Mathilda May

Mathilda May, born Karin Haïm, is a French film actress and director whose work has mostly been in French and European productions. Born in Paris, she trained at the Conservatoire de Paris under Christiane Vaussard and graduated at 16. Her best-known parts include the Space Girl in Lifeforce (1985), an alien vampire role that made her known to American audiences. She won the César for Most Promising Actress in 1988 for Le Cri du Hibou (The Cry of the Owl) and received the Romy Schneider Prize in 1989. Among her other films are Naked Tango (1990) and Becoming Colette (1991); she also appeared in The Tit and the Moon (1994) and played Isabella in The Jackal (1997). She recorded the album Joy of Love in 1992, appeared in the video game Privateer 2: The Darkening, and wrote and directed Open Space, a wordless theater piece staged from 2013 to 2015; her theater work earned Molliere awards in 2019 and 2020.