Irène Jacob

Irène Jacob — Biography

Irène Marie Jacob was born on 15 July 1966 in Suresnes, near Paris, and works as a French-Swiss film and stage actress. The defining chapter of her career came through two collaborations with Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski: The Double Life of Veronique brought her the 1991 Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, while 1994's Three Colours: Red earned her a BAFTA nomination; over her career she has also received two César nominations. France has honoured her with the National Order of Merit and the Order of Arts and Letters.

Her filmography, which opened with Louis Malle's Au Revoir Les Enfants in 1987, grew to include international productions such as The Secret Garden (1993), Othello (1995), Beyond the Clouds (1995), U.S. Marshals (1998), and My Life So Far (1999), alongside independent projects like The Inner Life of Martin Frost (2007) and The Dust of Time (2008). Jacob has remained active into the 2020s, appearing in the series Liaison (2023) and the films Hotel Silence, Who by Fire, and Meeting with Pol Pot (2024), followed by Maigret in Society, due for release in 2026.