One of the actresses confirmed by Sam Mendes at the SPECTRE launch event at Pinewood was Léa Seydoux in the role of Madeleine Swann.
Léa Seydoux was born in 1985 to Henri Seydoux and Valarie Schlumberger, both of whom are of German decent, her father a successful businessman while her mother is a renowned philanthropist. She is the second born in a family of five and with her parents in the limelight ever since she was a small child, mixing notable celebrities that included Lou Reed and Mick Jagger.
The Paris-born actress launched her acting career in France, her first major film role being in Mes copines (2006), which she soon followed up with roles in French language films such as Une vieille maîtresse (2007) and De la guerre (2008), but came to prominence after winning the Trophée Chopard at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.
Seydoux gained international acclaim for her role in La belle personne (2008), which saw her nominated for the César award for Most Promising Actress. She was nominated for the same award for her role in Belle Épine (2010) as well as receiving a nomination for Best Actress with her performance in Les Adieux à la reine (2012).
However, in 2013 she received the Palm d’Or for her role in La Vie d’Adèle – Chapitres 1 & 2 (2013), known in English as Blue Is the Warmest Colour. Steven Spielberg headed the jury which took the unusual step of awarding the film’s two stars (Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos) as well as director Abdellatif Kechiche.
Other awards include the prestigious Prix Lumières Best Actress Award for her performance in Grand Central (2013) and she was also nominated for a BAFTA Rising Star award.
Seydoux has also appeared in a number of major Hollywood films, including Quentin Tarantino’s critically acclaimed Inglorious Bastards (2009), her debut Hollywood performance. She followed this with a role in Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood (2010), Midnight in Paris (2011) and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011) and more recently Beauty and the Beast, The Grand Budapest Hotel and Saint Laurent (all 2014)
In addition to SPECTRE, in 2015 Léa Seydoux is also scheduled to appear in Diary of a Chambermaid and Lobster.
