Miou-Miou

For the Prada fashion label, see Miu Miu.

Miou-Miou
Miou-Miou in February 2013
Born	Sylvette Herry (1950-02-22) 22 February 1950 Paris, France
Nationality	French
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1971–present
Children	2

Miou-Miou (born Sylvette Herry on 22 February 1950) is a French actress. In her career she has worked with a number of international directors, including Michel Gondry, Bertrand Blier, Claude Berri, Jacques Deray, Patrice Leconte, Joseph Losey and Louis Malle. A 10-time César Award nominee, she won the César Award for Best Actress for the 1979 film Memoirs of a French Whore. Her other films include This Sweet Sickness (1977), Entre Nous (1983), May Fools (1990), Germinal (1993), Dry Cleaning (1997) and Arrêtez-moi (2013).

Career

Miou-Miou shooting in Paris, in 1975

She was born Sylvette Herry in Paris, France. Her stage name, Miou-Miou (a reference to the sound of a cat), was given to her by Coluche. She was raised in Paris by her mother, a greengrocer. After studying acting she worked in improvisational theater with Coluche and Patrick Dewaere, joining with them to help found the new comedy theatre Café de la Gare. She made her film debut in La vie sentimentale de Georges Le Tueur and La Cavale (both 1971).

She showed a mixture of innocence and strength in her roles. In 1973 she appeared in three films, Elle court, elle court la banlieue, Les granges brulées and Les aventures de Rabbi Jacob. Her big break came with Blier's Les Valseuses (Going Places), released in 1974. After her role in Les valseuses, she began getting leading roles in comedy and drama. Through the 1970s, she had roles in such films as F...Like Fairbanks (1976), Alain Tanner's Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000 (1976), Losey's Roads to the South (1978) and La dérobade (Memoirs of a French Whore, 1979) directed by Daniel Duval, in which she portrayed a young prostitute. She received a César Award for that role. Many of these 1970s films were seen in North America in art-house venues. In 1976 she appeared in one of the last spaghetti westerns, Damiano Damiani's A Genius, Two Friends, and an Idiot.

Miou-Miou in 2009.

She is known for her relationships with actor Patrick Dewaere, who is the father of her first child Angèle, and with the singer Julien Clerc, with whom she had a second daughter, Jeanne.

By 2006, she had 70 films to her credit. Through the 1980s she was in such films as La gueule du loup (1981), Guy de Maupassant (1982), Kurys' Entre nous (1983) with Isabelle Huppert, Blanche et Marie (1984), Evening Dress (1986), and Deville's La lectrice (The Reader, 1988). She played opposite Lee Marvin (in one of his last roles) in Boisset’s Dog Day in 1984.

The 1990s saw her in Louis Malle's May Fools (1990), Deray's thriller Netchaïev is back, the comedy Un indien dans la ville (1994), and The Eighth Day (1996) and Dry Cleaning in 1997. She appeared opposite Gérard Depardieu in a new production of Émile Zola's Germinal (1993). By now in her fifties, her film roles have abated, as she also began to appear in theatre. 2001 saw her in Agathe et le grand magasin and in 2004 she appeared in L'après-midi de monsieur Andesmas, among other films.

Miou-Miou does not consider herself a "star". She was quoted as saying in 1989, "I turned down dinner with Mickey Rourke. Because he's a star. To me, a star is inaccessible, mysterious, an impossible dream — and should stay that way. Adjani's a star. Deneuve's a star. Not me".

