Marina Hands (born January 10, 1975) is a French stage and film actress.
Hands is the daughter of British director Terry Hands and French actress Ludmila Mikaël, and the granddaughter of painter Pierre Dmitrienko. She studied acting at the Cours Florent and the CNSAD in France, and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in England. In 1999, she made her stage debut in Le Bel Air de Londres by Dion Boucicault, and was nominated for a Molière Award. Her first film was Andrzej Żuławski's La Fidélité (2000), followed by The Barbarian Invasions (2003). She then appeared in Les Âmes grises (2005), for which she was nominated for the César Award for Most Promising Actress, and Ne le dis à personne (Tell No One) (2006).
Her most notable performance to date was in the title role of Lady Chatterley (2006), an adaptation of John Thomas and Lady Jane by D. H. Lawrence. Hands won the 2007 César Award for Best Actress for her performance.
In 2006, Hands became a company member of the Comédie-Française. In 2008, she was again nominated for a Molière Award for her play in Partage de midi.
Audrey Dana (born February 14, 1979) is a French actress. She studied drama in Orléans and Paris. After two years in New York, she came back to France where she acted in various plays, especially in Nos amis, les humains by Bernard Werber. She was also cast in the movie adaptation Nos amis les Terriens, and Roman de Gare by Claude Lelouch. In 2008, she was nominated for this role to the César for Most Promising Actress (meilleur espoir féminin) and won the Prix Romy Schneider. She is married to French movie director Mabrouk El Mechri.
Marc Dugain (born 1957) is a French novelist, chiefly known for La Chambre des Officiers (English, The Officers' Ward) (1999), a novel set in World War I.
Dugain was born in Senegal, and studied at the Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble. His prize-winning first novel was made into a successful film in 2001.
Sonia Rykiel née Flis (French pronunciation: [sɔn.ja ʁi.kjɛl]; born 25 May 1930 in Paris) is a French fashion designer.
Ethnically a Russian-Romanian Jew, Sonia Rykiel was born in Neuilly, a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, the eldest of five daughters of a Russian mother and a Romanian father. At the age of 17, she was employed to dress the window displays in a Parisian textile store. In 1953 Sonia married Sam Rykiel, owner of a boutique selling elegant clothing. In 1962, she couldn't find any soft sweaters to wear when she was pregnant, so she used a supplier to her husband from Venice to design her own.
Sonia Rykiel thereafter created her first maternity dresses and a tiny sweater, called the Poor Boy Sweater, which she started selling from her husband's label "Laura". The Poor Boy Sweater made the cover of ELLE fashion magazine, and brought Rykiel fame; because of it, she was crowned "Queen of Knits" by the Americans in 1967.
Since then, she has continued to experiment to expand her offerings. She later became the first designer to put seams on the outside of a garment, and to print words on her sweaters. In particular, she favours long clinging sweaters or small cropped pullovers, large rolled-back cuffs and long shawls. Her color palette usually features beige, grey, dark blue and charcoal.
Guillaume Canet (born 10 April 1973) is a French actor and film director.
Canet began his career in theatre and television before moving to film. He starred in several films like Joyeux Noël, Love Me If You Dare and The Beach. In 2006, he turned to writing and directing with Tell No One and won a César Award for Best Director.
Canet has also received attention because of his personal life. He was formerly married to actress Diane Kruger. After they divorced he began a relationship with Marion Cotillard that was closely followed by the media.
Canet was born in Boulogne-Billancourt on 10 April 1973 to a family of horse breeders. Canet intended to become a show jumper and performed with the junior French National Equestrian Team. However, after a fall from his horse at age 18 he turned to acting and enrolled in the Cours Florent drama school. In 1994 he appeared in the Théâtre Hébertot production of La Ville dont le prince est un enfant with Christophe Malavoy. After working in various television shows and commercials, Canet made his film debut in the short film "Fils unique".