Julie Delpy

Julie Delpy
Delpy at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival
Born	(1969-12-21) 21 December 1969 Paris, France
Nationality	French American
Alma mater	New York University
Occupations	Actress screenwriter film director
Years active	1976–present
Spouse	Dimitris Birbilis ​ (m. 2015)​
Partner	Marc Streitenfeld (2007–2012)
Children	1

Julie Delpy (French: [ʒyli dɛlpi]; born 21 December 1969) is a French and American actress, screenwriter and film director. She studied filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and has directed, written, and acted in more than 30 films, including Europa Europa (1990), Voyager (1991), Three Colours: White (1993), the Before trilogy (1995, 2004, 2013), An American Werewolf in Paris (1997), and 2 Days in Paris (2007).

She has been nominated for three César Awards, two Online Film Critics Society Awards, and two Academy Awards. She moved to the United States in 1990 and became a US citizen in 2001.

Family

Delpy was born in Paris, the only child of Albert Delpy, a French actor born in Vietnam and theater director, and Marie Pillet, a French actress in feature films and the avant-garde theater. Her mother was also known for signing the 1971 Manifesto of the 343, signed by women demanding reproductive rights and admitting to having abortions when they were illegal in France. In Delpy's 2007 film 2 Days in Paris, her character's mother was played by her real mother and acknowledges signing the manifesto, mirroring her real life. Pillet died in 2009.

Julie's parents exposed her to the arts at an early age. She said:

I couldn't hope for better parents. They really raised me with a love of art, bringing me to museums and seeing things that a child wouldn't see at that age. I would see Ingmar Bergman movies when I was 9 and totally go for it. And they would bring me to see Francis Bacon's paintings, which I loved: so dark and at the same time it's so wonderful.

Film career

In 1984, at fourteen, Delpy was discovered by film director Jean-Luc Godard, who cast her in Détective (1985). Two years later she played the title role in Bertrand Tavernier's La Passion Béatrice (1987) and was nominated for a César Award for Most Promising Actress. She used her money from the film to pay for her first trip to New York City.

Delpy in 1991

Delpy became an international celebrity after starring in the 1990 film Europa Europa directed by Agnieszka Holland. In the film, she plays a young pro-Nazi who falls in love with the hero, Solomon Perel, not knowing he is Jewish. She did not speak German, so she performed her role in English and her dialogue was dubbed in.

Delpy subsequently appeared in several Hollywood and European films, including Voyager (1991) and The Three Musketeers (1993). In 1993, she was cast by director Krzysztof Kieślowski for the female lead in Three Colours: White, the second film in Kieślowski's Three Colours trilogy. She also appeared briefly in the other two films—Blue and Red—in the same role. That year, she also appeared with Brendan Fraser and Donald Sutherland in the Percy Adlon feature Younger and Younger. In 1994, she starred with Eric Stoltz in Roger Avary's directorial debut Killing Zoe, a cult heist film capturing the Generation X zeitgeist. She achieved wider recognition for her role opposite Ethan Hawke in director Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995). It received glowing reviews and was considered one of the most significant films of the '90s independent film movement. Its success led to Delpy's casting in the 1997 American film An American Werewolf in Paris.

She reprised her Before Sunrise character, Céline, with a brief animated appearance in Waking Life (2001), and again in the sequels Before Sunset (2004) and Before Midnight (2013). The initial follow-up movie earned Delpy, who co-wrote the script, her first Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In late 2001, she appeared alongside comedian Martin Short in the 30-minute short film CinéMagique, a theatre-show attraction presented several times daily at Walt Disney Studios Park in Disneyland Paris. She attended the park's March 2002 opening and the inauguration of the film-based attraction, where she starred as Marguerite—a female actress with whom Short's character, George, falls in love as he stumbles through countless classic movies. CinéMagique won the 2002 Themed Entertainment Association award for Outstanding Themed Attraction.

In 2009, Delpy starred in The Countess as the title character Elizabeth Báthory. Her third film as a director, it also starred Daniel Brühl and William Hurt.

Writing and directing

Delpy began being interested in a film-directing career when still a child, and enrolled in a summer directing course at New York University. She wrote and directed the short film Blah Blah Blah in 1995 which screened at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2004, she co-wrote Before Sunset, a sequel to the 1995 movie Before Sunrise, with director Richard Linklater and co-star Ethan Hawke. Describing the experience, she said, "I'm not a feminist wearing overalls and hating the male gender. But I'm a definite feminist. I don't want to make Before Sunset into a little male fantasy, ever." She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for her work on the film.

She made her feature length directorial debut in 2002 with Looking for Jimmy, which she also wrote and produced. In 2007 she directed, wrote, edited, and co-produced the original score for 2 Days in Paris, co-starring Adam Goldberg. It also features Delpy's real-life parents, Marie Pillet and Albert Delpy, as her character's parents.