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Director	Notes
1971	La cavale	Little Squirrel	Michel Mitrani
	La vie sentimentale de Georges Le Tueur		Daniel Berger	Short
1972	Ça va, ça vient	Magic Circus's woman	Pierre Barouh
1973	Quelques messieurs trop tranquilles	Anita Boucher	Georges Lautner
	Themroc	The young neighbor	Claude Faraldo
	Elle court, elle court la banlieue	The assistant	Gérard Pirès
	The Year 01	The woman at 6 am	Jacques Doillon Alain Resnais Jean Rouch
	The Burned Barns	Monique Cateux	Jean Chapot
	The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob	Antoinette Pivert	Gérard Oury
1974	Going Places	Marie-Ange	Bertrand Blier
	Tender Dracula	Marie	Pierre Grunstein
1975	Lily, aime-moi	The girl in the coffee	Maurice Dugowson
	Pas de problème!	Anita Boucher	Georges Lautner (2)
	A Genius, Two Partners and a Dupe	Lucy	Damiano Damiani Sergio Leone
1976	Al piacere di rivederla	Patrizia	Marco Leto
	Victory March	Rosanna	Marco Bellocchio
	D'amour et d'eau fraîche	Rita Gonzalez	Jean-Pierre Blanc
	F comme Fairbanks	Marie	Maurice Dugowson (2)	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
	On aura tout vu	Christine	Georges Lautner (3)
	Jonah Who Will Be 25 in the Year 2000	Marie	Alain Tanner
1977	This Sweet Sickness	Juliette	Claude Miller	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
1978	Les routes du sud	Julia	Joseph Losey
1979	Traffic Jam	Angela	Luigi Comencini
	Bye, See You Monday	Nicole	Maurice Dugowson (3)
	Memoirs of a French Whore	Marie	Daniel Duval	César Award for Best Actress
1980	The Woman Cop	Inspector Corinne Levasseur	Yves Boisset
1981	Est-ce bien raisonnable?	Julie Boucher	Georges Lautner (4)
	La gueule du loup	Marie	Michel Léviant
1982	Josepha	Josépha Manet	Christopher Frank	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
	Guy de Maupassant	Gisèle d'Estoc	Michel Drach
1983	Entre Nous	Madeleine	Diane Kurys	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
	Attention une femme peut en cacher une autre!	Alice	Georges Lautner (5)
1984	Dog Day	Jessica	Yves Boisset (2)
	Le vol du Sphinx	Laura	Laurent Ferrier
1985	Blanche et Marie	Blanche	Jacques Renard
	Une vie comme je veux	Laurence	Jean-Jacques Goron	TV Movie
1986	Tenue de soirée	Monique	Bertrand Blier (2)	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
1988	The Revolving Doors	Lauda	Francis Mankiewicz	Nominated - Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress
	The Reader	Constance / Marie	Michel Deville	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
	L'argent	Caroline Hamelin	Jacques Rouffio	TV Movie
	Un vrai bonheur		Jean-Marie Cornille	Short
1990	May Fools	Camille	Louis Malle	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress Nominated - David di Donatello for Best Foreign Actress
1991	Netchaïev est de retour	Brigitte	Jacques Deray
	La Totale!	Hélène Voisin	Claude Zidi
1992	Scènes de ménage	The woman	Claire Simon	Short
	Le bal des casse-pieds	Louise Sherry	Yves Robert
1993	Tango	Marie	Patrice Leconte
	Germinal	Maheude	Claude Berri	Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
1994	Montparnasse-Pondichéry	Julie	Yves Robert (2)
	Un indien dans la ville	Patricia	Hervé Palud
1995	Une femme dans la tourmente	Michèle Rouannet	Serge Moati	TV Movie
	Une page d'amour	Hélène	Serge Moati (2)	TV Movie
	Court toujours: Joséphine et les gitans	Joséphine	Vincent Ravalec	TV Short
1996	Ma femme me quitte	Joanna Martin	Didier Kaminka
	The Eighth Day	Julie	Jaco Van Dormael
1997	Dry Cleaning	Nicole Kunstler	Anne Fontaine	Lumières Award for Best Actress Nominated - César Award for Best Actress
	Elles	Eva	Luís Galvão Teles
1998	Hors jeu	Herself	Karim Dridi
2000	Tout va bien, on s'en va	Laure	Claude Mouriéras
	Pour une fois		Jérôme Bonnell	Short
2001	Agathe et le grand magasin	Agathe	Bertrand Arthuys	TV Movie
2003	Ambre a disparu	Eva Lorca	Denys Granier-Deferre	TV Movie
2004	Folle embellie	Alida	Dominique Cabrera
	Mariages!	Gabrielle	Valérie Guignabodet
	L'après-midi de monsieur Andesmas	Michel Arc's wife	Michelle Porte
2005	L'un reste, l'autre part	Anne-Marie	Claude Berri (2)
	Riviera	Antoinette	Anne Villacèque
2006	The Science of Sleep	Christine Miroux	Michel Gondry
	Avril	Sister Bernadette	Gérald Hustache-Mathieu
	Le héros de la famille	Simone Garcia	Thierry Klifa
2007	Les murs porteurs	Judith Rosenfeld	Cyril Gelblat
2008	Affaire de famille	Laure Guignebont	Claus Drexel
	The Great Alibi	Éliane Pages	Pascal Bonitzer
	Mia and the Migoo	Juliette's voice	Jacques-Rémy Girerd
2009	Marcher	Herself	Jeanne Herry	Short
	Petites vacances à Knokke-le-Zoute	Micheline	Yves Matthey	TV Movie
	Pour un fils	Catherine	Alix De Maistre
	Le Concert	Guylène de La Rivière	Radu Mihăileanu
	Une petite zone de turbulences	Anne Muret	Alfred Lot
2011	Le grand restaurant II	A client	Gérard Pullicino	TV Movie
	Le choix d'Adèle	Adèle	Olivier Guignard	TV Movie
2012	Quand je serai petit	Jacqueline	Jean-Paul Rouve
	Bienvenue parmi nous	Alice	Jean Becker
	Avanti	Catherine	Emmanuelle Antille
	Populaire	Madeleine Échard	Régis Roinsard
2013	Arrêtez-moi	Pontoise	Jean-Paul Lilienfeld
	Bob et les Sex Pistaches		Yves Matthey (2)
	Landes	Madeleine	François-Xavier Vives

External links

• Miou-Miou at the Internet Movie Database
• Brief profile
• Ted Strong Fan Site
• Lenin Imports bio