die because they hav...Show more »

[on desire] -- You've got to have desire, otherwise you just die. A lot of people, they're 80 or 90 years old, and they die because they have nothing left to live for. It makes you alive if you have something you want in life. My first drama teacher was very passionate - she was full of energy - it was all about work, work work, then you can achieve something that is beyond your limits. Show less «

[on taking a break] -- If I'm feeling a bit down I think of a very nice place in the sun to calm me down - like a place I went to not far fr...Show more »

[on taking a break] -- If I'm feeling a bit down I think of a very nice place in the sun to calm me down - like a place I went to not far from Cancún in Mexico. I just imagine I am there and everything gets calm in my head. My mother has a house in Normandy - I feel quite centered when I'm there. She cooks for me and I feel like I'm two years old. Show less «

[on enjoying the moment] -- I know it sounds very clichéd but it's true. I'm the first one to forget. Life is short - enjoy it. And do your...Show more »

[on enjoying the moment] -- I know it sounds very clichéd but it's true. I'm the first one to forget. Life is short - enjoy it. And do your best. Even if you fail, you've done your best. Show less «

Cracks (2009) is a very interesting project, quite unusual, and some of it is a bit taboo. It was interesting for me to show all those color...Show more »

Cracks (2009) is a very interesting project, quite unusual, and some of it is a bit taboo. It was interesting for me to show all those colors. It's quite a gift to give an actor, and it doesn't happen very often, so I was lucky. Show less «

I always wanted to be an actress but I didn't know if I could do it. So I did a workshop in England to improve my English and three months o...Show more »

I always wanted to be an actress but I didn't know if I could do it. So I did a workshop in England to improve my English and three months of acting to see if I liked it or not. I came back and did three years of drama school in Paris. That's when I realized I really liked acting and that I was going to try to be an actress. Show less «

I thought Perfect Sense (2011) was kind of a brave, unusual story, thought-provoking but mainly a love story with the background of a catast...Show more »

I thought Perfect Sense (2011) was kind of a brave, unusual story, thought-provoking but mainly a love story with the background of a catastrophe. I thought it was quite charming. I knew the director, David Mackenzie, and also the fact that Ewan McGregor was onboard was very appealing. Show less «

Jordan Scott is a very talented director, she's just the most amazing. She knows, understands actors and tries to get the best out of them. ...Show more »

Jordan Scott is a very talented director, she's just the most amazing. She knows, understands actors and tries to get the best out of them. She gives them a lot of freedom, she loves them and she's very sensitive, very sensual. She's a very special being and one of the most talented directors I've worked with. It's a real treat to be with her. Show less «

It's so boring to play the girlfriend. Most of the women in film are there to be beautiful to the man. It's quite hard to find a ballsy or c...Show more »

It's so boring to play the girlfriend. Most of the women in film are there to be beautiful to the man. It's quite hard to find a ballsy or complex character. Show less «

I'm very picky, I love falling in love with things. That's why maybe I don't work as much as I should. I need to really be drawn to the char...Show more »

I'm very picky, I love falling in love with things. That's why maybe I don't work as much as I should. I need to really be drawn to the character and like the director. Show less «

A lot of the films now are more focused on the visuals than on the actors. I think all directors should go to drama school.

It's not a job. It's almost like a faith or a religion. Every time, I give a bit of my soul.

I used to play the piano. I stopped when I was about 17. If I sat down at a piano now I could probably play one or two pieces. Maybe Chopin'...Show more »

I used to play the piano. I stopped when I was about 17. If I sat down at a piano now I could probably play one or two pieces. Maybe Chopin's "Nocturnes". Show less «

The sex scenes were quite full on and frank in The Dreamers (2003). I had a scene in which my own character has to lose her virginity. I had...Show more »

The sex scenes were quite full on and frank in The Dreamers (2003). I had a scene in which my own character has to lose her virginity. I had to remember how I felt when I first had sex. I am so reserved in real life, but I surprised myself completely. I was asked if I wanted some alcohol before some of the scenes - and admit that I did have some whiskey. There was a breaking of the ice before the sex scene. The actor Louis Garrel came into my trailer and said: 'I will show you my dick if you show me your breasts.' So I did - and he did. He said to me: 'They look great.' So when it came to the sex scenes, it made it a little easier. Show less «

I was such a nerd in school that it's been a good exercise for me to be able to talk a bit about myself. I'm always scared of words in real ...Show more »