Delpy with frequent co-star Ethan Hawke in 2013

In 2011 she wrote and directed Le Skylab, which received a theatrical release in France but failed to find distribution in the U.S. In 2012 she released 2 Days in New York, a sequel to her 2007 film 2 Days in Paris, starring Delpy and actor Chris Rock in a role she said she wrote specifically for him. In 2013, she reunited with Richard Linklater and Ethan Hawke to write Before Midnight, the sequel to Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. She again starred with Hawke, and the film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It screened out of competition at the Berlin International Film Festival and was released in May 2013. Delpy, Linklater and Hawke were later nominated for a Best Adapted Screenplay at the Academy Awards. Responding to criticism of the film's nudity, Delpy said in interview with GQ Magazine:

Some people were like, 'It's not feminist. You're showing your tits and he's not showing his ass.' [But] isn't it the people who are hiding women behind layers of clothes who are the misogynists? I'm a real person, so it's a statement to say, 'Alright, I'm a forty year-old woman, and this is what you get with no plastic surgery.'

Lolo was Delpy's second French-language feature film, and the first she'd directed since 2 Days in New York. She was also slated to write and direct the HBO movie Cancer Vixen, starring Cate Blanchett as Marisa Acocella Marchetto, a cartoonist for The New Yorker who is diagnosed with cancer. The project has yet to materialize as of 2020. In early 2014, Delpy announced her next writing-directing project would be A Dazzling Display of Splendor and focus on a family of vaudeville performers. It has also failed to enter production as of 2020.

Delpy courted controversy in 2016 when the Oscar nominations included no Black honorees. "Two years ago, I said something about the Academy being very white male, which is the reality, and I was slashed to pieces by the media ... It's funny—women can't talk. I sometimes wish I were African-American because people don't bash them afterward." She later apologized for the comment.

Music

Delpy is also a musical artist. Three tracks from her 2003 album Julie Delpy—"A Waltz For A Night," "An Ocean Apart," and "Je t'aime tant"—were featured in Before Sunset. She composed the original score for 2 Days in Paris in which she performed Marc Collin's "Lalala" over the closing credits. She also wrote the music for her 2009 film The Countess.

Personal life

Delpy moved to New York in 1990, then to Los Angeles a few years later. She has been a naturalized US citizen since 2001 although she also retains her French citizenship. She divides her time between Paris and Los Angeles. From 2007 to 2012 she was in a relationship with German film composer Marc Streitenfeld. Their son was born in January 2009.

In 2015 she married Dimitris Birbilis.

Delpy has expressed her commitment to correcting inaccurate assumptions regarding feminism, telling IndieWire "I'm very dedicated to feminism [but] even if I'm a feminist, I don't think all women are perfect. If we're equal to men, we are also imperfect like men ... [Some men] try to say [feminists] think that women are better than men, and I want to tell them, 'no'." In a 2007 interview with Jan Lisa Huttner, she said, "I was raised by a feminist, so I'm not a feminist. I don't need to be. I’m equal to men. I have no issues with the idea that I'm the same as a man. I have my differences; I have breasts, and different plumbing, different stuff down there. But outside of this, my consciousness, my capacity at creating, my capacity at doing things is the same as a man." However, in a 2012 interview with Emily Greenhouse in The New Yorker, she said, "You know, I've been raised by feminists, and I'm such a feminist, there's no way I'm not going to be feminist, because my core is so deeply feminist that I can even make sexist comments about women, and I feel still a feminist."

Delpy has said she has been plagued by health problems since childhood and had to wear callipers at age eight. She also occasionally experiences migraines and panic attacks.

In 2022, Delpy was an honoree by the Carnegie Corporation of New York's Great Immigrant Award.

