Irène Jacob
French-born Swiss actress
- Born July 15, 1966
- 4 movies
Irène Jacob, born on 15 July 1966 in Suresnes, near Paris, and raised in Geneva, is a French-Swiss actress whose name is tied to two films by the Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski. She won Best Actress at Cannes in 1991 for The Double Life of Véronique and was nominated for a BAFTA for Three Colours: Red (1994). Her work since spans European art cinema, Hollywood thrillers such as U.S. Marshals, the stage in Paris and London, and a run on Showtime's The Affair.
Irène Jacob appears in 4 films in The Rerun, from 1987 to 1998. Most of that work is in drama, romance and action. Frequent collaborators in The Rerun: Krzysztof Kieślowski (2).
Known for
- The Double Life of Véronique (1991). She won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress.
- Three Colours: Red (1994). Her role earned a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
- The Secret Garden (1993).
- U.S. Marshals (1998).
Career
Jacob made her screen debut as a drama student in Louis Malle’s Au revoir les enfants (1987), as the piano teacher. Kieślowski then gave her the double lead in The Double Life of Véronique: two women, one Polish, one French, who share a face and a fate without ever meeting. The Cannes prize followed, and she turned down Hollywood offers to stay with smaller French films before reuniting with Kieślowski for Three Colours: Red, the final part of his trilogy, as a Geneva model drawn into the life of a retired judge.
The later 1990s brought Antonioni’s Beyond the Clouds and Oliver Parker’s Othello (both 1995), then U.S. Marshals opposite Tommy Lee Jones. From 2000 she turned increasingly to theatre, including Madame Melville in the West End, while appearing in season three of The Affair.
Where to start
- Three Colours: Red (1994): the best entry point, a warm, intricate film that rewards the whole trilogy.
- The Double Life of Véronique (1991): the Cannes-winning performance, built on very few words.
- Au revoir les enfants (1987): her small but memorable first screen role.
Movies
Quick answers
- What movies and TV shows has Irène Jacob been in?
- Irène Jacob appears in U.S. Marshals (1998), Three Colours: Red (1994), The Double Life of Véronique (1991) and Au revoir les enfants (1987) on The Remote.
- When was Irène Jacob born?
- Irène Jacob was born on 15 July 1966.
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