Valérie Quennessen

Biography

Valérie Quennessen was a French actress of stage and screen who trained in Paris and worked in both French and American films. Born near Paris in Boulogne-Billancourt, she spent much of her childhood training as an acrobat and won an award for it at ten before turning to acting classes as a teenager. She studied at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique from 1976 to 1979 and appeared in theater productions including Jean Anouilh's Chers Zoiseaux and Pirandello's Nuova colonia. Her first film work came in 1976 with Little Marcel and Le Plein de Super, and in 1979 she took a main role in the American film French Postcards (1979), acting alongside Miles Chapin, Debra Winger and Mandy Patinkin. She played Princess Yasimina in Conan the Barbarian (1982) and starred in Randal Kleiser's Summer Lovers (1982), a love triangle set on Santorini that marked the high point of her career for American audiences. She died in 1989.

31years old at death

Born December 3, 1957Boulogne-Billancourt
Died March 19, 1989Saint-Ouen-des-Champs
Star sign: SagittariusThe sign runs November 22 to December 21
Valérie Madeleine Michelle Françoise Drodelot-Quennessen (birth name)Also credited as Valerie Quennessen

Movie Career

Films: 3
Career span: 3 years1979 to 1982

Every film, newest first

1982Conan the BarbarianIMDb rating 6.9
1982Summer LoversIMDb rating 5.8
1979French PostcardsIMDb rating 5.8

Genres

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Early training
Quennessen trained in drama at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique in Paris between 1976 and 1979. She also acted in theater productions, notably Jean Anouilh's Chers Zoiseaux, which premiered in 1976.
Getting ready for a role
While Summer Lovers was being filmed, Quennessen, who played the archaeologist Lina, found pottery at the Akrotiri site that was around 3,500 years old.