I was such a nerd in school that it's been a good exercise for me to be able to talk a bit about myself. I'm always scared of words in real life, if they're not on a page in a script. To talk about myself, I feel like, Oh, my god... Show less «

Well, I'm not Daniel Day-Lewis. It's a bit pretentious to come home and remain in character. Can you imagine? It must be pretty hard to live...Show more »

Well, I'm not Daniel Day-Lewis. It's a bit pretentious to come home and remain in character. Can you imagine? It must be pretty hard to live with. I'm sure Daniel Day-Lewis is very sweet but if he takes some of those roles home with him then it must be quite tense. I wouldn't want to be his wife. Show less «

[on John Galliano's comments] It has been very brutal and I really... I just wish he could go back in time and for it not to happen. I'm sur...Show more »

[on John Galliano's comments] It has been very brutal and I really... I just wish he could go back in time and for it not to happen. I'm sure he's going to get back [into fashion] because he's so talented. Sometimes, you can make mistakes. I don't think he's anti-Semitic. I'm Jewish. I don't think he has anything against the Jews. I think it's more that he was probably a bit drunk. Show less «

[on Artemisia, the character she plays in 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)] She's such an extreme character. I think lots of men are going to b...Show more »

[on Artemisia, the character she plays in 300: Rise of an Empire (2014)] She's such an extreme character. I think lots of men are going to be scared of me from now on. I'm like a little bird in real life so that's why I enjoy playing those ladies. Show less «

[When asked who she'd like to work with - GQ Magazine UK, August 2014] There's so many but I love Matthew McConaughey, I think he's really i...Show more »

[When asked who she'd like to work with - GQ Magazine UK, August 2014] There's so many but I love Matthew McConaughey, I think he's really intentioned and so interesting. I would also love to work with Marion Cotillard. Show less «

I'm fairly blonde. I've been dyeing my hair black since I was 15 and I've stuck with that look ever since. It's my way of hiding myself I su...Show more »

I'm fairly blonde. I've been dyeing my hair black since I was 15 and I've stuck with that look ever since. It's my way of hiding myself I suppose. I think I look more interesting with dark hair. It's part of my self-image and we all have a darker side. I like to put masks on sometimes because I haven't always been that confident and you fall into the trap of continuing to hide your real self even though you've changed and grown a lot as an individual. I feel more open but it's not always easy for me to show that. Show less «

I was not offered something interesting [after Casino Royale] by Hollywood. Every role was the boring beautiful girl. Instead of doing that,...Show more »

I was not offered something interesting [after Casino Royale] by Hollywood. Every role was the boring beautiful girl. Instead of doing that, I made movies that not a lot of people saw but were good for my heart. I've always found the movie business rather cold, so finding parts to play and having people enjoy them has made this year a miracle for me. Show less «

[on green-screen] It's very close to being on stage. When you do theatre, the furniture and background is usually very minimal you don't pay...Show more »

[on green-screen] It's very close to being on stage. When you do theatre, the furniture and background is usually very minimal you don't pay any attention to the props. All your energy is focused on the other actor or actors you're playing your scene with. That's how it was making this film. There's just the crew around you and you have to imagine the setting that's eventually going to be filled in later. I had read the graphic novels before starting work on the film and so I had a good understanding of the surroundings. You also get used to miming opening a door or looking in certain directions where something is supposed to be happening or knowing where the walls are supposed to be. It takes a bit of discipline but it also intensifies your work because your entire concentration is on the other actor. Show less «

[on Johnny Depp] He's such a generous actor, a real gentleman. He's very intense and has the most intense eyes. He doesn't move, then like t...Show more »

[on Johnny Depp] He's such a generous actor, a real gentleman. He's very intense and has the most intense eyes. He doesn't move, then like thunder his eyes are locked. He's very strong, he takes risks, very brave. He is amazing. Show less «

[on Tim Burton] I've always been a big big fan of Tim's, so it was like a dream come true. He's a very sensitive man, very humble. And he's ...Show more »

[on Tim Burton] I've always been a big big fan of Tim's, so it was like a dream come true. He's a very sensitive man, very humble. And he's so creative, you get near him and it's very electric. It's contagious. It's as if he has five people in his head and it's always very active. He's great because he's so open to suggestions, like Chloe said. That is a real luxury for an actor. And he really understood Angelique's character, he was great to collaborate with. Show less «

[on Johnny Depp] Johnny is a chameleon actor: He is very intense, very brave and he takes risks.