Filmography

As actress

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978	Guerres civiles en France		Credited as Julie Pillet Segment La semaine sanglante
1982	Niveau moins trois		Short film
1985	Classique		Short film
1985	Détective	Wise young girl
1985	L'Amour ou presque	Melie
1986	Mauvais Sang	Lise	English: Bad Blood Nominated—César Award for Most Promising Actress
1987	Beatrice	Beatrice de Cortemart	French: La Passion Béatrice Nominated—César Award for Most Promising Actress
1987	King Lear	Virginia (uncredited)
1988	L'autre nuit	Marie
1989	La noche oscura	Virgin Mary	English: The Dark Night
1989	Trouble		Short film
1990	Europa Europa	Leni
1991	Les dents de ma mère	Julie	Short film
1991	Voyager	Sabeth	Nominated—European Film Award for Best Actress
1992	Warsaw - Year 5703	Fryda
1993	The Three Musketeers	Constance
1993	Younger and Younger	Melodie
1993	Killing Zoe	Zoe
1993	Three Colours: Blue	Dominique (cameo appearance)
1994	Three Colours: White	Dominique
1994	Three Colours: Red	Dominique (cameo appearance)
1995	Blah Blah Blah	Short film	Also as writer, director, and producer
1995	Before Sunrise	Céline	Nominated—MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss
1996	Tykho Moon	Lena
1997	Les mille merveilles de l'univers	Eva Purpur	English: The Thousand Wonders of the Universe
1997	An American Werewolf in Paris	Serafine Pigot
1997	Alleys and Motorways		Video
1998	The Treat	Francesca
1998	L.A. Without a Map	Julie
1998	Crime and Punishment	Sonia	Television film
1999	True Love		Television film
1999	The Passion of Ayn Rand	Barbara Branden	Television film
1999	But I'm a Cheerleader	Lipstick Lesbian
2000	Sand	Lill
2001	Investigating Sex	Chloe	Also known as Intimate Affairs
2001	MacArthur Park	Wendy
2001	Waking Life	Céline
2001	Beginner's Luck	Anya
2001	ER	Nicole	Television program, 7 episodes
2002	Villa des roses	Louise Creteur
2002	Looking for Jimmy	Al	Also as writer, director, and producer
2002	CinéMagique	Marguerite	Disney Theme Park Attraction
2003	Notting Hill Anxiety Festival	Charlotte
2004	Before Sunset	Céline	Also as writer and composer Empire Award for Best Actress San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2004	Frankenstein	Caroline Frankenstein	Miniseries
2005	Broken Flowers	Sherry
2006	The Legend of Lucy Keyes	Jeanne Cooley
2006	The Hoax	Nina van Pallandt
2006	Guilty Hearts	Charlotte
2007	The Air I Breathe	Gina
2007	2 Days in Paris	Marion	Also as writer, director, and producer
2009	The Countess	Erzsébet Báthory	Also as writer, director, and producer
2011	Skylab	Anna	Also as writer and director
2012	2 Days in New York	Marion	Also as writer and director
2013	Before Midnight	Céline	Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Dublin Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Actress Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical Nominated—Guardian Film Award for Best Actor Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress (Runner-Up) Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress Nominated—Toronto Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
2015	Avengers: Age of Ultron	Madame B.
2015	Lolo	Violette	Also as writer and director
2016	Wiener-Dog	Dina
2017	The Bachelors	Carine
2019	My Zoe	Isabelle	Also director and writer
2021	On the Verge	Justine	12 episodes; also creator, executive producer, writer, and director
2023	The Lesson	Hélène Sinclair
2024	Meet the Barbarians	Joëlle	Also a writer and director

As filmmaker

Year	Title	Director	Writer	Producer	Composer	Notes
1995	Before Sunrise	No	Uncredited	No	No
	Blah Blah Blah	Yes	Yes	No	No	Short film
2002	Looking for Jimmy	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Also editor
2004	J'ai peur, j'ai mal, je meurs	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Short film
2004	Before Sunset	No	Yes	No	Yes	Nominated—Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay
2007	2 Days in Paris	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Also editor Prix Jacques Prévert du Scénario for Best Original Screenplay Nominated—César Award for Best Original Screenplay Nominated—European Film Awards Audience Award for Best Film Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best First Film Nominated—Globe de Cristal for Best Film
2009	The Countess	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2011	Skylab	Yes	Yes	No	No
2012	2 Days in New York	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
2013	Before Midnight	No	Yes	No	No	AARP Award for Best Screenwriter Broadcast Film Critics Association — Louis XIII Genius Award Dublin Film Critics' Circle Award for Best Screenplay Hollywood Film Award for Screenwriter of the Year Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Screenplay National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Women Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Denver Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Detroit Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay Nominated—Online Film Critics Society Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—St. Louis Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Satellite Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated—Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay
2013	Making a Scene	No	Yes	No	No	Short film
2015	Lolo	Yes	Yes	No	No	72nd Venice International Film Festival - Laguna Sud Award for Best Film
2019	My Zoe	Yes	Yes	No	No	Nominated—2019 Toronto International Film Festival - Platform Prize
2021	On the Verge	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	TV series Also creator and executive producer
2024	Meet the Barbarians	Yes	Yes	No	No

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1987	César Award	Most Promising Actress	Mauvais sang	Nominated
1988			La Passion Béatrice	Nominated
1991	European Film Award	Best Actress	The Voyager	Nominated
1995	MTV Movie Award	Best Kiss	Before Sunrise	Nominated
2004	San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award	Best Actress	Before Sunset	Won
2005	Academy Award	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
2005	Writers Guild of America Award	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
2005	Empire Award	Best Actress		Won
2005	Independent Spirit Award	Best Screenplay		Nominated
2005	Online Film Critics Society Award	Best Actress		Nominated
		Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated
2007	Mons International Festival of Love Films Award	Coup de Coeur	2 Days in Paris	Won
2008	César Award	Best Original Screenplay		Nominated
2014	Golden Globe	Best Actress - Motion Picture Comedy or Musical	Before Midnight	Nominated
2014	Academy Award	Best Adapted Screenplay		Nominated

External links

• Julie Delpy at IMDb
• Julie Delpy at AllMovie
• Julie Delpy discography at Discogs